Latest news with #DanParkes
BBC News
02-08-2025
- General
- BBC News
The forgotten first captain of the Titanic from Rugby
When people think of the captain of the Titanic most will think of Edward Smith, with his big white beard, made famous by films telling the story of the ship's ill-fated maiden what not many people know is that the Titanic's first captain was naval officer Herbert Haddock from Rugby in Warwickshire, who was in charge of the vessel for just six Haddock "was a man of dignity", said historian Dan Parkes, who had been commended for his work at White Star Line, the owner of RMS Titanic, and was given the responsibility of getting the ocean liner ready for its first sea the time of the sinking he was in charge of Titanic's sister ship RMS Olympic and relayed its distress calls before it sank on 15 April 1912, with the loss of 1,500 Parkes is now calling for Captain Haddock to be more widely recognised. Captain Haddock was raised in Rugby, and his house at 21 Market Place was registered in his name until Parkes said in 1875, aged 14 or 15, he went to train at HMS Conway near 27 he joined the White Star Line as fourth officer, where he "earned a reputation for being an excellent captain and being super-intelligent", he newspaper article described him as a "man with two brains" and he rapidly earned 25 March 1912, he was made captain of the Titanic as it sat at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Parkes said it was a "very important stage of Titanic's life". While the Titanic was docked at Belfast, waiting to go on its first sea trial, Captain Haddock "would have been helping with provisioning, helping arrange the crew and there was also some media".There was "the very important aspect of ensuring the ship's safety features were all in working order, as the Board of Trade would be testing everything before signing it off for its maiden voyage", added the 1 April 1912, after just six days in charge, he was replaced by the older Captain Smith, from Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, who had been captain of the pair swapped roles, and Captain Haddock took charge of the Olympic Parkes said it was thought at the time that at 11 years younger, he may have eventually taken over as captain of the Titanic once 62-year-old Captain Smith retired. "He was certainly a good replacement," he said. When the Titanic sank, the Olympic was also on a trans-Atlantic trip to New York and had been around 500 miles behind the Titanic. It received its distress calls, but Mr Parkes said neither of the boats had been built for speed, and "there was no way" it would reach the Titanic in time to provide Titanic sank when it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New Parkes said Captain Haddock "played a vital role in transmitting those messages after the disaster and attempting to get to the location as quickly as possible".He also stopped any parties or music on the Olympic, out of respect, he said."I am hoping history remembers him as the first captain of the Titanic but also as a man who did his best to handle the fallout of the disaster." After the disaster, Captain Haddock had to deal with complaints from his own crew once they became aware of the ship's poor safety standards."Before Titanic he was doing brilliantly, captaining some of the largest vessels and doing an excellent job, but once the Titanic disaster happened, his career started to falter," he Parkes thinks Captain Haddock's story should be more widely known, said: "I don't think there's any film that has portrayed Haddock as being the ship's first captain, or the race that the Olympic made to the Titanic's distress position, but it isn't as dramatic as the classes of people on a sinking ship.""Sometimes the truth isn't as interesting as the dramatisation," Mr Parkes added. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- BBC News
Victorian viaduct upgrade aims to improve reliability of rail
The upgrade of a viaduct in Cornwall will improve the reliability of rail travel in the county, Network Rail has has been undertaken on Ponts Mill viaduct, near St Blazey, to strengthen the 152-year-old structure, which carries the Newquay branch line over the River a planned closure in March, the timber decks of the bridge were replaced with steel decks, the bridge girders were strengthened, and the rails, sleepers, and ballast were replaced, Network Rail upgrade is a part of a £56.8m rail project aimed at connecting Cornwall's coasts. In recent months, a 10mph (16km/h) speed limit has been in place, adding to journey times and meaning trains used extra fuel to slow down to travel over the viaduct and then accelerate after crossing. Network Rail said after extensive work to strengthen the structure, the speed restriction had been removed and trains were now travelling at 30mph (48km/h).It said although strengthening work was complete, work continued to paint the steel on the viaduct and repair the stone of the three columns and two Parkes, programme manager at Network Rail, said part of the "major project" involved work to "preserve an historic structure".He said: "We're grateful to the local community for their patience while we completed the work."
