Captain Haddock with his characteristic temper somewhat inspired by Tintin colourist E.P. Jacobs and his bluffness drawn from Tintin artist Bob de Moor. Harry Thompson has commented on how Hergé utilised the character to inject humour into the plot, notably "where Haddock plays the fool to smooth over a lengthy explanation." Captain Haddock is especially notable in "The Red Sea Sharks", where his skillful captaining of the ship he and Tintin seize from Rastapopoulos allows them to survive until they are rescued, and is especially noble in the pivotal "Tintin in Tibet", volunteering to sacrifice his life to save Tintin's own. By
Haddock recorded was in length and weighed , however, haddock are rarely over in length and the vast majority of haddocks caught in the United Kingdom measure between and . In eastern Canadian waters haddock range in size from to in length and and in weight. The haddock has populations on either side of the north Atlantic but it is more abundant in the eastern Atlantic than it is on the North American side. In the north-east Atlantic it occurs from the Bay of Biscay north to Spitzbergen, however, it is most abundant north of the English Channel. The largest stocks