Harland and Wolff had a huge hall with a high-barrelled ceiling and huge windows to allow for plenty of natural light to enter. It was in this building that the shape of the new ships began to take place. Overlooking everything that was going on was Thomas Andrews, chief designer, and often, Ismay and Lord Pirrie would stop in to see how things were going, and to talk about any changes that the hundreds of workers could make. Because the Olympic was to be the first ship built, naturally, the class of ships was known to the workers as the 'Olympic-Class'.
Originally, the ships were to have only three funnels, and 4 masts. Thomas Andrews, knowing how the two Cunard queens Lusitania and Mauritania were designed decided that four masts were to many and would make the ships look to much like sailing ships and cut the number to two, and that four funnels were necessary considering all of White Star’s competitors had four (Lusitania and Mauritania from the Cunard line, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse of the Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd)). Comparing the ships to other ships of the day, the plans were in some ways simple, and in others, the most luxurious that could be imagined. First class was to have a rather simple stairwell connecting all the first class decks, a huge reception room and lounge, a luxurious smoking room and a reading room and two palm courts. The huge first class dining room was to be three decks high and topped with a huge wrought iron glass dome, and down low in the hull, a section as big as the dining room would host the Turkish Baths, Swimming Bath (pool) and a gymnasium. All the first class decks would be accessible by 2 lifts for those not wanting to take the stairs.
Naturally, over the course of time, the plans were changed. The dining room would have a simple ceiling, but have small windows at the very top of the room (which let light in from the boat deck) and large windows that let light in from the A deck promenade. The pool and Turkish baths were scaled down in size, and the gym moved to the starboard side of the boat deck. The staircase, which would turn out to be the most popular internal part of the ship, was enlarged and made far more luxurious than anyone could imagine, with a landing on each first class deck, mahogany wood stairs, and a huge glass dome over the top deck. Chandeliers were also added on each deck to allow for plenty of light during the evening. Two more lifts were also added, one for first class to join the others, which were located behind the staircase, and the other for second class, a luxury for that class in that time.
All the over lookers of the plans had a list of all the statistics. The ships were to be 882 feet (269 metres) long, and be 45,000 tonnes each. The plans which were owned by Andrews, were the most detailed of all. He often showed and leant these to other officials who would make changes with him in red ink. One page contained the lifeboat statistics. There was to be 64, capable of holding the entire ships fully loaded quota, and be able to hold an extra 65 on top of that. However, on this page was a dash of red, and with one strike of a fountain pen, the number was cut down dramatically. Now, all the ships needed was 16, capable of saving only 962 of the total of 3,511 passengers and crew the ships could hold. No one knows who made the order, but it is very unlikely it was Andrews. He knew that the decrease in size would put so many lives in danger, but was over ruled in his sayings, but it was agreed to put in 4 extra collapsible boats up forward, making the total life saving capacity 1,178. This may sound strange, but back then, having that few lifeboats was common place, even legal. The British Board of Trade (BBOT) had never updated the lifeboat regulations, not since 1898. It required that all ships over 10,000 tonnes (a huge amount in those days) to carry a minimum of 16 lifeboats with a capacity of 5,500 cubic feet, plus rafts and floats equal to 75% of the lifeboats total capacity. No one ever updated the amounts, not even for the Cunard queens, and even they carried only 16 boats. It was believed that having to many boats would make the decks look cluttered for first class passengers, and so only 10 boats were placed on each side, with a large space in the middle where people could see out over the ocean, as the lifeboats were to high to see over.
Finally, the plans were complete and on December 16th, 1908, nearly a year and a half since that fateful dinner where the ships were envisioned, the first keel plate was laid for the Olympic in a brand new 220 feet high gantry made by Harland and Wolff especially for the ships in their Belfast, Ireland works. Only three months later on March 31st, 1909, the keel was laid for Titanic in the adjoining slip. The ship that would make only one voyage was began. |
