Captain Charles Alfred Bartlett 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.
Biography[]
Early life[]
He was born in London on 21st August 1868, the illegitimate son of Captain Sir John Sydney Webb and Ellen Bartlett.
In 1898 he married Edith Kate Ellis and they were blessed with two children, Charles and Eileen.
Career[]
Bartlett served six years with the British-India Steam Navigation Company before joining the White Star Line in 1894. He was appointed as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1893.
In 1903 Charles Bartlett was given his first command as captain of the the Armenian (a cargo vessel, run by White Star's subsidiary company, Leyland Line), but he was quickly promoted and given command of a number of White Star's premier passenger liners including Germanic, Gothic, Republic, Cymric, Romanic and Cedric.
Bartlett was known as "Iceberg Charlie" to his crew due to his alleged ability to detect icebergs miles away.
In 1912, Bartlett was questioned by the British Inquiry investigating the sinking of the Titanic. He was appointed Marine Superintendent, therefore he was rather familiar with the Titanic and her crew. He was questioned several days about numerous things including boat drills, the course of the Titanic and he was asked several questions about her Officers.
When the First World War broke out, Bartlett joined the Royal Navy as a member of the Royal Naval Reserve and commanded the armed yacht HMY Verona on trawler patrol in the North Sea. For his services, he was promoted to Commodore R.N.R. and made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
Britannic[]
Later, White Star selected none other than "Iceberg Charlie" and on 23rd December 1915, without ceremony, His Majesty's Hospital Ship Britannic sailed on her maiden voyage out of Liverpool, bound for Mudros on the Greek island of Lemnos - the Allied collection point for casualties from the Dardanelles. After only 2 voyages the failed Dardanelles campaign was over, and Britannic was released from war-service, to be converted back to a passenger liner. Scarcely had this work begun when the government U-turned, and decided that the Britannic was required again for hospital duties, this time for the Salonica campaign. In her short life, she was to make just 5 complete voyages, bringing over 10,000 British wounded back to England, landing at Southampton. On each uneventful voyage, Captain Bartlett was in command.
The Britannic's fateful sixth and final voyage began on 12th November 1916 when, again under Bartlett, the ship left Southampton for Mudros. On the morning of November 21st the Britannic was steaming at full speed (21 knots) off the Gulf of Athens, near the island of Kea. The 8 o'clock watch was coming on and the watertight-doors were opened temporarily to allow the crew easier passage around the ship.
Suddenly, at 8.12 A.M, a violent explosion shook the Britannic and she shuddered and quivered throughout her length. On the bridge, Captain Bartlett assessed the situation, and ordered the closure of the watertight doors and the sending of a distress signal.
While Bartlett pondered his best move, the crew carried out his orders to make ready the boats. Captain Bartlett then made his decision. He would try and beach Britannic on the shores of the island of Kea, only 3 miles distant. This risky action would seal Britannic's fate, for unknown to the captain, a simple human-error had tipped the already finely-balanced scales against Britannic's survival.
At this point a terrible scene unfolded. Some of the crew and medical staff panicked and tried to launch lifeboats without orders, while the Britannic was still underway. While the officers could only watch in horror, two boats were inexorably drawn towards the Britannic's thrashing propellers and turned to matchwood, their desperate human cargo dismembered by the scything blades.
On the bridge, Captain Bartlett sensed his vessel was lost, and at 8.35 am he ordered "Stop Engines" and officially gave the order to abandon ship. The starboard list was now huge and the crew struggled to launch the boats although no fewer than 35 boats eventually managed to leave the stricken liner. Captain Bartlett was the last to leave the ship, and still dressed in his pyjamas, he stepped off the bridge during the final plunge. The time was 9.07 am, just 55 minutes after the huge explosion.
Later life[]
Bartlett later returned to Crosby and his shore-job as Marine Superintendent. For a time he served as aide-de-camp to King George V. In 1921 Bartlett was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). At his investiture, King George V commented that it was not often he gave a CBE to a man who had lost his ship.
He retired in 1931 and died in a nursing home in Waterloo near Liverpool on 15 February 1945 at age 76.
Portrayals[]
Britannic (2000)[]
John Rhys-Davies as Captain Bartlett in Britannic (film)
In the Britannic film, Bartlett is played by actor John Rhys-Davies. However, his name is incorrectly spelled as "Barrett" instead of "Bartlett".
At first he was shown to often underestimate Vera Cambell, who is a British intelligence because she is a woman, judged not to be able to do her job as well as men.
"Take him!"
When the ship was sabotaged by the German crew, Bartlett was held hostage by one of the crew and threatened with shooting, but was stopped by the crew of Britannic and Vera Camble. Instead, Chaplain Reynolds, who was actually a German spy, also helped to save Bartlett to keep his cover up.
Bartlett and the Britannic's crew immediately searched for the other German sabotagers in the engine room, and managed to beat them. He later apologized to Camble, for having doubted her and threw a dinner to honor Camble and Reynolds.
The next day, HMS Victoria sent a wireless to Britannic, saying that they saw a German U-boat on the starboard bow. Bartlett immediately ordered it to be "hard to port", and prepared to evacuate. The U-Boat fired two torpedoes, but the first one missed but the second remained a threat. First Officer Townsend readied a guns, and fired at the second torpedo so it wouldn't hit Britannic's hull. Fortunately, Townsend's fire destroyed the torpedo, and HMS Victoria managed to sink the German U-Boat.
"We have been torpedoed or have hit a mine"
At early morning on November 21st, 1916, Chaplain Reynolds blew up the port bow hull and severed the controls for the watertight doors so that they could not close. Bartlett immediately ordered Townsend to seek damage, and prepare to anchor the ship on Kea Island, which is 7 miles away.
The evacuation begins, but Bartlett still didn't allow the launch of the lifeboat, until finally he realized that the ship will not make it to shore and approved the lifeboat launch. Bartlett remained on the bridge until all the passengers had left the ship.
On the lifeboat, Bartlett stared at the sinking Britannic, saying how much of a waste it was that this beautiful ship sank.
The cause of the explosion was controversial. Many survivors thought she was struck by a torpedo. But others thought it was mine that did the ship in. After the war the captain of the German submarine U-73 admited to having laid two barriers of six mines that lay in Britannic's path. And examination of the seabed near the wreck of the ship showed mine cradles confirming the idea that Britannic was sunk by a mine.
The Mystery of the Britannic (2017)[]
Stephen Oliver as Captain Bartlett in The Mystery of the Britannic
In The Mystery of the Britannic, Bartlett is played by Stephen Oliver.