As the passengers were so tightly packed, many were killed straight away while others died later from shrapnel wounds. Then two more boilers exploded. About 1,500 people were burned, trampled or ...

In January 1945, the overcrowded liner Wilhelm Gustloff fled the Soviet advance with thousands of refugees aboard. Struck by torpedoes in the freezing Baltic Sea, the ship sank in less than an hour.

The ship's captain is the master of all - but sometimes they got it wrong. Here are the fascinating tales of two of history's most incompetent captains - and one who was falsely accused of being so.