Duncan Barrett
Appearances
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
In fact, by March 1909, when Titanic's keel is laid at the Harland and Wolfe shipyard in Belfast, you're more likely to die building one of these ships than sailing on them. The tragic end of James Dobbin, crushed under a wooden stay during Titanic's celebrated launch, is just the latest fatal accident involving the new Olympic-class vessels.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Harland and Wolfe record 246 injuries during the construction of Titanic alone, 28 of them classed as severe. Several workers have died after falling from the scaffolding surrounding the ship. The youngest, just 15 years old, Nonetheless, for the working men of Belfast, Harland and Wolfe are considered a top employer.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Susie Miller is a Belfast tour guide whose great-grandfather worked for the company.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
As one of Harland and Wolfe's most experienced engine builders... Tommy Miller is asked to work on the company's latest prestige project, Titanic.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
And Tommy's not the only one who feels a surge of pride at the thought of the new Olympic-class vessels. His boss at the shipyard, another Thomas, is the man responsible for designing Titanic and her sisters, giving form to the dream conjured up by Lord Pirrie and Bruce Ismay.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Despite all the fanfare surrounding Titanic's launch, the ship that slides into the Lagen on May 31, 1911, is far from complete. It'll be almost another year before the ship of dreams is ready for her passengers. In the meantime, it's her elder sister, Olympic, that will carry White Star's fortunes across the Atlantic.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Just two weeks after Titanic is launched in Belfast Olympics sets off on her maiden voyage to New York. Meanwhile, Titanic is towed to a special fitting out birth to begin her transformation into a floating luxury hotel.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Those who weren't lucky enough to score an official invite have climbed onto the nearby rooftops to get a good view. Others have scaled the masts of the smaller ships bobbing in the lagoon, minnows to this hulking leviathan, all of them waiting with bated breath to see the giant ship move. At 12.05pm, a red flag is flown at Titanic's stern. The ten-minute countdown begins.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Once completed, Titanic is pretty much Olympic 2.0, taking everything that works from her sister ship and then improving it with small adjustments. She's very much the pro version of the new model, or as she's known at the time, Olympic perfected. Strictly speaking, she's also a record breaker, the biggest ship ever manufactured.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
But only because minor changes to her layout and interiors add extra weight compared to Olympic, to the tune of about half a percent. Tim Moulton is the author of 101 Things You Thought You Knew About the Titanic But Didn't.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
In the years following the Titanic disaster, the similarity between the two ships will lead to some interesting theories. Even today, some people believe that it's Olympic and not Titanic that ended up at the bottom of the ocean. I love conspiracy theories.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Far-fetched it may be, but for those who were familiar with both ships, the similarity between them must have been uncanny. More than two decades after the Titanic disaster, Olympic was still ferrying passengers across the Atlantic.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
All of Titanic's most iconic design features are shared with her sister ship, including the magnificent grand staircase. Immortalized in James Cameron's 1997 movie, the elegant seven-story staircase runs right through the first-class section of the ship, providing access for White Star's richest passengers to their luxurious dining and smoking rooms.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
In fact, Titanic actually has two almost identical grand staircases, one near the bow of the ship and another towards the stern. It's the former, which stretches all the way down to the dining saloon on D-Deck, that gets most of the attention. Because this staircase is more than just a means to an end. It's a destination in itself.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Veronica Hinckley is the author of The Last Night on the Titanic, Unsinkable Drinking, Dining, and Style.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
in titanic shadow a small army of men are hard at work ant-like they scurry back and forth getting everything ready the slipway has been coated with 21 tons of grease now burly shipwrights are getting ready to knock out the giant timber stays that hold the vessel in place a rocket fires signaling five minutes to go then another 60 seconds left now. This is a precision operation.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
