Page 61 - All About History - Issue 09-14

The unsinkable ship

“ Women and
children fi rst”

Captain Edward J Smith (1850-1912)
was one of the White Star Line’s most
experienced captains. Aged 17 he travelled
to Liverpool to begin his apprenticeship on
the ship Senator Webber before he joined
White Star as a Fourth Officer in 1880. He
quickly rose through the ranks and seven
years later was given his first command.
Smith became commodore of the White
Star fleet in 1904, after which it became
routine for him to command the line’s
newest ships on their maiden voyages and
it is said that he gained such a reputation
as a captain that some passengers would
only travel on ships where he was in
command. However, this is not to say that
he had not had previous incidents; in 1911
while captaining of the Olympic, the ship
collided with a British warship, leaving
Smith’s vessel to limp back to port. The
Royal Navy blamed the ship, saying that due
to its massive size it had created a suction
that pulled the warship into her. It was
an indicator of how difficult it could be to
operate these new giant ships.
By 1912, Smith had served at sea for
40 years, with 27 years in command.
However, when the Titanic collided with
the iceberg this experienced captain did
not cover himself in glory, and many
believe that he panicked. He did not issue
a general call for evacuation, he withheld
information from his crew – for example,
Quartermaster George Rowe did not find
out the ship was sinking until over an hour
after the collision and phoned the bridge
from his watch station to ask why he had
just seen a lifeboat lower into the water.
The captain did not supervise the loading
of the lifeboats and according to later
testimony it was the second officer who
actually suggested getting the women and
children into the lifeboats before others.
Captain Smith, aware of the enormity of
“ Official figures put the death count during the situation, retreated into his shell and
appeared to simply wait for the inevitable.
the making of the ship at nine; these would The great captain, as legend dictated, went
down with his ship.
not be the last deaths caused by the ship”

and swing towards the Titanic. Quick action from 15,000 bottles of ale, 8,000 cigars, 40,000 eggs,
Captain Edward J Smith helped avert a premature 36,000 apples and 57,000 pieces of crockery. The
end to the maiden voyage. The unfortunate ship also carried 20 lifeboats, which was more than
incident was seen by those thus inclined as an ill the law required but too few to safely evacuate all
portent for the journey ahead. of the passengers on the world’s largest ship, with
The ship’s itinerary called for the vessel to the lifeboats capable of holding approximately 1,178
stop at Cherbourg and Queenstown (Cork) before people. However, this fact was not given much
making the journey across the Atlantic to New thought or care, and why should it have been? The
York City, expected to take seven days. The ship Titanic was a triumph of modern technology.
was equipped with enough amenities for a much It is unclear whether anyone ever explicitly
longer voyage, though. Among the facilities on referred to it as the ‘unsinkable ship’ but this
board were four restaurants, a swimming pool sentiment was certainly the general feeling at
(entry fee was one shilling); two barber shops, the time. It has been reported that a Titanic crew
two libraries, one fully-equipped gymnasium member remarked to an embarking passenger: Captain Edward Smith was one of the
world’s most experienced captains
and one photographic darkroom. The ship held “God himself could not sink this ship!” Part of this
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