What Happened to Captain Smith and Murdoch


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Jamie Bryant

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In Titanic he attempts to steer the ship underwater.
In a famous picture he is seen handing a baby to a lifeboat in the sea.
According to witnesses he went to the bridge.
Murdoch shoots Tommy Ryan dead in Titanic, though not true- he didn't shoot anyone!
Murdoch was last seen trying to free collapsible B according to numerous witnesses. But what happened to them?
 
Inger Sheil

Inger Sheil

Member
Both their fates are controversial - there are many conflicting versions of Smith's end in particular. If you go to the Crew Research section of ET and search through previous threads you'll find that this topic, as with Murdoch's last moments, has been the subject of considerable discussion and debate.

We cannot determine, at this time, whether Murdoch did or did not shoot anyone - there are some unconfirmed reports that he did shoot a crewman (obviously we can remove the fictional 'Tommy Ryan' from any list of potential candidates for standing in the way of those shots!).

It cannot be stated with certainty what happened to either man.
 
Inger Sheil

Inger Sheil

Member
Oh, I don't know, Mark - there are those persistent rumours about Captain Smith's survival
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Mark Robert Hopkins

Member
They've been saying the same thing about Elvis and Hitler. You don't buy that for one second, do you? ;) hehe. The way I see it, there's no way he could have.
 
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Susan Alby

Member
Mark,
I don't think I've ever seen Elvis and Hitler written in the same sentence before, ha ha!

Regarding Capt. Smith; even if he had managed to survive the sinking, what did have to look forward to? His illustrious career was over, he would have to sit thru countless hours of Senate inquiry and focus, not to mention the unimaginable guilt that he would have had over the loss of 1,500 men, woman, and children. Had he survived, all this would have taken a major toll on his physical and mental health.

I am sure that he would have gladly given up his own life if it meant saving everyone else aboard ship.

-Susan
 
Inger Sheil

Inger Sheil

Member
Now, I know you folks are aware I was joking, right? I don't even need to verify that, do I...? Lol!

Sometimes I wonder if there's a significant historical figure (or sometimes insignificant!) who isn't purported to have survived beyond their death.

Hmmm...must google up Robert Falcon Scott and Captain Oates...
 
Michael H. Standart

Michael H. Standart

Member
>>They've been saying the same thing about Elvis and Hitler. You don't buy that for one second, do you? ;) hehe. The way I see it, there's no way he could have.<<

Well, let's see: Uncle Adolf did a brainectomy on himself with a pistol, and the body was thereafter burned, found by the Soviets, buried secretly in an unmarked grave, exhumed supposedly in the late 70's and destroyed, but a skull fragment remains with a bullet hole in the KGB archives...conspicuously *not* attatched to the owner...some evidence that Hitler was suffering from Parkinsons Disease near the time of his demise...(Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!) After all that, I would hope by now that he's dead. If he's not, he needs to be put in a cage somewhere and studied!
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Now on a serious note, since I *do* know that a lot of this was tounge in cheek:

>>Regarding Capt. Smith; even if he had managed to survive the sinking, what did have to look forward to?<<

Not an awful lot. He could have counted on being raked over the coals at the inquiries, and even if he didn't face criminal charges, he could have looked forward to a long and dreary retirement as a periah. Dead, he became a hero. Alive he would have been a zero.
 
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Mark Robert Hopkins

Member
Well, if he had discretely survived somehow, he could have gone unnoticed for years (just as Bride had somehow done?), escaping the condemnation by bureaucrats and politicians who would think all that time he had been dead. Still, he couldn't have escaped the memory of those 1,500...
 
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Mark Robert Hopkins

Member
>>Sometimes I wonder if there's a significant historical figure (or sometimes insignificant!) who isn't purported to have survived beyond their death.<<

Inger,

Sometimes I think that form of publicity goes with the show when you're famous.
 
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Ryan Patrick Thiessen

Member
Not that it's important or anything, but in the JC movie, Murdoch shoots Fabrizio...not Tommy Ryan. Tommy puts on the bloodstained lifebelt and fights for his own survival. And we know how that went for him don't we? OK back to important stuff...
 
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