Titanic: History in an Hour. Sinead Fitzgibbon

Line for new ship-building contracts, so he had a vested interest in the continuing success of Ismay’s company. It is widely believed that over the course of this dinner the two men concocted an audacious plan to regain the advantage over the Cunard Line.

      With the cavalier attitude of those spending someone else’s money, Pirrie and Ismay (pictured together below) decided that Harland & Wolff would build three state-of-the-art ships for the White Star Line. The new liners would be gigantic – at least 50 per cent larger and 100 feet longer than both the Lusitania and the Mauretania. They would offer passengers unparalleled luxury and comfort.

      Pirrie and Ismay on board the Titanic Photograph by Robert John Welch (1859–1936), official photographer for Harland & Wolff

      Suitable names were needed for these sister ships, names which would be commensurate with their size and grandeur – they settled on the Olympic, the Titanic and the Britannic.

       The Building of a Leviathan

      After this initial dinner meeting, Pirrie and Ismay quickly set to work. The proposed ships would be so huge that Harland & Wolff would need to overhaul their entire operation in order to accommodate them. The shipyards at Harland & Wolff underwent a significant re-vamp, which involved converting their three existing berths into two, over which a 220-foot-high gantry was installed. For his part, Ismay set about lobbying the New York Harbour Board for permission to build a new pier, large enough to berth his monstrous new vessels. Pirrie’s designs were endlessly debated, while Ismay encountered difficult negotiations with the Harbour Board.

      By the end 1908, as an agreement with the New York authorities looked likely and the ship’s blueprints were finalized, work could at last get underway. It was decided that the Olympic and the Titanic would be constructed almost in tandem, with plans for the building of the Britannic put on hold until after the completion of her sister ships. On 16 December, the first keel plate was laid for the Olympic, with Titanic’s following three months later, on 31 March 1909.

       White Star Line Promotional Poster

      The process of building a ship is a complicated one. First, the hull (the lower part of the vessel) is constructed in a dry berth. Once completed, the hull (still no more than an empty shell) is ‘launched’ down a ramp into water. It is then towed to a fitting-out basin, where all the necessary equipment, machinery, fixtures and fittings are installed. When it is entirely kitted-out, the ship returns to a dry dock, where the propellers are attached. Then, after one last coat of paint, the gleaming new ship is tugged into harbour and handed over to its proud owners.

      Even though Harland & Wolff devoted innumerable man-hours to the construction of the Olympic and the Titanic, the sheer scale of the undertaking meant the hulls would not be completed for nearly two years. Eventually, on 20 October 1910, the Olympic was launched from her berth (pictured below). While this was cause for great excitement, all eyes were on another, more significant, milestone, which was scheduled for 31 May of the following year.

      Titanic and Olympic under construction c. 1910

      In a move to capitalize on the inevitable public interest in these new superliners, Harland & Wolff had arranged for the launch of Titanic’s hull to occur on the same day they handed over the newly fitted-out Olympic to the White Star Line. This meant that the partially completed Titanic would sit alongside her sister ship in water for the very first time. This guaranteed unparalleled media interest in the Olympic and Titanic, and consequently, Harland and Wolff sold thousands of tickets to the event. On the day, hordes of spectators joined distinguished dignitaries on three specially constructed grandstands – all eager to witness this historic moment.

      At exactly 12.05 p.m., two loud rockets were fired, followed by another five minutes later. Thus heralded, at 12.13 p.m. Titanic’s hull began to make its way down the greasy slipway and into water for the first time. The displacement of such a large structure was made possible by greasing the ramp with huge quantities of lubricant – 23 tonnes of animal fat, soap and train oil. The launch lasted 62 seconds, and the RMS Titanic was afloat at last.

      At 3.00 p.m. the same day, Harland & Wolff formally delivered the Olympic to the White Star Line, after which the Olympic got her first taste of the sea, setting sail for Liverpool with Morgan, Ismay and a host of other illustrious names on board. The ambitious dreams of J. Bruce Ismay and Lord Pirrie had finally become reality.

       RMS Titanic: A Ship Unlike Any Other

      While the Olympic sailed for England, Titanic took her place in the fitting-out basin. The installation of machinery, equipment and fixtures was a painstaking process, which would take ten months and several million man-hours to complete.

      Titanic was furnished with twenty-nine massive boilers and three engines, which were serviced by four huge smokestacks or funnels. This state-of-the-art machinery allowed for an almost unprecedented top speed of 22.5 knots (or nautical miles per hour), which was also no doubt assisted by her three gigantic propellers, the largest of which measured 23.5 feet in diameter and weighed around 15 tonnes. So gigantic were the propellers (pictured below) a team of twenty horses was employed to pull them from the workshop prior to fitting.

      Titanic’s Giant Propellers, at the Harland & Wolff shipyard 31 May 1911 Photograph by Robert John Welch (1859–1936), official photographer for Harland & Wolff

      As RMS Titanic slowly began to take shape, it became clear that she would outshine even the Olympic. Although almost identical in design, the Titanic was a full 1,004 tonnes larger than her elder sibling. At 882.75 feet in length and 92 feet in width, her dimensions were indeed awe-inspiring. With her four funnels in place, her height was measured at a staggering 175 feet, and her weight was a massive 46,000 tonnes. At full capacity, she could accommodate 2,600 passengers and a crew of 940.

      The sheer scale of the new ship was conveyed in an article in the Southampton Pictorial, its author having viewed the berth in Southampton, prior to her maiden voyage.

      Perhaps the most striking features of the great inert mass of metal are the four giant funnels – huge tawny brown and black capped elliptical cylinders of steel, dominating the other shipping in the port and dwarfing into insignificance the sheds on the quayside.

      RMS Titanic, it seemed, was certainly worthy of her name.

       In a Class of its Own

      If Titanic looked impressive from the outside, her interior appointments were even more extraordinary. The first-class areas of the ship were showcases of Edwardian splendour. Not one, but two staircases curved down from the upper to the lower first-class decks. One, known as the Grand Staircase was positioned near the front of the ship (forward) and the other towards the back (aft). The Olympic’s forward staircase – identical to Titanic’s – is pictured below.

      Both stairways boasted elaborately carved wooden banisters and beautiful wrought-iron balustrades. An exquisitely decorated clock, set into an ornate wooden panel, was placed on the landing at the top of the front staircase. The walls were lined with polished oak panelling inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and these were illuminated by a flood of natural light which streamed through the huge glass dome crowning the forward staircase. Ornate gold-plated light fixtures glittered from the ceilings at night.