Stranger still are several widely publicized reports that he didn’t die at all. Still others believed he had made it to an overturned lifeboat but lost his grip, possibly when one of the Titanic’s immense funnels broke loose and crashed into the water nearby.Īn In Memoriam vintage postcard featuring the Titanic which sank after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on Apand commemorating her captain, Edward Smith and brave bandsmen, published in Redruth, c. In an account attributed to Titanic fireman Harry Senior, Smith jumped off the ship with “an infant clutched tenderly in his arms,” swam to a nearby lifeboat, handed off the child and swam back toward the Titanic, saying, “I will follow the ship.” Several witnesses claimed to have seen him in the water. Surviving wireless operator Harold Bride, a more reliable witness, said he’d seen Smith “dive from the bridge into the sea.” Others said he was swept off by a wave or-having been swept off-swam back to the Titanic to meet his end. Some early newspaper reports, allegedly supported by eyewitnesses, say he had shot himself with a pistol, though few historians give them any credence. Smith’s final moments aren’t definitively known, but reports varied widely. “I knew then we were soon going.”Ī 2:20 a.m., the last portion of the Titanic disappeared between the waves. “I saw Captain Smith getting excited passengers would not have noticed, but I did,” May Sloan, a surviving Titanic stewardess, wrote in a letter shortly after the disaster. Outwardly, Smith seems to have kept up a brave front, appearing captain-like to the last, at least to most observers. Smith also checked in periodically with the wireless operators until, at about 2 a.m., he released them from duty and told them to try to save themselves. He didn’t give up on the mystery ship, ordering the crew of at least one lifeboat to row toward the lights, drop off passengers and return to Titanic for more. He had apparently confused the Titanic’s partially enclosed promenade deck with the totally open one of her sister ship, Olympic, which he had previously commanded.įrom that point on, Smith’s activities become more of a blur. “Haven’t you forgotten, sir, that all those glass windows are closed?” a passenger gently reminded him. In another instance, Smith ordered that a lifeboat be lowered from the boat deck to the promenade deck, so passengers could climb in more easily. That was one of several incidents that have led some historians to question whether Smith had gone into a state of shock. Although Smith had ordered the boats uncovered some 40 minutes earlier, he didn’t give the order to begin loading and lowering them until Second Officer Charles Lightoller reminded him by asking, “Hadn’t we better get the women and children into the boats, sir?” that crewmen lowered the first of the Titanic’s lifeboats to the ocean surface. At the same time, Boxhall tried to contact it with a signal lamp, flashing a plea for help in Morse code. Still hoping to get the attention of the mysterious ship nearby, the captain ordered the firing of distress rockets at 12:45 a.m. But the Carpathia was 58 miles-or some four hours-away. The nearest, RMS Carpathia, replied that it would change course and hurry to the Titanic’s position. The ship they spotted in the distance didn’t answer, but several others did. Ten minutes later, by the surviving operator’s estimate, he returned and gave them the order to send out a CQD, the universal distress call that was soon replaced with an SOS. Meanwhile, he told the ship’s two wireless operators to get ready to transmit distress signals. Smith gave orders to uncover the lifeboats and alert the passengers. Several estimated it was no more than five miles away.Īt 12:05 a.m. Soon after the collision, he and other officers saw what they believed to be the lights of a nearby ship. The captain still had some hope of averting total disaster. He also knew that its 20 lifeboats, with a total capacity of 1,178, couldn’t begin to accommodate the more than 2,200 passengers and crew members aboard. At roughly midnight, Andrews reportedly told Smith the Titanic could last another 60 to 90 minutes. While the ship could have stayed afloat with up to four flooded compartments, depending on their location, five tipped into catastrophic territory. Thomas Andrews, the Titanic’s head designer, reported that his inspection revealed flooding in at least five of the Titanic’s 16 watertight compartments. But whatever relief Smith might have felt at that moment was quickly shattered. Boxhall made a quick inspection of the ship and returned to the bridge to report that he had found no damage. 1911.Īt first it appeared as if Smith’s luck was going to hold. Captain of White Star Liner, RMS Titanic, Commander Edward J.
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