31. marts 1909 was an ordinary day at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Irland. Ships was build here, as had there been since 1853. On this the keel to yet another ship was laid, which was number two in a series of three Atlantic Liners: Titanic. Next to this the work on the first ship had already been underway for some time. The history of these ships began one night in the house of Lord Pirrie who was president at Harland and |
Wolff. He had invited J. Bruce Ismay, president of White Star Line for diner one summer evening in 1907. During the diner the conversation had no doubt been Cunards new liners Lusitania og Mauretania which was about to begin their regular scedules. Everybody expected these ships to be the fastest to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The conversation has proberly also been on how White Star Line vould manage this new competition, and the plans of two new ships, and a third to follow was made. The ships should be larger than Cunards "Express dogs" but when they vere not to be faster they vere to be more luxurious. More than a year after this conversation, the 31st of |
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December 1908 the building of the Olympic and later the Titanic began. For two years there vould be hammering, riveting and cutting in order to gather the 26.000 tons of steel into a floating hull. The frames vere mounted and the steelplates of appr. 9 meters by 1,82 meters thick weighted 2½ - l 3 tons each was held |
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together by 3 millione rivets. The hull became 269 meters long and 29 meters wide before it was ready to be launched. The buttom was a double buttom but the sides of the ship was not. The ship was devided into 16 watertight compartment by 15 watertight bulkheads, each streaching above the waterline, front and rear bulkheads were a little higher. As the Olympic was ahead in counstruction, the design of Titanic was changed every time the constructors found something which they could do better. Therefore Olympic and Titanic were not completely identical. |
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