Captain Haddock the time of their last completed and published adventure, "Tintin and the Picaros", Haddock had become such an important figure that he dominates much of the story. Captain (Archibald) Haddock's ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock, is hinted at being the illegitimate son of the French Sun King (Louis XIV), a possible reference to Hergé's own family history— Hergé liked to believe that his father was the illegitimate son of the Belgian king Leopold II. As Hergé was considering names for his new character, he asked his wife, Germaine, what she had cooked for dinner. She told him, “a sad English fish—haddock.”
Herbert Haddock was under strict observation for his next few voyages. Haddock was in command of "Olympic" in 1914 during her attempt to assist HMS "Audacious" after she had collided with a German mine. "Olympic" was subsequently laid up until being converted to a troopship at the outbreak of World War I. Haddock was redeployed to command a dummy fleet of wooden dreadnoughts and battle cruisers, and was stationed in Belfast. In 1915, Harold Sanderson, head of International Mercantile Marine, tried to reassign Haddock to captain "Britannic" when she was converted to a hospital ship. However, the Admiralty refused to release Haddock