"…gradually the skeleton in the scaffolding began to take shape. It was the shape of a ship; a ship so enormous that men held their breaths at the sight of it. With propellers the size of windmills and a rudder the size of an elm tree; everything was on a nightmare scale."
The two ships were soon growing at an incredible rate, and soon were towering over the Belfast skyline. The ships were to have a double bottom, an extra skin inside the hull at the very bottom, high enough for a fully-grown man to stand up inside, and 16 watertight compartments, separated by 15 bulkheads. Throughout these bulkheads were watertight doors, massive steel doors that in theory once closed would not allow a drop of water through them. What’s more, it was said that the doors could be closed electrically just by flipping a switch on the bridge, but this was not the case. Of the 64 doors that were inside the huge hull, only 12 could be closed in this manner. One flaw with the construction was that the bulkheads only went as high as D deck, which was only 55 feet above the waterline. No one could imagine a situation where so many compartments would be flooded enough to pull the ship down far enough for water to flow over the top into the next compartment. All of these safety features meant that the two ships could stay afloat with the first four smaller compartments were breached, or any two other compartments side by side, and was also designed that in the unimaginable case where there was to much water inside the ship for it to sink, the ships would sink so slowly that they would stay afloat for at least eight hours. On October 10th, 1910, the Olympic’s white hull was launched to a massive crowd some 18,000 people strong. As was tradition with the White Star Line and Harland and Wolff, the first ship in a class, in this class the Olympic was painted all white with what appears to be a red (or so it seems judging by black and white photographs) line between D and C deck, separating the hull and superstructure. If anyone can tell me what color it actually is, please E-mail me. After Olympic’s launch seven months earlier, on May 31st, 1911 the Titanic was ready for launching. Six inches longer than Olympic, she was the largest ship at the time. J Pierpont Morgan, Bruce Ismay and his daughter Margaret, Lord and Lady Pirrie, Thomas Andrews and the Lord Mayor of Belfast stood on a crimson, blue and white grandstand at the slip way. In front of them was the massive 26,000 tonne hull of the Titanic. Contrary to what is shown or read about in many TV shows, movies and/or books, including the legendary Walter Lord’s ‘A Night to Remember’ of 1958, there was no christening. At 12:05, two rockets were fired into the air, and a third followed five minutes later. At 12:13, a red flag was raised above the slip, and then, two minutes later, the hull began to move under it’s own weight. Workmen waved their caps from the ship, and well wishers cheered from the sidelines. It took only 62 seconds for the ship to travel over two times its length before it was brought to a halt by two piles of cable and six anchor chains weighing eighty tonnes each. That same day, White Star Line received their newest ship. The Olympic was handed to them from a proud Harland and Wolff, and for a time, the two liners could be seen together in Belfast Harbour. Later that day, the Titanic was towed to the fitting out berth where she would be transferred from an empty shell to the most luxurious ship even know to man. In only ten months, much of the ship's interiors and heavy machinery was fitted into the hull. The funnels were installed, and the first three connected (the fourth was used as ventalation for the engine room, and crew was able to climb up and out of it). In January, 1912, only three months before the ship's proposed maiden voyage, the lifeboats were fitted, and on February 3rd, the ship was put into the Belfast dry dock. By now, there were ads everywhere for the new ship, not only promoting the ship's sailing dates but companies promoting themselves for having their products aboard the Titanic. Everyone from the Welin Lifeboat Davit Co. to Viola Otto Soap was mentioned. In March 1912, the ship was removed from her dry dock so the Olympic could be repaired. She had lost a propeller, and one was taken from the Titanic as a replacement. This was the last time the sisters would be seen together. On April 2nd, Titanic left Belfast to begin her sea trials under the comand of Captain Charles Bartlett. She returned later that evening where the B.B.O.T granted her seaworthy and she set out for her first destination; Southampton. |