#Harland & Wolff | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lonestarbattleship · 3 months

Text

Stern view of RMS Britannic with Lord Pirrie and large group of Belfast Harbour commissioners.

Date: January-February 1914

National Museums of Northern Ireland: HOYFM.HW.H1954

#RMS Britannic #Britannic #Olympic Class #Ocean Liner #Liner #White Star Line #White Star #Passenger Ship #Ship #Construction #Slipway #Harland & Wolff #Belfast #Ireland #January #February #1914 #my post

122 notes · View notes

stairnaheireann · 19 days

Text

#OTD in 1912 – The RMS Titanic leaves port in Southampton, England for her first and only voyage.

At 7.30am, Captain Edward J. Smith boards Titanic with full crew. Third class passengers embarked at 9.30, followed by second and first class. Titanic sets sail from Southampton at noon heading for Cherbourg. Even before she leaves the harbour, there was disarray. The swell caused by the giant ship created a suction that broke the mooring ropes of the City of New York. A collision was narrowly…

View On WordPress

#Captain Edward J. Smith #Catholics #Cherbourg #City of New York #England #First and only Voyage #Harland and Wolff Shipyard #MS Titanic #Protestants #RMS Titanic #Southampton

30 notes · View notes

trekkitkat · 1 year

Text

Some more reasons why Thomas Andrews my favourite person from history.

As a kid, his friends nicknamed him “Admiral” because of his skill and fondness of boats.

He loved animals, looked after bees and horses and was very kind and gentle with them.

At school, he wasn’t so great at academics, but the teachers and students still loved him for his generosity and honesty, “Wherever he went, he carried his own sunshine.”

Staying at a hotel on a trip with friends, someone broke a bed rail. Thomas look responsibility for it and paid for a new bed. He fixed the broken bed and gifted it to an elderly cleaning lady at the hotel for her invalid husband. He and his friends carrying it to the couples' house and setting it up for them.

As a teenage apprentice at the Harland and Wolff shipyards, he was known to do things like finish his own work early so he could help an old workman with his tasks, stay late to catch up the work of another apprentice who was sick, encourage others who were struggling. A foreman noted, “It seemed his delight to make others around him happy.”

He worked all day in the shipyards, then took night classes in drawing, mechanics and naval architecture.

As head of the Design Department, he had in depth knowledge of all fifty-three branches of the shipyard,

He was a natural and good leader. The workers at the shipyard looked up to him because he was good-natured, direct and intelligent and he could bring that out in others too. He saw people and respected them. If someone had an idea or suggestion, he wanted to hear it.

He climbed an eighty-foot scaffold during a gale to save a man who got stuck.

He didn’t believe himself above anybody and saw the workers at the shipyard as his friends. He advocated for better housing, education and shorter working days for labourers. And he hated politicians who tried to fuel class divide and tension.

During Titanic’s voyage, he wrote or sent telegrams to his wife from Belfast, Southampton, Cherbourg and Queenstown, telling her how the ship was fairing and the details he was working on. A couple who shared the same dining table with him said he was very proud of the ship, but what he wanted to talk most about was his wife, daughter and family.

Stewardess May Sloan said, “He made you feel on the ship that all was right. It was good to hear his laugh and have him near you. If anything went wrong, it was always to Mr Andrews one went.”

And this is just a sample of what this man was like. He was an absolute gem. One of those rare, special people that make the world better just by existing.

#i have so many emotions #Thomas Andrews #harland and wolff #RMS Titanis #Titanic

168 notes · View notes

listen-to-the-inner-walrus · 10 months

Note

not really enjoying tumblrs trend of comparing Thomas Andrews to Stockton Rush 😒Could you share how the two differ despite the fact they died by their own creations?

ive been trying to figure out how to tackle this ask for a few days now because theres so much to disentangle, but disentangle i will.

see, this comparison relies on common misinformation and misconceptions about titanic. its a ship thats been romanticised and mythologised for decades, and every portrayal of it from william randolph hearts yellow newspaper coverage to robin gardiners conspiracy theory to jim camerons film.

what im gonna list to disentangle this whole thing is by no means an exhaustive list of titanic misconceptions, only those relevant to this topic

-titanic was a cruise ship - titanic was an ocean liner not a cruise ship (ive detailed the differences in a different ask here)

-titanic was a brand new unique ship never seen before - not true, ocean liners had existed for decades. theres debate about which was the first, but many agree that its the ss great western which launched in 1843. titanic wasnt even the first launched in her class; that honour goes to the rms olympic.

