Since the book reviews on this site about the fictional officers of the Titanic were written assuming that the reader has a fairly good knowledge of the historical ones, I give a brief overview of the Officers of the Titanic, what they were doing in the night of 14/15 April 1912 and the role they play in the fictional renditions of the Titanic's story. (Who shows up where?)
Links to more detailed pages on the Titanic and the Officers can be found here.
Captain Edward James Smith
27 January 1850 - 15 April 1912, 58 - married, one daughter
No film or book can do without the Captain, of course. He was the man in charge and ultimately responsible for what happened on the ship. Generally depicted in sympathetic tones as a man doing his best to deal with a dreadful tragedy.
It is a much repeated statement that Captain Smith was to retire after the Titanic's maiden voyage. As far as I know, this is far from certain. (One book even gives the impression that he was to retire as soon as they reached New York, which would definitely have not been the case. Somebody had to captain the ship back to England after all.)
Captain Smith died in the Titanic sinking. His last moments are uncertain, there are reports that place him on the bridge, others claim to have seen him swimming in the sea. There is even a report that he swam to one of the lifeboats and handed a baby he had rescued to the people in the boat, but declined to get into the lifeboat himself.
Chief Officer Henry Tingle Wilde
21 September 1872 - 15 April 1912, 39 - widowed, four children
Despite the fact that Wilde was the highest ranking officer after the Captain, he is far less visible in fictional renditions of the tragedy than the other two senior officers, Murdoch and Lightoller, a fact that is easily explained because unlike Murdoch he was not on watch during the collision and unlike Lightoller he did not survive. There are even films, e.g. Titanic 1996, and books in which he is does not make an appearance at all.
The point most often repeated with regard to Wilde is that he did not like the Titanic. Apart from the general consideration that if nothing had happened nobody would have ever heard of Wilde's misgivings about the Titanic, it can also be argued that his bad feeling about the ship had less to do with premonitions than with the fact that he was transferred to her quite suddenly. The reason behind Wilde's transfer was that Captain Smith and, following his suggestion, the White Star Line wished to have another officer on board (next to the Captain and Murdoch) who had been on the Olympic and had therefore experience with handling a ship of this size. The decision was taken only after the Titanic had been taken from Belfast to Southampton. The reshuffle of senior officers, which included swapping cabins, may have been the cause of the lookout's binoculars going missing: it is possible that Davy Blair (the original second officer, see below) had locked them in his cabin.
Like Captain Smith, Wilde died in the Titanic disaster, how is unclear as well. According to some accounts, he was last seen working at collapsible A, another report claims he was last seen on the bridge smoking a cigarette. He is one of the officers rumoured to have shot himself.
First Officer William McMaster Murdoch
28 February 1873 - 15 April 1912, 39 - married, no children
As the officer on watch when the Titanic hit the iceberg, Murdoch is almost as indispensable as Captain Smith. All the films on the subject as well as a good many books include the dramatic couple of minutes of the ship's collision with the iceberg, following a well-established canon of events (see chronology). While most versions show Murdoch as doing his best to save the ship, there is an implication in some that his best was just not good enough. Apart from the general complaints that the ship was going too fast and that the lookouts binoculars were missing, Murdoch's attempt to port round the iceberg has come under criticism. Reversing the engines is said to have been the wrong decision since the ship lost headway and therefore turned slower. Another is that he should have not tried to avoid the iceberg at all, but hit it head on. This, in my opinion, is a pretty stupid suggestion. Apart from the fact that it may not have saved the ship at all, which person who is in his/her right mind, does not try to avoid an obstacle in his/her path? Just imagine yourself in a car driving at night and a deer steps into the road ahead of you. Will you ram the dear or swerve to avoid it, even if it may be too late and there is a danger of oncoming traffic? Moreover, Murdoch manoeuvre was almost successful: If the iceberg had been a little further north or they'd seen it a few seconds earlier, the Titanic would have been damaged but not badly enough to sink. Admittedly, a near successful attempt is still a failure, but I just cannot abide people who enjoy the advantage of hindsight and don't have to take a split-second decision, smugly pointing out what would have been the right thing to do.
Apart from being the man in charge of the ship, Murdoch is mainly known for allowing men into the life-boats, including J. Bruce Ismay and Cosmo Duff Gordon. This, too, has been cause for criticism. Why let men in when there were still women and children aboard? Of course, the decision has also been vigorously defended. It is better to let men in the boats rather than to lower them with room to spare. Which takes us straight to the question of why the lifeboats were not filled to capacity and that is a discussion that can (and does) fill up entire volumes.
Murdoch was also among those who died when the Titanic sank. Like Wilde he is one of the officers said to have shot himself. Lightoller reports Murdoch working on Collapsible A when he last saw him.
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller
30 March 1874 - 8 December 1952, 38 - married, two sons (at the time)
'Lucky Lightoller', as he refers to himself in the 1953 film, was the senior surviving officer and did indeed survive by sheer, bloody luck. He is as much a staple for any story about the Titanic as Captain Smith and Murdoch. For one he is sometimes used to raise - however indirectly - the question of speed. More important, however, is his trusty capsized Collapsible B that saved his life and that of many more. What would any self-respecting male (fictional) passenger do to survive if it wasn't for the upturned lifeboat? Most of them, from Sherlock Holmes to Junior Third Officer Bigelow, end up on this particular boat.
