Charles Alfred Bartlett
Commodore Charles Alfred Bartlett CB CBE RD (21 August 1868 – 15 February 1945) was a merchant seaman and Royal Naval Reserve officer, who achieved command status with the White Star Line shipping company, including as captain of HMHS Britannic.
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Born in London, Bartlett served six years with the British-India Steam Navigation Company before joining the White Star Line in 1894.[1] He was appointed as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1893.[2] He is perhaps best remembered as the captain of the Britannic from 1915 to November 1916, when the ship was sunk off Greece by a German-laid mine. Bartlett was known as "Iceberg Charlie" to his crew due to his alleged ability to detect icebergs miles away.[3] He retired in 1931 and died in a nursing home in Waterloo near Liverpool on 15 February 1945 at age 76.[4]
In popular culture
Captain Bartlett was portrayed by John Rhys-Davies in the 2000 Fox Family Channel movie Britannic. However, in the film his name is spelled "Barrett", probably mistaken for Titanic's surviving head stoker "Fred Barrett".
References
- The last log of the Titanic, By David G. Brown. Pg. 127
- "No. 26440". The London Gazette. 12 September 1893. p. 5221.
- Sea breezes: the ship lovers' digest, Volume 45, pg. 144
- Sea breezes: the ship lovers' digest, Volume 45, pg. 233