Edward John Smith
Edward John Smith (born January 27, 1850 in Hanley , † April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic ) was the captain of the RMS Titanic and the sister ship Olympic .
Life
Smith was born in 1850 to Edward Smith and his wife Catherine Hancock Marsh. After graduating from school in 1864, he worked as an industrial worker at Eturia Forge. On his 17th birthday he was hired by his half-brother Joseph Hancock on Senator Weber, with which he drove from Liverpool to Hong Kong on February 7th. In May 1875 Smith passed his captaincy exam and was named captain. On July 12, 1887, he married Sarah Eleanor Pennington (June 17, 1861, † April 28, 1931). The couple had a daughter, Helen Melville Smith (1898–1973).
In 1880 he got a job with the White Star Line and achieved the rank of captain via the ranks of various officer ranks. He commanded the ships Britannic (I), Republic (I), Majestic (I), Baltic (II), Adriatic (II) and Olympic of the White Star Line. Due to its popularity among the crew and passengers and not least because of his extensive experience as a captain and with the Olympic- class ship , he was given command of the Titanic on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1912 .
When the Titanic collided with an iceberg on April 14, 1912 at around 11:40 p.m. , Smith was not on the navigation bridge . He arrived soon after, was briefed by First Officer William M. Murdoch of the events and made a brief inspection tour with the ship's designer Thomas Andrews . This predicted the ship's sinking. Smith then gave the order to prepare the lifeboats and supervised their occupation from the bridge for most of the time. He instructed the radio operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride to send a distress signal. Shortly before the ship's sinking, he reappeared in the radio room and released both of them from their duties.
It is not known where Captain Smith was when the Titanic sank at 2:20 a.m. Some survivors said they last saw him on the bridge, which flooded shortly afterwards. Walter Hurst later said that he saw Smith shortly after the sinking: Hurst was sitting on a life raft with a few other men and was rowing when a man swimming in the water called out to him not to let them get down. Although the swimmer made no attempt to get on the raft and it was already dangerously overstaffed, Hurst held out his oar. The man was too weak to hold on to it, however, and drowned . Hurst was convinced throughout his life that it was Captain Smith.
Edward John Smith, whose body was never found, is one of the more than 1,500 victims of the disaster, along with many contemporary celebrities. He left behind his wife Sarah Smith and daughter Helen.
media
In the film adaptations of the shipwreck, Captain Edward John Smith was played by Otto Wernicke ( Titanic , 1943), Brian Aherne ( sinking of the Titanic , 1953), Laurence Naismith ( The last night of the Titanic , 1958), Harry Andrews ( SOS Titanic , 1979), George C. Scott ( Titanic , two-part TV series 1996), Bernard Hill ( Titanic , 1997) and David Calder ( Titanic , four-part TV series 2012).
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Smith, Edward John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British ship captain (Titanic) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 27, 1850 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hanley |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 15, 1912 |
| Place of death | North Atlantic (sinking of the Titanic) |