That act was significant. Courteous, kindly, of quiet
demeanor and soft words, he was known and loved by thousands
of travelers.
When the English firm, A. Gibson & Co.9 of Liverpool,
purchased the American clipper, Senator Weber, in 1869,
Captain Smith, then a boy, sailed on her. For seven years
he was an apprentice on the Senator Weber, leaving that vessel
to go to the Lizzie Fennell, a square rigger, as fourth officer.
From there he went to the old Celtic of the White Star Line
as fourth officer and in 1887 he became captain of that vessel.
For a time he was in command of the freighters Cufic and
Runic; then he became skipper of the old Adriatic.
Subsequently he assumed command of the Celtic, Britannic,
Coptic (which was in the Australian trade), Germanic, Baltic,
Majestic, Olympic and Titanic, an illustrious list of vessels
for one man to have commanded during his career.
It was not easy to get Captain Smith to talk of his
experiences. He had grown up in the service, was his comment,
and it meant little to him that he had been transferred from a
small vessel to a big ship and then to a bigger ship and finally
to the biggest of them all.
"One might think that a captain taken from a small ship
and put on a big one might feel the transition," he once said.
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