And then there are the dining facilities themselves. Not just the three giant saloons for first, second, and third class, each with their own all-inclusive set menu. But for the richer passengers, two stylish cafes. The airy Palm Court and Veranda Cafe on the promenade deck at the top of the ship.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
And one floor below on B deck, the French-inspired Café Parisien, with its wicker furniture and white trellises covered in ivy. But the ship's boldest culinary innovation, nestled behind the aft grand staircase on B deck, is the intimate à la carte restaurant. For Titanic's well-heeled elite, paying extra to order off the menu is seen as a mark of luxury.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
All in all, the vibe for the first-class passengers at least is that of a five-star hotel, one that just happens to be floating on the ocean. Somewhere between the Ritz in London and the Waldorf Astoria in New York,
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
In the years following the disaster, questions will be raised about whether Harland and Wolff may have scrimped on some aspects of Titanic's build. In fact, thanks to the company's long-standing relationship with White Star, if anything, they're encouraged to overspend.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Every element of Titanic's interior has been debated in minute detail, every high-end supplier carefully vetted to ensure their products reach the highest possible standards. The candelabras that adorn the grand staircase come from Perianco of Bond Street, chinaware from Royal Crown Denby.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
As one senior Holland and Wolf designer will put it later, we spent two hours discussing carpet for the first class cabins and 15 minutes discussing lifeboats. After almost a year in the fitting out berth, at last, Titanic is ready to set sail, joining her elder sister Olympic on the transatlantic passenger route.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
But first, she must pass a series of sea trials to check that everything is working as it should be. In charge of the operation is one of White Star's most senior officers, Captain Herbert Haddock, no relation to Tintin's hot-tempered friend. This Captain Haddock is a 51-year-old former Navy officer who's been commanding White Star ships for almost two decades.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
In other words, a safe pair of hands. Starting at 6am on the 2nd of April 1912, Haddock puts the new ship through her paces. First in Belfast Loch, then out in the Irish Sea. Over the next 12 hours, with the help of a 119-man skeleton crew, Haddock drives the ship at various speeds, practices turning to port and starboard, and even has a go at an emergency stop.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Which in the case of a ship, this big takes over three minutes to accomplish. At the end of a long day, the captain is satisfied that white stars latest vessel is fit for purpose, but he won't be commanding Titanic's maiden voyage. That honor goes to an even more senior white star employee, Commodore of the fleet, captain Edward Smith. Smith is the archetypal British Sea Captain.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Trim white beard, crisp blue uniform, and a pair of gleaming military medals. Less Captain Haddock, more Captain Birdseye. As far as White Star are concerned, Smith is the cream of the crop. His easy way with the company's wealthiest passengers has seen him nicknamed the Millionaire's Captain. At 62 years old, he has a glittering career behind him.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
It's May the 31st, 1911. We're in Belfast, the heart of Britain's shipbuilding industry. To be specific, the north yard of Harland and Wolfe's vast 80-acre construction site. And for the tens of thousands of men who work here, it's a red-letter day. Up in the grandstands specially built for the occasion, a 74-year-old man takes his seat. He's an imposing figure.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
The Edwardian equivalent of a NASA launch at Cape Canaveral. Finally, the moment of truth. There's no champagne bottle smashing. Titanic's operators, White Star, don't believe in such archaic superstitions. Only the sound of hydraulic triggers firing. Everyone holds their breath. For a moment, it looks like she won't move after all.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
In fact, this voyage will be his last before retirement. On Thursday, April 4th, Haddock is formally relieved by Captain Smith. While the White Star Commodore settles into his new position on Titanic, Haddock heads over to Smith's previous command, RMS Olympic. With Titanic about to begin her maiden voyage, Olympic has just dropped down a peg to number two.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Captain Smith wastes no time in reshuffling the chain of command. He brings trusted officers over from Olympic, and demotes or fires others already assigned to Titanic. But something is lost in the shuffle. A pair of binoculars, earmarked for the lookouts in the crow's nest. The only man who knows where they are, former Second Officer David Blair, is no longer on board.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Julian Fellows is the award-winning creator of Downton Abbey, The Gilded Age, and the 2012 miniseries Titanic.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