-it was built with substandard materials and cut corners - this is one of those where theres potentially some truth, but its been misrepresented. theres some evidence that the rivets werent the best made, but the board of trade cleared the ship and she was built with the same materials and basically the same design as her sister ship, rms olympic which sailed for 24 years under the nickname "old reliable" and literally rammed a u-boat during ww1 when she was requisitioned as a troop ship. ultimately, the builders were not blamed in the wreck inquiry and the materials used were not substandard.

-it was built as said above due to the choices of j bruce ismay - yeah so this one obviously ties into the above. theres a lot of unreliable sources who seem to believe ismay oversaw the entire design and every cut corner was due to money. this simply isnt true and isnt how this sort of thing worked. white star had a contract with harland and wolff wherein they would build the ship agreed upon and when it was finished, it would be presented to white star and undergo sea trials, and during that time, white star could reject the ship if they considered it substandard. this is what happened to the ss city of rome. unles. the design itself was to be changed a la britannic after titanic sank (improving safety measures), white star could not interfere. ismay could not force them to use different materials.

-it was all ismays fault - okay, i could go on about this for a long time, but this ask isnt about ismay. the gist of it is that history has blamed ismay due to the influence of william randolph hearst (yeah, the guy from newsies and supported hitler) who hated ismay and blamed him entirely. actual evidence shows ismay helped a lot of people during the sinking itself.

-titanic was badly designed - ive kinda gone over this a little already, but again, titanic was not badly built. she was practically identical to olympic which was a fantastic ship. in the design, no risks were taken. most of the designs were enlarged versions of parts of previous successful ships. she was considered the safest ship on the sea. four of her water-tight compartments could be breached without her sinking which was a big fucking deal.

-thomas andrews was the sole designer - there was actually a team of designers that included andrews. he didnt even draw up the original plans; that was alexander carlisle.

-titanic sinking was a unique situation - yeah nah, boats sank a lot around that time. literally two years after, there was a similar disaster with the rms empress of ireland which goes entirely forgotten nowadays. in the same decade, you also had the sinking of lusitania in 1915, principe de asturias in 1916, volturno in 1913 and even thrown in princess sophia in 1918.

-the sinking was actually caused by a coal bunker fire - this is simply horseshit and im sure im gonna end up having to explain and debunk that one too

-the crew were taking unnecessary risks to win the blue riband - this myth is widespread because of the movie, but titanic was not trying to beat the record of the fastest ship from southampton to new york (thats what the blue riband) is; she physically couldnt. it was held by mauretania at that point with a record of 26.06 knots/48.26 km/hr. titanics top speed was 23 knots. white star as a line never focussed on speed and ismay never told the captain to speed up.

-she was "unsinkable" - this is a little harder to disentangle. the claim itself was "practically unsinkable", but the context of that was to do with how safe titanic was as mentioned above. also, the idea of an unsinkable ship was not quite to white star or harland and wolff; most of the shipping industry believed it.

-almost everything youve heard about the life boats - okay so here you need to throw out your preconceptions of what a life boat is because our modern conception does not match that from the early 1900s. to not get into all the details of life boat philosophy at the time (if you do wanna know, just send me an ask lmao), the main purpose of life boats at this time was ferrying passengers to a rescue ship. that was it. this attitude was informed by both the wrecks of the ss valencia and ss clallam, as well as the miraculous rescue of the rms republic. titanic did not have enough life boats for everyone because it was never expected for the passengers to be alone in the life boats for hours; it was not a design flaw, it was a feature.

-that fucking stupid ship swap myth and the idea that the crew were trying to sink the ship - i dont even want to get into why this is bullshit, plus ive also debunked it in another ask

i highlight all of the above to emphasise the fact that titanic was not a badly built ship. she was designed well, built well and sailed well. many experts agree that the way that she hit the iceberg was the only way she could have sank.

this is not the case with titan and stockton rush. in a previous post, ive gone over the design of the titan, the flaws in it and what experts in the field believe, so im not gonna go over it again, but rest assured, the titan imploded because of rush's actions and decisions.

titanic did not sink because of thomas andrews. its due to his design that anyone survived the titanic because she stayed afloat for over two hours which allowed the crew to launch all the life boats. thomas andrews himself helped many survivors during the sinking and evacuation.

he also was not a rich man using a gravesite as tourism; nepotism was certainly involved in his career but he spent ten years working his way up in the company, helping with the design of countless ships. he was mostly regarded as a good man who worked hard and recognised the hard work of others.

its honestly ludicrous to compare them because the disasters themselves are simply not comparable. the titanic did not sink because of the folly of rich men cutting corners; titan did.

thomas andrews, for any faults he had, knew what he was doing and built a good ship that was unlucky. almost every other ship he helped design didnt sink or if they did, most of them were due to ww1.

its just such a ridiculous comparison, and thats all it is. without the misconceptions and misinformation about titanic, the comparison simply falls apart. its built on a foundation that fundamentally misunderstands the titanic disaster.

if you want to talk about shipwrecks caused by stupid decisions made by rich men, go look up the last incarnation of hms captain or the gunilda or the fucking vasa if you want, you can literally go see that one. but dont besmirch the memory of a guy who, by all acounts, died a hero helping other survive.

