Choose your favorite Officer

[Ezra Gane]

Captain Edward J. Smith
Chief Officer Henry Wilde
First Officer William Murdoch
Second Officer Charles Lightoller
Third Officer Herbert Pitman
Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall
Fifth Officer Harold Lowe
Sixth Officer James Moody

 

[Adam Usher]

Captain Smith was my favourite officer.

There is alot of history on the man and he seamed like a nice bloke.

 

[Ernie Luck]

Capt. Smith is my hero too, Adam.

I am sure a good case could be made out for the other's as well. Have you read Gary Cooper's excellent biography of Captain Smith ' The Man who sank the Titanic'? It is still available in paperback I believe but would have to be ordered from your Bookseller. Get someone to buy it for you for Xmas.

Regards Ernie

 

[Courtney M. Hedberg]

For me, it's a tie between Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall and Sixth Officer James Moody.

 

[Wendi Ignace]

my favorite officer.........Fourth Officer Joseph Groves Boxhall.........what can i say........the man intrigues me......

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

I don't have a favourite officer, because I admire all of them for their own individual actions that night. So, they are all heroes in my mind.

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

Just to clarify, while I have stated on here in the past that Harold Lowe is my favourite officer, I've realized that I shouldn't be leaving the others out for the reason stated above in my post.

 

[Harriet Collingham]

Same as Jason I guess, but Moody also intrigues me quite a bit.

 

[Allison Lane]

Joseph Boxhall, with Lowe running a close second.

-Allison L.

 

[David Parkinson]

Any of the engineering officers, as most of them died to ensure the rest got away.

 

[Tammy Saphiloff]

First Officer William McMaster Murdoch, is definitely my favorite and most loved Deck Officer.

 

[Dave Gittins]

My vote is for Joseph Boxhall, who did one of the most seamanlike actions of the night.

He ordered a box of green flares to be placed in his boat. After the ship sank, he displayed them at intervals and they were eventually seen by Carpathia. Carpathia was not right on course for the boats, so Captain Rostron made a course correction and found Boxhall's boat. Without the flares, Rostron would have missed the boats. He might even have run into the icefield beyond the wreck site at top speed, still looking for the boats. The survivors and Captain Rostron owed much to Boxhall's wise head.

 

[Carl Ireton]

Wow, that's a difficult one for me. I've always thought that all these officers were exceptional men. To me, it's incredible that these men were all brought together at this particular moment in time. If you read their biographies, you discover they all had experiences in their lives which created a strong sense of character, which eventually made them all legends. Not a one shrunk from his duty that terrible night, whether they stayed aboard the ship or manned a lifeboat. I'm just a ships officer stuck in a landlubbers body, but I wonder what I would have done if I'd been in their shoes that night, especially towards the end. Would I have fled in a boat? Would I have just stood on the deck immobile with shock? Would I have panicked and rushed people into the boats, lowered them too quickly, and dumped them into the freezing water below? Would I have put a gun to my head? Would I have taken my chances by jumping overboard into the water? Captain Smith, Chief Officer Wilde, First Officer Murdoch, and Sixth Officer Moody exhibited such professionalism by averting fear and panic, and spent their last hours on earth sacrificing their own lives in order that others might live. There was no thought in their minds that night of how they would be viewed by history a hundred years later. They were merely actors performing on the stage of life. The lights dim, the curtain drops, and angels descend to crown them with honor and glory. And I tip my hat to them.

 

[Carl Ireton]

I wish to add, as well, that as stated in posts above, there were many heroes that night, many known, many unsung, from First Class passengers to Steerage, from crewmen on deck, to crewmen below decks. Their actions that night are what continue to make the Titanic story such a fascinating and undying fixture in our lives.

 

[T. Eric Brown]

Hard to say who my favorite would be. All of them were pretty equally noble that night. Smith and Moody are probably my favorites (though I really admire Lowe and Boxhall). Here are my kudos for them all.

Captain Smith: For his general chivalry that night. Little more could have been expected of him.

First Officer Murdoch: For maintaining dignity and honor, suicide or not.

Second Officer Lightholler: For keeping the survivors on Collapsable B going despite being in almost as bad a shape as everyone else.

Third Officer Pitman: This is the officer I know least about. It was good of him to take charge of a boat and get them to safety.

Fourth Officer Boxhall: For saving the mail clerks from killing themselves over a little bit of mail (*Slap!* bad rumors!) . For lighting the flares that answered prayers.

Fifth Officer Lowe: For coming back.

Sixth Officer Moody: For answering the phone. (Is there actually any proof that he was on the other end of Fleet's call, or is that just another rumor?)

A salute for every one of those brave men,
Eric