Charles Alfred Bartlett

Commodore Charles Alfred Bartlett (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 .

Biography

Born in London, 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 January 1912 he became marine superintendent of the White Star Line, in that position he was questioned by the British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic on 11 June 1912.

He is perhaps best remembered as the captain of the Britannic from 1915 to 21 November 1916, when the ship was sunk off Greece by a German-laid mine. After the war he served as Royal Naval Reserve aide-de-camp to King George V. Bartlett was known as "Iceberg Charlie" to his crew due to his alleged ability to detect icebergs miles away. He retired in 1931 and died in a nursing home in Waterloo near Liverpool on 15 February 1945 at age 76.

In popular culture Bartlett is fictionalised as "Barrett", portrayed by John Rhys-Davies in the 2000 Fox Family Channel movie Britannic. Bartlett is portrayed by Stephen Oliver in the 2017 historical docudrama The Mystery Of The Britannic.