WHO WAS THE CAPTAIN OF THE TITANIC FULL

He was also popular with the crew, who 'loved sailing under him'. Mr Maltin also said that Captain Smith was the Commodore of the White Star Line and had captained all their flagship vessels.

'But he was working out positions and he was alert and around the bridge the whole time.'

WHO WAS THE CAPTAIN OF THE TITANIC FULL

'And in fact, as soon as they went full astern and he heard the ship starting to stop, he came straight through and he was there. 'And he had left instructions to be called immediately if anything happened. 'In fact, his suite of rooms, his navigating room and his chaise lounge area and his bedroom area are actually part of the bridge. It has also been suggested that Captain Smith may have been drunk or was not even on the ship's bridge when it hit the iceberg.īut Mr Maltin said that while Captain Smith did dine with passengers at around 7 or 8pm, he was on the bridge 'the whole time' when the ship hit the ice at 11.40pm.Īmong the other debunked myths is the claim that Captain Edward Smith was reckless by sailing too quickly 'They knew they were getting into the ice region, but critically they believed they could see the ice in time.' 'The night the Titanic sank it was actually extremely clear and they were keeping a very sharp lookout,' he said. However, Mr Maltin said that 'every captain' who testified at the inquiry said they would have 'done the same thing'. The judge who led the British inquiry into the Titanic disaster, John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey, wrote in his journal that the ship was travelling at 'excessive speed' and there was 'no reduction of speed' in the icy environment. Now a new documentary released on Netflix-style platform History Hit dispels some of the common beliefs about the Titanic's sinkingĬaptain Smith was reckless by going too fast Within three hours, the 'unsinkable' ship had slipped beneath the waves of the freezing Atlantic Ocean, killing more than 1,500 people.

One claim made about why the ship sank is that members of the ship's watch did not have binoculars on the fateful night and so did not spot the iceberg quickly enough.īut Mr Maltin, the author of three books on the Titanic, argues that if the crew had had binoculars they would have taken longer to warn of the iceberg.Īmong the other claims, which are all debunked below, are that Captain Smith was reckless by sailing too quickly, that the ship was poorly built and that poorer passengers in third class were locked below deck.Īt just before midnight on April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg while travelling on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. Now, a new documentary released on Netflix-style platform History Hit dispels some of the common beliefs about the Titanic's sinking.ĭebunking the Myths of the Titanic hears from the world-leading expert about the disaster, Tim Maltin. At just before midnight on April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg while travelling on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

Who was the captain of the titanic