quote:
The Lower Promenade Deck. 187 yds long./In the distance is the R.M.S.P. "Tagus", about to / follow the western channel / by the "Needles", while the / "Titanic" swing to enter the / Eastern Channel by Cowes / & Portsmouth.
Browne tended to point out people of interest in his photos - for example, he captioned his photograph of Captain Smith seen looking down from the bridge wing cabin as 'The last glimpse of Capt Smith - Seen from the Tender.'
I see no reason for the identification of Smith as the figure in this photograph beyond wishful thinking on the part of those who would like this somewhat wistful, evocative photograph to be the image of the doomed Captain walking in solitude on a lonely expanse of promenade deck.
Given that the ship was not yet in open water and a pilot was on board, I think it would be exceptional for the Captain to be strolling in solitude along the promenade deck at that particular time. In the absence of any information as to why such an exceptional event would or did occur, let alone any actual
reason to give us an i.d. for the figure as Smith beyond the fact he is wearing a long coat and cap (as, indeed, is Major Butt in a photo on the same page), I'd consider it very unlikely.
Dan provides at least something to hang a possible i.d. on - the man photographed from behind is in similar attire to a photo that could well have been taken both in close chronological as well as physical proximity to the promenade deck photo.
There were many duties to be attended to on sailing day, and soon Wilde would be on his 2 - 6 watch. I feel that the odds are against Browne randomly happening to catch an officer taking a shortcut through a passenger area - it's possible, I suppose, but Browne makes no mention (even in a generic way - 'ship's officer' or some such mention in his caption) of the figure as being a senior member of the deck crew. It seems far more likely to me that what was captured on film was a passenger rugged up against the weather and taking a walk - after all, there were a good deal more of them then there were deck officers on the ship! The headgear is not clear enough to identify a peak cap - glancing through Browne's photos, there are many images of men in flat caps that would answer equally well to the silloutte image in the photo.
I would very much like it to be an image of one of the
Titanic's officers, as the image has a unquestionable haunting resonance. Inevitably, as with so many other unidentified figures in these photographs, we wonder what became of the man. However, I see no evidence to believe that it was any of the deck officers.
