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
SS Belgian Captain Scotia. Convoy HX 254 departed New York on 27 August 1943 and arrived at Liverpool on 12 September. "Belgian Captain" was carrying a cargo of steel and lumber bound for Sunderland. There were complaints from other ships in the convoy that "Belgian Captain" did not repeat flag signals, despite orders to all ships to do so. Convoy ON 206 departed Liverpool on 11 October 1943 bound for New York. Convoy ON 291 departed Southend-on-Sea, Essex on 17 March 1945 bound for New York. In 1946, "Belgian Captain" was sold to Compagnie Maritime Belge SA and was renamed "Capitain Lambe". Her