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
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