Captain Herbert Haddock
- Olympic Refit
1st June 1912 Near Collision

Captain Herbert Haddock standing on possibly
the Olympic's boatdeck.
On this return journey to England, Haddock once again found himself in a predicament. It was June the 1st, just seven weeks after the Titanic disaster, when the Olympic almost ran aground on rocks near Land's End. The error was attributed to faulty navigation and it seems that what saved the ship was quick action as the engines were reversed and the ship sharply turned. Haddock was under strict observation for his next few voyages. (Mark Baber/Wikipedia)
Author Wade Sisson describes the event:
On the return voyage, Olympic nearly had a collision of her own ~ with the rocky cliffs of Land’s End at the tip of England. The ship was running at high speed at 10 p.m. on June 1 when a lookout spotted breaking water at the base of the rocks. The ship’s engines were ordered ‘Full astern’ and she narrowly avoided running aground. The incident was kept quiet at the time — so near to the loss of the Titanic. The collision was the result of a navigational error that had put her miles off course, and Captain Haddock was forced to submit to the humiliation of having a monitor on the bridge for future voyages.’ ("Racing Through the Night: Olympics' Attempt to Reach Titanic" - Wade Sisson)
6 July 1912 Grounding

Captain Herbert Haddock of the Olympic, The Evening
World newspaper, 12 April 1913. (Click to enlarge)
Haddock's challenges were not to end in June - the following month he was once again faced with bad press. The Olympic was departing New York on the 6th of July 1912 when her steering malfunctioned as she approached the Statue of Liberty:
Olympic was not under control, and Captain Haddock warned other ships in the harbor of this as the ship came to a stop, her bow nudged into the mud. It was an image of which White Star’s nightmares were made — Titanic’s sister ship run aground at the edge of New York harbor in full view of thousands of people along the shore, with Lady Liberty looking on as if disapprovingly.
Repairs were handled quickly, and within an hour, Haddock steamed out of New York harbor and out to sea. While some articles quoted unnamed marine experts who praised Captain Haddock’s handling of the incident, other papers showed a clear bias against White Star in their coverage of the incident. ("Racing Through the Night: Olympics' Attempt to Reach Titanic" - Wade Sisson)
September Propeller blade
On Friday the 13th September, 1912, yet another incident occurred, when the Olympic lost her port propeller blade at 12.45am. According to newspaper reports second class passengers rushed onto the deck thinking a collision had occurred while first class passengers only discovered the news at breakfast.
After one more voyage in September the Olympic was sent to Belfast for a full safety refit that would last until March 1913.

RMS Olympic post-Titanic disaster refit, in Southampton waters. Note the increased number of lifeboats. (Postcard/photograph: F.G.O. Stuart RPPC).
(Click image to enlarge)
1912-1913 Refit

Newspaper publicity from White Star advertising the
new Olympic as she re-enters service in 1913
following her major refit (Click to enlarge)
With the Olympic in Belfast for a full safety refit that included building an inner hull and extra watertight compartments, Haddock was moved onto other ships. On the 16th of December 1912, he was listed as aboard the Majestic, while on the 29th of January, he was back aboard the Oceanic.
But by April, he was aboard the newly renovated Olympic, being touted by the press as "two ships in one". It was one year since the Titanic disaster - a fact not lost on the newspaper coverage of Olympic at the time. But one curious entry is a large and very flattering account about Captain Haddock and the new Olympic that ran in The Evening World (New York) on Saturday the 12th of April 1913.
It describes Haddock as being "at the top of his profession" and that "the real limit of leviathan construction is the limit of the commander's mental capacity and endurance, and that has been reached." Haddock allegedly "sleeps during the five days of the Olympic's crossing with both eyes open… All responsibility of the ship that costs many millions, and for the 3,000 and more passengers and crew the Olympic is capable of carrying rests solely on the directing intelligence of this one man at all hours between piers... When the mighty Olympic left the port of New York today she sailed the safest ship afloat and under the guidance of the most careful commander on the seven seas." The article ends by stating that "Captain Haddock knows the Atlantic as a chess player knows his board." and that he "never deviates from his prescribed course one quarter-mile. His log for a trip is simply a repetition of the trip previous as far as his positions on the chart are concerned."

The RMS Olympic photographed departing in 1913, post-refit, with Haddock in command.
(Click image to enlarge)
See also...
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