Officer Jackson - A Case of Limited Research
Titanic (1953)

The 1953 film Titanic starring Barbara Stanwyck, Clifton Webb, Brian Aherne and Robert Wagner was the first film made in an English-speaking country since the 1912 Saved from the Titanic about the Titanic tragedy which included the name of the ship in its title. (The German/British co-production Atlantik (1929) avoids the name.) It is also the first film that expressly claims that the events depicted in the film are historical facts. The claim is only made for the navigational details which are said to be taken verbatim from the published reports and inquiries by the Congress of the United States and the British Board of Trade.
To claim historical accuracy is always dangerous. It is almost inevitable that some mistakes are made, whether due to the limited scope of the research or for dramatic purposes. Equally inevitable these mistakes will be found out by people who have researched the facts in greater detail and are of a nitpicky disposition (i.e. people like me). In the era of the internet even the most minute details will be picked over. Up to the fact that the jacket somebody is wearing has a button of a kind that was first produced in 1922. (The 'goofs' section on the IMDb for Titanic (1997) is an amusing list of errors big and small.)
While the film's main storyline concentrates on the marriage troubles of the Sturges and its effect on the two children as well as the daughter's blossoming affair with the all-American Gifford Rogers, some time is also taken to depict the running of the ship. The close observer of these scenes will have no difficulties spotting some errors, e.g. the watch-keeping Officers drawing lots as to who is to have which watch.
The research made by or for the screenwriters also seemed to have stopped short of finding out the full crew complement. The band leader is called Mr McDermond instead of Wallace Hartley and the credits include a lookout named Devlin. [Richards, A Night to Remember, says they were 'inexplicably renamed', p. 24.] An Officer Jackson appears as well.
Officer Jackson is a rather nondescript person of unaccounted rank but seems to be a junior officer. He is first mentioned by name when Lightoller, who has himself just taken over the watch from the Chief Officer, tells Jackson to take over so he can go to inform the Captain about an ice warning the ship has received. While I am by no means an expert on the rules of running a ship in 1912, I am quite certain that the officer on watch was not supposed to leave the bridge. The timing is also off: Lightoller catches up with the Captain towards the end of the church service held in the First Class Dining Room which would make it approximately 11 am. Lightoller's watch, however, ended at 10 am. And while he did take over the watch from Wilde this happened at 6 am.
Officer Jackson is later seen making the last entry in the log, after this we lose sight again of his character.
The presence of a fictional officer in a film that, despite the opening claim of accuracy, does depart from historic facts significantly, is not surprising and may seem hardly worth mentioning. Officer Jackson's role in the film is so minute, it is easy to miss. No 'Officer Jackson' is mentioned in the credits of the film, and while the Internet Movie Database lists the actor who plays Lightoller in the 'uncredited' section as well as a number of 'junior officers' or just 'officers', all uncredited, none of them is given a name.
However, I am somewhat at a loss to explain why the researcher failed to find out the names of the junior officers of the Titanic particularly since it claims to be based on the official inquiries into the sinking of the Titanic. These naturally did include the names of the all the ship's officers.
In the end, the presence of an Officer Jackson shows that while the writers were attempting to stay true to the historical facts, and compared to earlier films they certainly achieved this goal, their interest to do so obviously did not extend to the names of the junior officers.  

Back to Fictional Officers of the Titanic