New book reveals chilling accounts of Titanic captains last moments on sinking ship

He claimed that they were telling a Titanic lie.While Titanic Captain Edward John Smith’s official cause of death remains one of history’s enduring mysteries, author Dan E.Parkes has thrown cold water on theories that he took his own life, claiming these rumors unfairly tarnished his legacy.He made these bombshell claims in the book “Titanic Legacy: The Captain, the Daughter and the Spy,” which details eyewitness accounts from shipwreck survivors, who discuss, among other things, how Captain Smith met his end, the Daily Mail reported.Over 1,500 people died when the RMS Titanic sank on April 14-15, 1912, following its fateful collision with an iceberg in one of the most notorious maritime disasters in history.Unfortunately, the British Naval Officer’s body was never recovered — only 337 ever were — spawning a wide range of explanations as to how he perished.These ranged from accounts of him gallantly going down with the ship — as depicted in James Cameron’s 1997 epic “Titanic” — to conspiracy theories claiming that the legendary mariner was living in disguise in Maryland.As author Wyn Craig Wade wrote in “The Titanic: End of a Dream,” Captain Smith — who was played by the late Bernard Hill in the film — “had at least five different deaths, from heroic to ignominious,” according to History.com.The most heartbreaking forensic postulation came three days after the tragedy, when the Los Angeles Express proclaimed on its front page: “Captain E.J.

Smith shot himself.”A day later, the UK’s Daily Mirror declared on its front page: “Captain Smith Shoots Himself on the Bridge.”During inquiries into the maritime tragedy held in New York and London, survivors claimed they’d also heard rumors of the 62-year-old commodore’s ignominious end.Suicide was seen as a cowardly way to go out during a time when the captain was honor-bound to go down with the ship.And that was just the tip of the iceberg: There were also controversial rep...