83 notes · View notes

vox-anglosphere · 6 months

Text

The launch of RMS Olympic heralded a new era in luxury ocean liners

Olympic was soon followed by her sister ships, Titanic and Britannic.

#RMS Olympic #Harland & Wolff #Belfast #Ireland #1910-1911 #White Star Line #shipyards #ocean liners #luxury travel #UK #four funnels #sister ships #North Atlantic route #Gilded Age

36 notes · View notes

observer-of-the-world · 10 months

Text

So, uhm, I know this is supposed to be a funny post and nothing more than that, but these little misunderstandings about the Titanic really bother me.

First of all, it was never actually said that the Olympic line (RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic) was unsinkable per se, it was said that as far as engineering went they were unsinkable ("And as far as it is possible to do so, these two wonderful vessels are designed to be unsinkable").

It might not be a big difference, but it means that what they claimed was that to the best of the experts knowledge, there was nothing that could be done to make them safer than they already were, and Harland and Wolff were one of the best companies out there, and they had already gone beyond some of the safety requirements. For example, if the Titanic had crashed straight into the iceberg with her full speed, she would probably have survived the crash with no need for rescue and she probably would've been able to continue her voyage rather safely, attesting to her security.

And two, Titanic wasn't special for saying this. A lot of ships used marketing like that, so it has only become a laughing matter bc of how big Titanic's tragedy was. Carpathia's (the ship that rescued the Titanic's survivors) captain even mentions this in the official enquiry:

"380. The fact that, under these regulations, you are obliged to carry 20 lifeboats and the Titanic was only obliged to carry 20, with her additional tonnage, indicates either that these regulations were prescribed long ago -

(interposing): No, sir; it has nothing to do with that. What it has to do with is the ship itself. The ships are built nowadays to be practically unsinkable, and each ship is supposed to be a lifeboat in itself. The boats are merely supposed to be put on as a standby. The ships are supposed to be built, and the naval architects say they are, unsinkable under certain conditions. What the exact conditions are, I do not know, as to whether it is with alternate compartments full, or what it may be. That is why in our ship we carry more lifeboats, for the simple reason that we are built differently from the Titanic; differently constructed."

#titanic #rms titanic #rms olympic #hmhs britannic #white star line #rms carpathia #carpathia #harland and wolff

62 notes · View notes

czesirethefool · 4 days

Text

I made a Titanic in paint.net

#paint.net #titanic #rms titanic #pixelart #pixel art #ship #steamer #white star line #harland & wolff

8 notes · View notes

leicadiary · 11 months

Text

#original photographers #original photography #photographers on tumblr #ireland #titanic #titanicbelfast #titanicmuseum #belfast #belfast city #belfast lough #belfaststreetart #harland and wolff #shipbuilding #shipyard #leicadiary

23 notes · View notes

supplyside · 2 years

Text

Titanic at the Harland & Wolff shipyard, Belfast, Northern Ireland

#Titanic #Harland & Wolff #shipyard #manufacturing #Northern Ireland #UK #Britain #heavy industry

146 notes · View notes

i-love-books-because-reasons · 11 months

Text

"Retracing Their Footsteps: Thomas Andrews (SHIPBUILDER)"

youtube

#titanic #rms titanic #olympic class #white star line #harland and wolff #ocean liners #thomas andrews #history #1910s #1912 #Youtube #documentary

10 notes · View notes

lonestarbattleship · 2 months

Text

View of RMS Britannic shortly before her launch.

Date: February 1913

National Museums of Northern Ireland: HOYFM.HW.H1951, HOYFM.HW.H1949, HOYFM.HW.H1958A, HOYFM.HW.H1958X, HOYFM.HW.H1953

#RMS Britannic #Britannic #Olympic Class #Ocean Liner #Liner #White Star Line #White Star #Passenger Ship #Ship #Construction #Slipway #Harland & Wolff #Belfast #Ireland #February #1913 #my post

27 notes · View notes

stairnaheireann · 15 days

Text

#OTD in 1912 – The Titanic, the world’s largest ship built at Belfast’s Harland and Wolfe, hits an iceberg at 11:40pm.

Just before midnight in the North Atlantic, the RMS Titanic failed to divert its course from an iceberg, rupturing its hull, began to sink. The Titanic was designed by the Irish shipbuilder William Pirrie and spanned 883 feet from stern to bow. Its hull was divided into 16 compartments that were presumed to be watertight. Because four of these compartments could be flooded without causing a…