How much of an impact the missing binoculars will have on Titanic's fate is debatable, even today. Would seeing the iceberg a few seconds earlier have given the crew time to avoid it? Jerome Chertkoff is Professor Emeritus of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Indiana. His books include Don't Panic! The Psychology of Emergency Egress and Ingress,
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Built in Belfast and registered in Liverpool, Titanic will in fact set sail from Southampton. Although the journey to New York would be 100 miles shorter from White Star's headquarters on Merseyside, these days all transatlantic passenger trips depart from the southern English port.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
As a result, it's from Southampton that the majority of the ship's crew are recruited. 431 men and women in the catering department alone, 290 stewards and stewardesses, and 280 of the city's strongest, toughest men to work in the engine rooms. But not all the new recruits are born and bred Southerners.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
One recent addition to the roster is Tommy Miller, the Belfast man who helped build and install the ship's engines for Harland and Wolfe. After a personal tragedy, Tommy is looking for a fresh start, and he's pretty sure he's found it in America.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Freed from her wooden moorings, the giant ship stands stock still, a towering, immobile monument. Then, almost imperceptibly, she begins sliding towards the water, gradually picking up speed, 5, 10, 15 miles per hour. Finally, after the longest 62 seconds in history, Titanic floats freely for the first time.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
As a deck engineer, Tommy will be responsible for much of Titanic's onboard machinery. Winches, cranes, even the davits used to lower lifeboats in case of emergency. But for now, at least, he'll be travelling solo.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
But while all eyes are on the ship in the Lagen, there is a crisis playing out 500 meters away at the top of the slipway. Under the giant gantry that until a minute ago housed the Titanic, 43-year-old shipwright James Dobbin lies seriously injured. He's been crushed under a heavy wooden support. His pelvis is shattered.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
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Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
While James' wife Rachel watches the launch with their son Jimmy, enchanted by the sight of the great ship floating for the first time, His colleagues are hauling him out from under a heavy weight of timber. James is bundled into a Holland & Wolfe car and taken straight to the nearest infirmary. While J.P.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Morgan and his fellow VIPs enjoy a slap-up lunch before embarking on a pleasure cruise to Liverpool, the doctors at the Royal Victoria Hospital are doing all they can to save James Dobbins' life. Ultimately, their efforts will prove futile. Even before touching water, Titanic has claimed her first victim. From the Noisa Podcast Network, this is Titanic Ship of Dreams, part one.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Six foot two with broad shoulders, piercing eyes, and a fearsome walrus moustache. Not to mention a bulbous purple nose, a kind generally attributed to excessive drinking. Not that anyone seated around this gentleman would dare suggest anything of the kind. Because he also happens to be one of the richest men in the world. John Pierpont Morgan, otherwise known as JP.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
The story of RMS Titanic is defined by how it ended, at 11.40pm on the 14th of April 1912, an impact that would reverberate for more than a century. A hundred years later, state-of-the-art submarines pay visits to Titanic's final resting place, almost 4,000 metres below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
This mass grave has become a magnet for ultra-wealthy tourists, those who can afford the quarter-of-a-million-dollar ticket price, desperate to see where the ship of dreams ended its first and only voyage. Peering through the murky depths, they can just about make out the rusty barnacle-clad remains of the once grand and glittering vessel. The end of RMS Titanic is a story every schoolchild knows.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
But where exactly Titanic began, that's a little harder to pin down. In this series, we'll take you right through the Titanic story. From first designs, through the years of construction, to the fateful voyage that sealed the ship's fate, and beyond. We'll consider some of the questions that still haunt Titanic scholars more than a hundred years later.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Did White Star bus Bruce Ismay really order the captain to increase speed? Why were so many iceberg warnings ignored in the lead-up to the collision? And with almost 1,200 places available in the lifeboats, why were only 700 people saved? We'll look at Titanic's storied legacy in the years following the disaster.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
