Edward Smith (sea captain)

Edward John Smith [ ɛdwəɹ dʒɒn smɪθ ] ( born January 27, 1850 in Hanley, Stoke -on-Trent, † April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic during the sinking of the Titanic ) was captain of the Titanic and its sister ship Olympic.

Life

Smith arrived in 1850 as son of Edward Smith and his wife Catherine Marsh Hancock to the world. He worked as an industrial worker, prior to signing on as a cabin boy and his Seepatente took off.

On July 12, 1887, he married Sarah Eleanor Pennington (* June 17, 1861, † April 28, 1931 ). The couple had a daughter, Helen Melville Smith ( 1898-1973 ).

In 1880 he got a job at the White Star Line and gained through the stages of various officer ranks to the rank of captain. He commanded the ships Britannic (I), Majestic (I), Baltic (II ), Adriatic (II ) and Olympic White Star Line. Due to its popularity among the crew and the passengers, and not least because of his great experience as a captain and with the type of ship the Olympic class in 1912 he was given command of the Titanic on its maiden voyage.

On this trip to New York, the Titanic struck on April 14, 1912 against 23:40 clock with an iceberg and sank. Among the approximately 1,500 victims of this disaster was one among many contemporary celebrities also Edward John Smith, whose body was never found. He left behind his wife, Sarah Smith and his daughter Helen, who later John Gilbertson and then Sidney Russell Cooke married.

In the later film adaptations of the ship's destruction was Captain Edward John Smith of Otto Wernicke ( Titanic, 1943), Brian Aherne ( sinking of the Titanic, 1953), Laurence Naismith ( The last night of the Titanic, 1958 ), Harry Andrews (SOS Titanic, 1979), George C. Scott ( Titanic TV miniseries 1996), Bernard Hill ( Titanic, 1997) and David Calder ( Titanic, TV Vierteiler 2012) shown.

255646
de