> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://goodoil.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What Really Happened to Captain Smith? - URL: https://goodoil.news/what-really-happened-to-captain-smith/ - Published: 2024-04-20T21:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2024-04-20T01:28:45.000Z - Author: Lushington Brady - Tags: History, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-06-28 02:24 It may have won a swag of Academy Awards, though why is beyond me, but **James Cameron**’s *Titanic* is not exactly noted for its historical accuracy. From Picasso paintings that most definitely weren’t on the Titanic, to flashlights and filtered cigarettes, there were a whole bunch of anachronisms. Worse, though, were the often almost libelous treatment of real people, such as First Officer **William McMaster Murdoch**, portrayed as shooting a passenger and then taking his own life out of guilt. In reality, Murdoch died a hero by helping save over 10 lives on the ship. Cameron also depicted Captain **Edward John Smith** as standing on the submerged bridge of the ship as its windows shattered and admitted a deluge of water. All very dramatic, perhaps, but also untrue. How *did* Smith die? There are conflicting accounts – but none of them are anything like as shown in the movie. First, a brief sketch of Smith’s maritime career. Smith was born in Staffordshire in 1850\. Like generations of British seafarers before him, Smith went to sea early in life: leaving school aged around 12 or 13 and, within a few years, he was on the crew of the *Senator Weber*. His rise up the ranks was swift: second mate within a year, first mate, then master by his mid-20s. He joined the White Star Line in 1880 and went on to captain some of the company’s largest ships, including the *Baltic*, the *Adriatic* and the *Titanic*’s sister ship, the *Olympic*. It was on the *Olympic* that Smith had his first brush with maritime disaster. > In September 1911, the *Olympic* collided with the HMS *Hawke* off the Isle of Wight. Though Smith was reportedly not directing the ship at the time, the Royal Navy protested that the *Olympic* had caused the collision by taking an abrupt turn. White Star Line vehemently disagreed, but ended up having to pay high legal fees. > > Despite this, Smith maintained his sterling reputation. He was even known as the “Millionaire’s Captain” since, as the captain of some of White Star Line’s biggest ships, he often brushed shoulders with wealthy passengers. > > So he seemed an obvious choice to become captain of the RMS *Titanic*, White Star Line’s flagship and the biggest ship ever built. Smith’s actions before the fatal collision are the subject of much debate and controversy. While Smith saw and posted five warnings about ice in the chart room on the evening of April 14, other, more dire warnings, got lost in a chaos of telegraph communications. > With so many passengers on board, the radio operators were overwhelmed by the number of telegrams being transmitted. > > At 10:55 pm, the *Californian* – the nearest ship to the *Titanic* – radioed to say that the ship had come to a full stop because of the treacherous icy water. But the *Californian*’s operator failed to mark his messages as urgent enough to show to Smith, and the *Titanic*’s operator was so overwhelmed with incoming missives that, according to the *New York Times*, he snapped back: “Shut up, shut up! I am busy!” > > Less than an hour later, at 11:40 p.m., the *Titanic* hit an iceberg. And the rest, as they say, is history. But what, with regard to Smith’s ultimate end, is history and what is pure fantasy? > Sometime after 2 am, with the *Titanic* sinking rapidly, Smith released his crew. “Well boys, you’ve done your duty and done it well,” he said according to crew member **James McGann**, as reported in the *Liverpool Echo*. “I ask no more of you. I release you. You know the rule of the sea. It’s every man for himself now, and God bless you.” There are conflicting accounts of how Smith ultimately ended. The most reliable-seeming is *close* to the movie scene, but with a key difference. > A number of witnesses remembered seeing Smith on the *Titanic*’s deck as the ship sank. As reported in the *Daily Sketch* in 1912, survivor **Robert Daniels** recalled seeing the captain standing “on the bridge, shouting through the megaphone, trying to make himself heard.” > > His fellow passenger **Laurence Beesley** affirmed that: “The captain stood on the bridge and continued directing his men right up to the moment when the bridge on which he stood became level with the water.” Beesley added: “He then calmly climbed over the rail and dropped into the sea.” Other accounts seem less reliable and more likely the product of panicked, confused memories. > One described him swimming through the water and handing off an infant to passengers in the lifeboats. Another recalled him clinging to a lifeboat, only to lose his grip. And a handful of survivors claimed that Smith had died by suicide. The last seems least likely. > Captain **Arthur Rostron** of the *Carpathia* – which sailed through the icy seas help the *Titanic* but did not arrive until about two hours after the ship had sunk – denied reports of Smith’s suicide to the press. Rostron claimed that Smith had stayed on the *Titanic* until water washed over the deck and then, despite reaching the edge of a lifeboat, drowned in the icy waters. Rostron’s account is at least in keeping with those of Daniels and Beesley – and completely contrary to James Cameron’s movie licence. It seems most likely that Smith was on the bridge, but outside and in command, not inside passively awaiting the crushing waters. Once he climbed over the rail and into the sea, he may or may not have reached one of the lifeboats before drowning. Rostron should probably also have the last word on Captain Edward John Smith: > “Smith was one of the coolest, bravest and more careful commanders I have ever known,” Rostron told the *Chicago Examiner* after the incident, according to ***Titanic***’s Officers. “His seamanship was of the highest order. Too high a tribute cannot be paid to him by anybody who knew him.” > > [All That’s Interesting](https://allthatsinteresting.com/titanic-captain-edward-smith?ref=goodoil.news) [If You Like What You Just Read,Click Here to Become a Member and Directly Support This Author.](https://thebfd.co.nz/subscription-plans/?ref=104) [If you enjoyed this article please share it using the share buttons at the top or bottom of the article.](#)