From the 1958 blockbuster A Night to Remember, and James Cameron's $200 million epic Four Decades Later, to the Ocean Gate disaster of 2023. But we begin our story in 1907, five years before the fateful collision that ensured the ship's place in history. In fact, before the iceberg that sank the Titanic had even begun forming in Greenland. It's a balmy summer's evening in London.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
We're at Downshire House, a white colonnaded building in Belgrave Square. In monopoly terms, this is very much purple territory. Smartly dressed waiters carry drinks on silver trays, passing them round to wealthy men and women in their best Edwardian formal wear. The scent of fine cuisine wafts up from the kitchens.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Downshire House is the opulent London pad of Lord Pirrie, the 60-year-old white-bearded chairman of Harland and Wolfe. And this evening, he's hosting a dinner party. Among Pirrie's guests is White Star chairman, J. Bruce Ismay. At 44, Ismay has been running the company for the best part of a decade, ever since the death of his father, Thomas.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Five years earlier, he oversaw the sale of White Star to J.P. Morgan's International Mercantile Marine for an eye-watering $32 million. He now holds the top job in both companies. But despite his business acumen, Bruce Ismay is an awkward, unclobberable man. He's never quite emerged from his father's shadow. Domineering, bombastic, even brutish at times.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
He's come to Belfast especially to get a good look at his latest investment. It's the biggest seagoing vessel ever built. In fact, the biggest movable object in history. And today it's about to move for the first time. A hundred thousand spectators are lining the banks of the River Lagen. All eyes are on slipway number three, where the magnificent new ship stands bolt upright, perfectly still.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Thomas Ismay was what you might picture as a titan of industry. Bruce very much the eldest boy who just happened to succeed him. Nonetheless, he has big plans for White Star, and they hinge on the company's long-standing relationship with Lord Pirrie's Harland & Wolfe. Thanks to a deal struck 40 years earlier, the two firms have an exclusive relationship.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
White Star entrust all their big construction projects to the Belfast firm, and in return, Harland and Wolfe promised not to build ships for their competitors. It's an arrangement that has seen White Star's fortunes rise, to become a major player in the transatlantic passenger trade. After dinner, Ismay and Piri sit up smoking together.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
And it's here, at least according to Titanic mythology, that they first come up with the idea for a new kind of liner. Not quite scribble down the back of a napkin, but not far off it either. This new vessel will need to be bigger, better, more luxurious than anything passengers have seen before. The dream of Titanic is born. Well, sort of.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
In fact, according to most modern experts, plans for a trio of plus-size liners must have been underway well before Piri's party in London. The huge new gantries required to build them were already under construction. What exactly Piri and Ismay discussed that evening, like so many of the key moments in the Titanic story, is shrouded in mystery and myth.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
What we do know is that sometime around 1907, both White Star and Harland and Wolfe begin laying the groundwork for Titanic, along with her two sister ships, Olympic and Gigantic. And both Ismay and Piri are heavily invested in ensuring that they get the new ships right. White Star's market standing depends on it. Professor Stephanie Baczewski is the author of Titanic, A Night Remembered.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Klaus-Johan Wetterholm is the author of five books in Swedish about the Titanic disaster, and the curator of Titanic, the exhibition.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Titanic and her two sisters will be part of a major play by White Star for domination of the lucrative transatlantic passenger route.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
With three brand new ships plying their way back and forth across the Atlantic, the hope is that Whitestar can outdo Cunard's slightly faster two-ship offering. And even if one of the three is put out of action, the weekly service won't be interrupted.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
A giant black hull glimmering in the midday sun. To the Harland & Wolff shipwrights, she's known as SS 401. To everyone else, Titanic. Even without her four majestic funnels, those will be winched into place later, the new liner is an overwhelming sight. She towers 100 feet from top to bottom, and almost 900 feet long. Her rudder alone is the size of a cricket pitch.
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
Not that anyone before 1912 is particularly worried about maritime disasters. By the early 20th century, travel by sea is safe, as safe as it's ever been.