{ { Infobox person
| name = Herbert "Bert" Pitman
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Herbert Pitman.png
| caption = Pitman in 1912, after the Titanic disaster
| occupation = Merchant Navy Officer
| birth_name = Herbert John Pitman
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Sutton Montis, Somerset, England, United Kingdom
| death_date =
| death_place = Pitcombe, Somerset, England, United Kingdom
| known_for = Third Officer of RMS Titanic
}}
Herbert John "Bert" Pitman MBE (20 November 1877 – 7 December 1961) was an English Merchant Navy seaman, who was the Third Officer of RMS Titanic when it sank in the North Atlantic Ocean with heavy loss of life after striking an iceberg during the night of 14 April 1912 on its maiden voyage. Pitman was notablely the only member of the command crew of the Titanic who was not a member of the Royal Naval Reserve.
Early life
Pitman was born in the Somerset village of Sutton Montis in England. He was the son of farmer Henry Pitman and Sarah (née Marchant) Pitman. After his father's death in 1880, his mother remarried, to Charles Candy. In 1881, a census shows Herbert Pitman was living on a farm on Sutton Road with his brother, sister, and widowed mother.
Sea career
Pitman first went to sea in 1895 at the age of 18 after joining the Merchant Navy. He received the shore part of his nautical training in the Navigation Department of the Merchant Venturers' Technical College, under Mr. E. F. White, and qualified as a Master Mariner in August 1906. He served a four-year apprenticeship with James Nourse Ltd. followed by five years as a Deck Officer. From 1904, he served one year as a Deck Officer with the Blue Anchor Line before moving to the Shire Line, with whom he served for six months. He moved to the White Star Line in 1906. While employed with White Star, he served as Fourth, Third and Second Officer on the vessels Delphic and Majestic, and as Fourth Officer on the Oceanic.
RMS Titanic
Like the other junior officers Pitman received a telegram early in 1912 directing him to report to White Star's Liverpool office at nine in the morning on 26 March of that year. There he collected his ticket for Belfast; he arrived there at noon the following day and reported to (then) Chief Officer William Murdoch. As the Titanic departed Southampton on 10 April, Pitman was assisting (now First) Officer Murdoch at the stern of the ship in supervising the casting-off of mooring ropes and taking on of tug lines. While the Titanic was at sea, Pitman's duties included working out celestial observation and compass deviation, general supervision of the decks, looking to the quartermasters, and relieving the bridge officers when necessary.
At the time of the Titanics collision with the iceberg, Pitman was off-duty, half-asleep in his bunk in the Officers' Quarters. He heard and felt the collision, later testifying that it felt like the ship "coming to an anchor." He was dressing for his watch when Fourth Officer Boxhall rushed in and informed him they had struck an iceberg and were taking on water. Pitman was then ordered to report to the starboard side of the ship to assist in uncovering lifeboats. After receiving the command to lower the boats, Murdoch ordered Pitman to take charge of Lifeboat No. 5. Before Pitman entered the lifeboat, Murdoch shook his hand saying "Goodbye; good luck." Pitman at this point did not believe that the Titanic was seriously endangered, and thought the evacuation of passengers was precautionary. He stepped into the lifeboat and it was lowered to the water. Murdoch had ordered Pitman to take the lightly loaded lifeboat to the gangway doors to take on more passengers there, but (as Pitman later testified) the doors failed to open as the lifeboat waited for this about 100 yards off from the ship.