Titanic

A photograph taken on the bridge of the Kinfauns Castle of Captain D. Hoskins with the young Earl of MacDuff who was travelling with his father Prince Arthur of Connaught. The picture is frequently mistaken for Captain Smith of the Titanic and the boy is sometimes misidentified as Robert Spedden. The correct identification is courtesy Jonathan Smith, TRMA Discussion Forum.

This famous image from the collection of photographs taken by Rev Francis M. Browne aboard Titanic is often misidentified as Captain Smith. It is of Titanic - the starboard promenade A deck. But it is not Captain Smith- he was on duty at the time, as Titanic had just left Southampton and was passing the Portuguese RMSP Tagus, April 10, 1912.

This image appears all over the internet, primarily in image and photographic libraries, sometimes charging large amounts of money for the license. However it is clearly not Captain Smith - he bears little resemblance. In reality it is Captain Joseph Barlow Ranson, who commanded Britannic, the photograph taken in December 1915. Ranson was a White Star Line captain born in 1864 (date of death unknown), and was captain of the RMS Adriatic, and also of the RMS Baltic which, on 14th April 1912, sent the Titanic a wireless message that icebergs had been sighted. Previously, Ranson, as captain of Baltic had been awarded the Lloyd’s Life Saving Medal after he rescued 1700 passengers and crew from the RMS Republic in 1909. (Courtesy of Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group, Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Graeme Jupp and Cork Examiner)

This photograph appeared in Henry Aldridge & Son auction described as an "extremely rare sepia photograph, believed to be showing Titanic's Captain Edward J. Smith at the launch of an unknown liner. He is wearing his Mecantile Marine cap rather than White Star uniform. Although undated it is thought the photograph was taken around 1909/1910. 6ins x 4½ins." However on closer inspection is clear the man is not Edward Smith, with a far more pointed face. (See below)

A close up from the above photograph reveals a man who does not look like Captain Edward Smith.

This image appeared in a Youtube video by the video game "Honor & Glory" team as Chief Officer Wilde. It is actually Fourth Officer David W. Alexander, of the Olympic. This photograph is discussed in more detail here.

This image (digitally enhanced) is often identified as First Officer Murdoch. There are similarities but it is not him. It is most likely Fourth Officer Browne, who appeared in a series of photographs aboard the Oceanic in 1909 found in the Bell Album (www.titanicphotographs.com). Please compare with these photographs of Browne:

This image is found all over the internet, on news articles and even on the cover of a Lightoller relative's book (see here). However it is actually Third Officer Henry.C.Cater of the Olympic. Although Carter bears little resemblence to Lightoller, the confusion is due to a memorial postcard that took an image of Captain Smith and his Olympic officers and captioned it as the officers of the Titanic. More information on the confusion here.

A slightly alternate version of the above photograph, this image is also found all over the internet. However it is actually Third officer Henry.C.Cater of the Olympic. The confusion is due to a memorial postcard that took an image of Captain Smith and his Olympic officers and captioned it as the officers of the Titanic. More information on the confusion here.

This image also often appears alongside articles about Second officer Lightoller. However it looks nothing like him. It is actually Titanic's original Second Officer, David Blair - see his full biography here.

This image, on display in the Southampton SeaCity Musuem and also found in some books is actually the fourth officer's father, Joseph Boxhall, in Wilson Line uniform.

This image, is often used for Titanic's Fourth officer Boxhall, but it is actually 4th Officer David W. Alexander of the Olympic. The confusion is due to a memorial postcard that took an image of Captain Smith and his Olympic officers and captioned it as the officers of the Titanic. More information on the confusion here.

This image often appears as Sixth officer Moody, however, similar to the proported Lightoller images, the error comes from the Olympic officers photograph which has been wrongly labelled as Titanic. This is actually Fifth Officer A. Tulloch. More information on the confusion here.