Titanic hell blamed on ‘ boozy’ Captain
THE captain of the Titanic may have been under the infl uence of alcohol when the liner hit an iceberg and sank, an unearthed document suggests.
Captain Edward Smith was apparently seen drinking in the ship’s saloon bar before the collision. The history books record the skipper was woken in his cabin at the time of the impact before taking the brave decision to go down with the ship.
But the previously unseen account by survivor Emily Richards blames Captain Smith, 62, for the tragedy.
The allegation was made in a letter she wrote on board the rescue ship Carpathia two days after the sinking in April 2012. Mrs Richards, 24, and her two young sons were rescued but her brother George, 23, was one of the 1,522 people who died.
The family were on their way from Cornwall to join her husband James in Ohio.
In a letter to her motherin- law, grief- stricken Mrs Richards, of Penzance, wrote: “The boat struck an iceberg at 11 o’clock on Sunday night. The captain was down in the saloon drinking and gave charge to someone else to steer the ship. It was the captain’s fault.”
The letter will be auctioned later this month by Henry Aldridge and Son, of Devizes, Wilts. But last night Titanic experts cast doubt on the allegation. Una Reilly, of the Belfast Titanic Society, said: “I have never heard this accusation made before.”