George Bowyer

George William Bowyer (16 October 1859 – 21 June 1945) was a British maritime pilot for Trinity House. He is best known for being the long-time pilot who was tasked with taking ships from Southampton through the Solent, most notably doing so with the RMS Titanic during her ill-fated maiden voyage.

Bowyer was in charge of the RMS Olympic when it collided with HMS Hawke in 1911 and was found to be at fault for the accident in subsequent inquiries. However, despite this, the White Star Line continued to use his services until his retirement in 1929.

Early life Bowyer was born in The Cottage, West Gate in Southampton, Hampshire, one of nine children born to Richard Bowyer and Sarah .

Career Bowyer's father and uncle were both Southampton pilots and he followed the same family career, starting as an apprentice pilot in 1871. In 1890, he was appointed as pilot for the Union Line with whom he piloted ships such as the Roman, German, Arab, Nubian, Tartar, Mexican, Moor, and Scot. During the Second Boer War, he piloted the majority of troop transport ships, including the and .

Olympic–Hawke collision

On 20 September 1911, Bowyer was in charge of the brand new White Star liner which had begun her fifth voyage. While travelling down the Solent, the ship found itself sailing parallel to the Royal Navy cruiser .

The Hawke, under the command of William Frederick Blunk, took course to overtake on Olympics starboard side. To his surprise, however, the cruiser began turning and drawing towards the liner, probably by a combination of water displacement and propeller suction. Hawkes bow, which had been designed to sink ships by ramming them, collided with Olympics starboard side near the stern, tearing two large holes in Olympics hull, above and below the waterline, resulting in the flooding of two of her watertight compartments and a twisted propeller shaft. Olympic settled slightly by the stern, while Hawke suffered severe damage to her bow but also managed to stay afloat.

According to later testimony, seconds before the Hawke struck Olympic, Captain Edward Smith and Bowyer had a short exchange:

Smith did not reply immediately, and a few seconds later Bowyer asked the captain, "Is she going to strike us or not, sir?" to which Smith replied, "Yes she is going to strike us in the stern." Bowyer immediately gave the order to go hard to port to Quartermaster Albert Haines who only just managed to turn the helm hard over with the Hawke struck.