Quick Facts
Biography
Commodore Charles Alfred Bartlett CB CBE RD RNR (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.
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. He is perhaps best remembered as the captain of HMHS Britannic from 1915 to November 1916, when the ship was sunk off Greece by a German-laid mine. 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.
In Popular Culture
Captain Bartlett was portrayed by John Rhys-Davies in the 2000 Fox Family Channel movie Britannic. However, in the film his name is spelled "Barrett".