Edward Smith (sea captain)

Edward John "E. J." Smith (27 January 1850 – 15 April 1912) was an English sea captain. He was the captain of the R.M.S Titanic, which sank when it struck an iceberg. Smith was to retire after the maiden voyage of the Titanic, but died when the ship sank.^[1]

Smith on the Olympic, six months before the Titanic sets sail from Southampton.

Smith was born on 27 January 1850 in Hanley, Staffordshire, England.^[2] He was married to Sarah Eleanor Pennington from 1887 until his death in 1912. They had one daughter.

In September 1911, Titanic’s sister ship Olympic was hit by the HMS Hawke, but the two ships did not sink. Smith was officially named Edward John.

In April 1912, Smith took command of the RMS Titanic. At that time, he was 62 years old.

Shortly after 11:40 p.m. local time, Smith was informed by First Officer William Murdoch that the Titanic struck the iceberg. Smith knew within minutes that the ship was doomed and many passengers were likely to die. During the evacuation, Captain Smith did all in his power to prevent panic among the crew and passengers, and did his best to assist in the evacuation. Major Arthur Godfrey Peuchen of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club said: “He was doing everything in his power to get women in these boats, and to see that they were lowered properly. I thought he was doing his duty in regard to the lowering of the boats".^[3]

Robert Williams Daniel, a first class passenger also said:

Captain Smith was the biggest hero I ever saw. He stood on the bridge and shouted through a megaphone, trying to make himself heard.^[4]

Just minutes before the ship started its final plunge, Smith was still busy releasing the Titanic's crew from their duties. He went to the Marconi operators room and released Junior Marconi Officer Harold Bride and senior wireless operator John "Jack" Phillips from their duties. He then carried out a final tour of the deck, telling crew members: "Now it's every man for himself."^[5] Steward Edward Brown saw the captain approach with a megaphone in his hand and heard him say "Well boys, do your best for the women and children, and look out for yourselves.” He saw the Captain walk onto the bridge alone, just seconds before the ship started sinking entirely.^[6] This was the last known reliable sighting of Smith. A few minutes later, Trimmer Samuel Hemming found the bridge apparently empty.^[7] The lights went out and the structural failure caused Titanic to break in two pieces. Another five minutes later, Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Smith died that night along with around 1,500 others, and his body was never recovered.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, there remain conflicting accounts of his death. Some claimed to have seen Smith in the water swimming towards a lifeboat, or near the capsized collapsible lifeboat "B", while others claimed they saw him shoot himself with a pistol. Still other accounts describe him entering the wheelhouse on the bridge and died there when it was engulfed.^[8][9][10] The actual details of how Smith died will likely remain uncertain.

In the 1997 film, “Titanic”, as the musicians stopped playing “Near My God To Thee”, and as the wheelhouse was submerged, the wheelhouse windows shattered from the pressure, and Smith was drowned after he clung to his wheel.

Smith has been played by many actors during documentaries, movies, television series, or plays. The most well known actors to play Captain Smith are George C. Scott and Bernard Hill.

A large copper statue of the captain was unveiled in July 1914 in Lichfield, England. The location of the statue was criticised at first as Smith had no relation to Lichfield. People of Hansley (the town where he was born) quoted saying they didn't want to be entirely associated to him, as he could be vilified (made to look evil) by press and it would not be a good appearance for the town.^[11]

References

1. "Captain Edward Smith". The Titanic.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
2. "Plaque for Titanic captain's house in Stoke-on-Trent". BBC News. 20 March 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
3. "Testimony of Arthur G. Peuchen". Titanic Journey Project. 23 April 1912. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
4. Robert Williams Daniel, first class passenger
5. Butler 1998, p. 130.
6. "TIP | British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry | Day 9 | Testimony of Edward Brown (First Class Steward, SS Titanic)".
7. Testimony of Samuel Hemming Titanic inquiry
8. Bartlett 2011, p. 224.
9. Spignesi 2012, p. 207.
10. Daniel Allen Butler writes: "if Smith did indeed go to the bridge around 2:10 a.m. as Steward Brown said, and took refuge inside the wheelhouse, that would explain why Trimmer Hemming did not see him when he went onto the bridge a few minutes later. Earlier, at nightfall, the shutters on the Titanic‘s wheelhouse windows would have been raised, to keep the lights of the wheelhouse from interfering with the bridge officers’ night vision: Trimmer Hemming would have been unable to see Captain Smith had the captain indeed been inside the wheelhouse, awaiting his end". (website)
11. Oates, Jono (2020-08-01). "Titanic's Captain Smith - Just Why Is He in Lichfield?". Jono Tourism Services. Retrieved 2024-03-11.

Sources

• Butler, Daniel Allen (1998). Unsinkable: The Full Story of RMS Titanic. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-8117-1814-1.
• Spignesi, Stephen (2012). The Titanic for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 207. ISBN 978-1-118-20650-8. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
• Bartlett, W.B. (2011). Titanic: 9 Hours to Hell, the Survivors' Story. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4456-0482-4.

Other websites

• One of Stoke-on-Trent Museums' Local Heroes Archived 2008-10-13 at the Wayback Machine
• Captain Smith on Titanic-Titanic.com
• Edward Smith at Find a Grave