Captain Haddock Hergé thought this was a perfect name for Tintin’s new mariner friend, and so Captain Haddock was born. There was a real 20th-century ship's master bearing this unlikely but appropriate surname: Captain Herbert Haddock had been the skipper of the famous White Star Line's passenger vessel "Olympic". He had also been temporarily at the helm of Olympic's even more famous sister ship "Titanic" before "Titanic" was officially handed over to White Star for her doomed 1912 maiden voyage. Another famous namesake, and a possible inspiration for the Captain's ancestor Sir Francis, was the English admiral Richard Haddock, a veteran of
Nicholas Haddock (1723–1781) Nicholas Haddock (1723–1781) Nicholas Haddock (1723 – 19 July 1781) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1754 to 1761. Haddock was the son of Admiral Nicholas Haddock who was also MP for Rochester and the grandson of Admiral Sir Richard Haddock. He inherited Wrotham Place from his father in 1746. Haddock was elected Member of Parliament for Rochester in 1754 and held the seat to 1761. Haddock died on 19 July 1781, aged 58. Haddock married Miss Medhurst of Wrotham, but had no children. Wrotham Place passed to his brother and heir-at-law, Charles Haddock.