Titanic (2 page)

(Preceding image)
Crew members carry luggage onto the RMS
Titanic
as passengers board at Queenstown, Ireland, on April 11, 1912.

“Mummy! At last we are on the ’lantic.”

— Frankie Goldsmith, age 9

When an Irish lad named Frank Browne was seventeen, his uncle Robert gave him a camera. Frank fell in love with photography and before long he was snapping that shutter everywhere he went.

Fifteen years later, Frank was a teacher, preparing to become a priest just like his uncle. One day he received a wonderful surprise in the mail — another gift from Uncle Robert. This time it was a once-in-a-lifetime treat — a ticket for a two-day cruise on the maiden voyage of the RMS
Titanic
. First class!

Frank traveled from his home in Dublin, Ireland, to London’s Waterloo Station to board the “
Titanic
Special.” He rode the first class passenger train, which left at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, April 10, 1912, heading for the port of Southampton, about 78 miles away. (An earlier train, for second and third class passengers, had departed bright and early, at 7:30 a.m.) Frank reached the White Star Dock at 11:30 a.m., just in time for the ship’s noon departure.

Like so many people that day, Frank could barely contain his excitement. Before him was a breathtaking sight — the largest and most luxurious ship the world had ever seen, a masterpiece of human engineering, class, and comfort.

Not only that, she was safe. The
Titanic,
as everyone knew, was practically unsinkable.

The
Titanic
was built in Belfast, Ireland, by the shipbuilding firm of Harland and Wolff especially for the White Star Line steamship company. Although the airplane had been invented in 1903, it wasn’t until the 1950s that regular transatlantic jet service became available. So in 1912, when the
Titanic
sailed, people were still relying on ships to cross the seas, just as they had for centuries.

As the twentieth century dawned, travelers wanted luxurious accommodations on board ships — and reliability. The White Star Line aimed to give its customers the best, and beat out its rival company, the Cunard Line, which had built its own new luxury liner, the
Lusitania
. The
Lusitania
was faster, while White Star’s new Olympic class of ships would be designed for comfort first.

White Star had been in the passenger ocean liner business since 1867, when Thomas Henry Ismay bought the firm. His son, J. Bruce Ismay, became managing director in 1904 at the age of forty-one. By 1912, White Star was part of a large American holding company controlled by the American financier J. P. Morgan.

When the
Titanic
sailed, J. Bruce Ismay was on board. Along with being managing director of the White Star Line, he served as president of the parent company, International Mercantile Maritime Company (IMM). Ismay essentially worked for J. P. Morgan, one of the richest men in the world. Morgan had planned to go on the maiden voyage but canceled at the last minute. In the end, Ismay may have wished he never went either.

(Preceding image)
J. Bruce Ismay, chairman and director of the White Star Line, (right) inspects the hull of the
Titanic
with William James Pirrie, the chairman of the shipbuilding firm Harland and Wolff.

On July 31, 1909, White Star signed an agreement with Harland and Wolff to construct three sister ships: the
Olympic
, the
Titanic
, and a third to follow later. Originally to be called the
Gigantic
, this third ship was eventually named the
Britannic
. The
Britannic
sank in 1916, in even less time than the
Titanic
, after hitting a mine during World War I.

White Star took enormous pride in its new Olympic
class of ships. Not only were the ships spacious, they were designed to take advantage of all the modern technology of the early twentieth century, combining luxury with stability. To meet the needs of travelers who wanted speed and reliability as well as comfort, the powerful engines ensured that people arrived at their destinations on time.

The
Olympic
was launched first, making her maiden voyage on June 14, 1911. Construction on the
Titanic
began March 31, 1909. Quality was important — the
Titanic
cost $7.5 million to build. This new ship would look very much like the
Olympic
but would be slightly larger and have several new features, including specially decorated first class staterooms and even a “sidewalk café,” the Café Parisien, with real French waiters. When the
Titanic
was registered on March 25, 1912, her weight was listed at 46,328.57 tons — just over a thousand more than the
Olympic
.

She was officially the largest ship in the world.

The
Titanic
was scheduled to leave Belfast for her brief sea trials on Monday, April 1, 1912. High winds postponed the departure until the next morning. That meant one less day in Southampton to get everything ready — and there was a lot to do.

(Preceding image)Titanic
in dry dock in Belfast as she is being built.

Much of the boat had been fitted out in Belfast. During the years the
Titanic
was built, Harland and Wolff employed as many as 15,000 workers. The men started work at 7:50 a.m. and finished at 5:30 p.m., with one ten-minute break and a half hour for lunch. Just to install the ship’s machinery and complete the interior had taken ten months and millions of hours of work. When the 15½-ton anchor arrived, it was pulled by a team of twenty horses.

(Preceding image)
As preparations were made to launch the
Titanic
in May 1911, the ship’s giant propellers could be seen.

By the time the
Titanic
had left Belfast, the machinery and furniture were in place, and 3,560 life belts were on board. But the ship still needed to be loaded with coal, food, cargo, tableware — and, of course, passengers and their baggage — before setting out for New York on a week-long voyage with more than 2,200 people on board.

The RMS
Titanic
also carried mail.
RMS
stood for “Royal Mail Ship,” which meant a ship under contract to carry mail for speedy delivery. The
Titanic
sailed with five Sea Post Office clerks, and more than three thousand mailbags bulging with mail — over seven million pieces. The post office was located on G Deck, with mail storage on the starboard side near the bottom of the ship, on the Orlop Deck.

The ship performed well in her sea trials, which pleased her captain, Edward J. Smith. Captain Smith had been with the company since 1880 and was easily White Star’s most popular captain. He was known as the “millionaires’ captain” because so many upper-class passengers would only travel on the ships he commanded.

(Preceding image)
Captain Edward John Smith of the
Titanic
.