Since Lightoller was off duty and actually in his bed at the time of the collision, he is generally exempted from any blame - except from that of overconfidence. As senior surviving officer he was examined extensively in both the Senate and British Board of Trade Inquiries. Unlike the other surviving officers, he also wrote his memoirs, which were published in 1935. His position as the only surviving watch keeping officer, the amount of information about him available due to the inquiries and his memoirs as well as his miraculous escape on the upturned lifeboat ensure his very prominent position in the narrative of the Titanic disaster. And, I guess, this fact, that he seems to be hogging the limelight, is also the reason why there are people who cannot abide him.
As already mentioned, Lightoller survived the Titanic. He jumped into the freezing sea and thanks to wearing a lifebelt and encountering the capsized Collapsible B came through. He was also the last survivor to climb aboard the Carpathia.
Third Officer Herbert Pitman
20 November 1877 - 7 December 1961 - 34, unmarried, no children (at the time)
Pitman, who was not on duty during the collision, who didn't have any hair-raising escape from almost certain death, and who didn't do anything spectacular in the aftermath of the crash, is the officer least noticeable and most often ignored in all the fictional renditions of the story of the Titanic. Even if he is present, as in A Night to Remember, his role is so small that he hardly leaves an impression.
Pitman was awake and in his cabin when the Titanic hit the iceberg (his next watch was to start at midnight) and helped loading and lowering the boats until he was ordered by First Officer Murdoch to take command of Boat 5. After the ship sank, he intended to go back to pick up people from the water but was dissuaded by the passengers who insisted to stay put. He tied up with Boat 7 and waited for the Carpathia.
Fourth Officer Joseph Groves Boxhall
23 March 1884 - 25 April 1967 - 28, unmarried, no children (at the time)
Boxhall was on duty but not on the bridge during the collision. He is generally depicted in a favourable light, sometimes even particularly praised. Reading Jim Walker's Murder on the Titanic one gets the impression that if only they had let Boxhall command the ship, no accident would have happened.
In the immediate aftermath of the Titanic's collision with the iceberg, Boxhall was ordered to rouse the other officers, check the damage, and calculate the position of the ship for the distress call. How accurate this position was has been the subject of lively debate, not least of all because of its relevance to the question how close (or distant) the Californian was. Boxhall was also in charge of firing the distress rockets and was trying to contact the mystery ship with the morse lamp.
After the last rocket was fired and it became clear that the mystery ship did not respond, Boxhall was ordered to take command of Boat 2. He lit green flares at intervals. Boat 2 was the first boat to be picked up by the Carpathia and Boxhall reported to Captain Rostron that the Titanic had sunk. After his death, his ashes were poured out on the spot he had calculated as the Titanic's position according to his wish.
Fifth Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe
21 November 1882 - 12 May 1941 - 29, unmarried, no children (at the time)
Harold Lowe has been dubbed 'the real hero of the Titanic'. He earned this sobriquet because he transferred the passengers of his boat (No 14) to several other boats and returned to the site of the Titanic's sinking to pick up survivors. There's no doubt about it, Lowe showed an amount of initiative and decisiveness that was exceptional. Particularly, if one imagines that the rounding up of boats and the transferral happened in pitch darkness and with passengers who were not always very co-operative. Unfortunately, by the time he returned, most of the people in the water were dead.
What I always thought as a very fascinating fact, and one which, as far as I know, has not been mentioned in any fictional version of the events, is that Lowe slept through not only the collision with the iceberg, but also through being woken up by Boxhall and the steam being left off, waking up only about an hour after the accident. - In A Night to Remember he is conspicuously absent from the bridge when Captain Smith gives his orders to the assembled officers but his absence is not explained. - The other detail mentioned repeatedly is Lowe's use of offensive language, or what in 1912 was regarded as such. Particularly during the transfer of passengers, he apparently exhorted the passengers in strong terms, which some of the ladies in the boat interpreted that he was drunk (which he was not). It is interesting that even in the present day and age, when swearing has become much more acceptable than it was in 1912, the swearing has not made it into any film yet. The few strongly worded quotes that have made it into film have generally been assigned to Lightoller.
After returning to the site of the sinking and picking up some survivors from the water, Lowe also managed to raise a sail, took Collapsible A in tow and sailed to the Carpathia.
Sixth Officer James Paul Moody
21 August 1887 - 15 April 1912 - 24, unmarried, no children
Moody was on watch between 8 pm and midnight on 14 April 1912 and therefore is often mentioned in the run-up to the collision. Moreover, he answered the call from the crows nest after the lookouts rang the alarm bell. He conveyed their message ('Iceberg, right ahead') to Murdoch and was on the bridge during the collision. While often this is the last time, Moody is mentioned, on occasion he can be seen loading and lowering the life-boats, then he disappears quietly from the story.
Moody was the youngest and the only junior officer to die. It was generally regarded that he might have gone into one of the boats, instead he stayed behind and continued to help. In fact, as Lowe reported, when Moody and he were lowering Boats he suggested that one of them would go with the boat, Moody said 'You go.' As with the other officers who died, Moody's fate is unclear. He was presumably washed overboard and either drowned or froze to death.
(First) Second Officer David Blair
??
Davy Blair was originally appointed Second Officer of the Titanic and occupied this position from Belfast to almost sailing day. When Wilde was brought on the Titanic as Chief Officer, Murdoch was 'bumped down' to First, Lightoller became Second and Blair was left behind, 'luckily for him' as Lightoller writes. At first, Blair was unsurprisingly greatly disappointed.
As Blair was not on board during the Titanic's fateful voyage, he has not appeared in any novels or films on the subject (that I know of at least).
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