“The obstruction wasn’t an iceberg but the mast of a wreck that had been reported by the Rotterdam, a Dutch liner that had travelled from New York. The estimated cost is put at £8,000–£12,000.Īuctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: “This report was from the offices of the White Star Line’s marine superintendent at Southampton directly to Captain Smith warning him of a potential obstruction ahead. With trusty colleagues back in the area this week, I suggested a little extra-curricular activity for them, namely taking a short trip to the house to take a few photos of the blue plaque commemorating Captain Smith.The document was acquired by an American collector of Titanic memorabilia, who is is selling it on 23 April at auction at Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes, Wiltshire. House of Captain Edward John Smith, 1898 – 1907 (Photo: Ruby Musa) I was annoyed to learn that the previous day I had probably been 10 minutes from the house in which Edward Smith had once lived and it would now necessitate a very large detour to visit the former home of the man that captained Titanic on that fateful journey. I devoured the stories in the newspapers that my father regularly brought home and would later watch documentaries that had recorded the historic expedition.Ī couple of weeks ago I was working in the North West, and Googled ‘blue plaques’, keeping to my blog’s featured content for July.
I was fascinated by its story from that date and was captivated by the underwater photographs that Ballard’s expedition had taken of the decaying ship, a monument to the dead of that terrible night in 1912. Ballard and his team had found arguably the most famous wreck in the world. Titanic’s discovery in 1985 was a global sensation. Titanic was lost to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean for almost 75 years when oceanographer Robert Ballard discovered its wreck, along with heartbreaking artefacts lying on the seabed. Maybe it was because Titanic was emblazoned with the name of the city in which I was born that I paid extra attention to it? I was a voracious reader when I was a child and I clearly remember reading about Captain Smith going down with Titanic. Titanic departing Southampton 10 April 1912 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Titanic carried people from the highest echelons of society, including John Jacob Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim and also those from ‘below stairs’, the third class passengers emigrating to a new life in America. The doomed liner set sail from Southampton, England and headed for New York, stopping to allow passengers to embark at Cherbourg, France and at Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland. Smith was popular with passengers and crew, earning the nickname ‘Millionaire’s Captain’ and his experience led him to be chosen as the Captain of the brand new Titanic, the White Star Line’s most opulent ship yet. In 1880 he became a junior officer with the White Star Line and in 1887 took command of his first ship. In 1875 he earned his master’s certificate, a qualification necessary for him to serve as a ship’s captain. Captain Edward John Smith (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)Įdward John Smith was born on 27 January 1850. On the night of 15 April 1912, Captain Edward John Smith died along with 1500 other people when RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic.
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