Just found this

[James Curry]

I asked co pilot who was the Master of the Titanic, In those days did they have a ships master? Yes I know Edward Smith was the Captain. But curious about this rank as I believe in the olden days the RN had a ships master and either a commander or Captain. So is this a throw back to the days of sail.

https://www.thefamouspeople.com/prof...doch-19041.php

William McMaster Murdoch, RNR, was a Scottish sailor, who was the First Officer on board the ill-fated RMS Titanic that sunk during its maiden voyage. He was in charge when the ship hit an iceberg that ultimately sunk it, leading to the deaths of over a thousand people onboard, including him. Born into a family of sailors, he joined his forefathers in the profession after attaining his basic education. He interned at various seafaring companies while passing several certification exams. After serving as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, he was employed by White Star Line and worked his way up the ranks. He was noted for his leadership when he saved a ship, ‘Arabic’ from collision. By the time he boarded the ‘Titanic’, he had notched up more than 16 years of experience. On the ill-fated day of the Titanic disaster, he is said to have given certain orders to avoid colliding with the iceberg, but the orders and his death remain controversial and shrouded in mystery. He is hailed as a Scottish hero and has been portrayed in several Titanic related films and documentaries.

Is the rank of First Officer a passenger thing as? as Chief Officer is a more familiar term to me. I vaguely remember in Blue Flue & ED's there was sunch a rank as first officer and the Chief officer was referred to as Chief Mate, in Blue Flue & ED's first officer was the senior 2nd mate anywhere else. As like a lot of the old liner companies certainly during my early years those ranks were away of paying loyaltiy as the top jobs were really dead mens shoes, even the Engineers had the rank of senior 2nd engineer for the same reasons.

Also concerning Captain Smith & William McMaster they both had been in the RNR.

I always thought the rank Captain was the RN and in merchant ships it was Master

[Des Taff Jenkins]

If you ever watch the film again, look for the helmsman as he is given the order "hard a port" or Starboard I can't remember now, but he spun the wheel in the opposite direction.
Des

[j.sabourn]

Probably said Larboard Des ,or maybe didn’t have his hearing aids in ? JS

[happy daze john in oz]

James, on UCL we had a chief officer who did not do a watch.
First, second, third and a couple of junior officers.
Some ships had a staff captain as well as skipper, all had chief engineer, refrigeration engineer as well.

Modern day cruise ships have skipper, staff captain, staff chief engineer as well as chief engineer.

[Tony Taylor]

If you ever watch the film again, look for the helmsman as he is given the order "hard a port" or Starboard I can't remember now, but he spun the wheel in the opposite direction.
Des

I watch old movies just to pick out the mistakes and terrible editing, just watched an old rerun of The Champions, where one guy parachutes out of airplane to land on an unkown tiny island in the North Pacific, the scene shows him floating down towards a large area totally covered in cultivated fields, a glaring mistake even for those days (70's).

[j.sabourn]

To make the scenario even worse Tony did they call the Island Atlantis ? JS
Or to make it the ultimate gaffe he could have jumped without his chute. Cheers JS.

[John Cassels]

If you ever watch the film again, look for the helmsman as he is given the order "hard a port" or Starboard I can't remember now, but he spun the wheel in the opposite direction.
Des

I was always under the impression that this was a throwback so the days of sail where orders were given with regards to the helm and not the wheel .