by Brad Matsen
The dialogue in Mir-1 and Mir-2 during the first dives is from digital audio and video recordings.
CHAPTER THREE. TITANIACS
The planning of the second day’s diving by Chatterton and Kohler is from interviews with them in the winter of 2007.
Roger Long’s biography and his recollection of events surrounding his decision to join the 2005 expedition are from interviews in the fall of 2006 and subsequent conversations over the course of the following year.
Edward Kamuda’s story about his fascination with Titanic, and the founding of the Titanic Historical Society are from interviews with him in the fall of 2006. Other information about the society’s magazine, Web site, and online store is from those sources.
The conspiracy theories are summarized in the preface to Olympic and Titanic: The Truth Behind the Conspiracy, by Steve Hall and Bruce Beveridge.
CHAPTER FOUR. THE EYES OF BILLY LANGE
The account of Bill Lange’s participation in the discovery of Titanic in 1985 is from interviews with him and from Robert D. Ballard’s The Discovery of the Titanic, pp. 79–84.
The summary of the history of manned submersibles and the story of William Beebe and Otis Barton are from Beebe’s book Half Mile Down and interviews with many submersible engineers and pilots over the past twenty years.
The history of the search for the wreck of Titanic is from Ballard’s The Discovery of the Titanic, pp. 37–43; and Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy, by John P. Eaton and Charles A. Haas, pp. 301–24.
The decision by Chatterton and Kohler to search to the east of the wreck, as suggested by Bill Lange, is from audio and video recordings of the planning meeting, some of which was part of the Lone Wolf Documentary Group production Titanic’s Final Moments: Missing Pieces.
Accounts of the third day of diving, conversations in the Mirs, and the discovery of the bottom pieces are from the audio and video recordings made at the time
CHAPTER FIVE. PIRRIE
The description of William Pirrie by W. T. Stead is reported in Herbert Jefferson’s biography Viscount Pirrie of Belfast, p. 311, and quoted from Stead’s character sketch in the March 1912 edition of Review of Reviews.
The account of Cheiro’s reading of Pirrie’s hand is from Jefferson, p. 317, describing Cheiro’s remembrance of their meeting and quoting a letter Pirrie wrote to the palmist on August 14, 1899. In the letter, Pirrie admitted that he had been skeptical of Cheiro’s abilities but that Cheiro had amazed and convinced him that “I was wrong in my estimation of this science.”
The description of J. P. Morgan’s creation of International Mercantile Marine is from Jean Strouse’s Morgan: American Financier, pp. 457–59.
Pirrie’s concern about the downturn in the shipbuilding industry is confirmed in his remarks to the Harland and Wolff board of directors in October 1901, as reported in Shipbuilders to the World, by Michael Moss and John R. Hume, pp. 105–06.
Edward Harland’s talent as a shipbuilder and his observant management style are documented in Moss and Hume, pp. 15–16.
The deed of agreement of original partnership signed by Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff is in the Harland and Wolff corporate archives in the custody of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, access to which was granted by Titanic Quarter Ltd. in February 2007.
The details of the launching of Catalonian are derived from the list of ships and launch dates in Moss and Hume, pp. 506–83.
A note on the tonnage of ships, from Frank E. Dodman’s The Observer’s Book of Ships and from Principles of Naval Architecture, edited by John P. Comstock:
There are two methods used to calculate a ship’s weight:
1. By the volume of water displaced, with 35 cubic feet of displacement equaling 1 ton;
2. The amount of space enclosed in the ship, with 100 cubic feet equaling 1 ton.
There are six ways to express the tonnage of a ship:
1. Net register tonnage is the capacity of the enclosed space used for cargo and passengers, representing the earning potential of a ship.
2. Gross register tonnage is the total capacity of all enclosed spaces on a ship. Titanic was calculated at 46,328 gross register tons.
3. Displacement tonnage is the total weight of the ship and everything on board. Titanic’s displacement tonnage was 52,310 tons.
4. Standard displacement tonnage is a variation usually used only for warship tonnage in which the weight of coal or other fuel is excluded from the calculation.
5. Deadweight tonnage is the weight of the cargo, fuel, and passengers carried by a merchant ship when loaded to capacity. This is equal to displacement tonnage less the weight of the ship itself. Titanic’s deadweight tonnage was 13,550 tons.
6. Lightweight tonnage is the actual weight of the ship itself, including hull, machinery, and rigging. Titanic’s lightweight tonnage was 38,760 tons.
Unless otherwise noted, the tonnages given for ships mentioned in this book are gross register tons.
The account of the meeting between Pirrie and Morgan in the autumn of 1901 is derived from accounts in many books, including Strouse; Jefferson; Moss and Hume; and Paul Louden-Brown’s The White Star Line; and an interview with Louden-Brown in winter 2007 in which he related the story of Morgan’s intense dislike for Cunard. Pirrie and Morgan met at about that time, and though the specifics of their conversation are lost, the outcome and details of the White Star purchase and guarantees to Harland and Wolff are precise.
The text of the builder’s agreement Pirrie worked into Morgan’s syndicate agreement is taken from the Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin (London), February 1902, as reported in Jefferson’s biography of Pirrie, pp. 266–69.
CHAPTER SIX. ISMAY
The description of White Star’s James Street building and its history are from “White Star Building 30 James Street, Liverpool,” by Paul Louden-Brown in the spring 1998 issue of the Titanic Historical Society’s Titanic Commutator magazine and also from a visit, in the winter of 2007, to the site where the building still stands.
The coat-rack story is well known. This version comes from an interview in February 2007 with Paul Louden-Brown, who is an authority on J. Bruce Ismay and the White Star Line, and from Bruce Ismay’s granddaughter, Pauline Matarasso, who related the incident in her book A Voyage Closed and Done, p. 16. Matarasso’s book also adds dimension to Ismay’s nature as an outwardly arrogant yet inwardly insecure man.
Bruce Ismay’s introduction to William Randolph Hearst in New York is related by Paul Louden-Brown in The White Star Line, p. 22.
The story of Bruce Ismay’s proposal to Florence Schieffelin and her father’s extraction of Ismay’s promise to remain in New York is from an interview with Paul Louden-Brown in February 2007 and an unpublished article by Clifford Ismay, a surviving relative who maintains a family archive.
The story about Ismay reprimanding one of his captains about the windows in his wheelhouse is from an interview with Paul Louden-Brown in February 2007.
The story about Captain William Marshall’s referring to Ismay as the Big White Chief in a letter to his wife is from The Ismay Line, by Wilton J. Oldham, p. 37.
The meeting between Pirrie and Ismay at Downshire House in London in the summer of 1907, during which they agreed to build the Olympic-class liners, is from an interview with Paul-Louden Brown in February 2007 and from his history of the White Star Line. The conversation at that meeting is derived from its outcome, the decision to build Olympic and Titanic, and is not verbatim.
CHAPTER SEVEN. ANDREWS
The epigraphs are from Shan Bullock’s paean to Thomas Andrews, written shortly after the shipbuilder’s death aboard Titanic in 1912, A Titanic Hero, pp. 56 and 44.
Pirrie’s marriage to Margaret Carlisle and his relationship with Alexander Carlisle are documented in several sections of Jefferson; and Moss and Hume.
The description of Lady Pirrie’s White Star–themed gown at Dublin Castle is from Jefferson, p. 90.
Andr
ews’s childhood nickname, Admiral, is confirmed in Bullock, p. 4.
Majestic on the launchways when Andrews went to work on his first day at the shipyard is from the complete list of Harland and Wolff ships in Moss and Hume, pp. 506–83.
Pirrie’s opinion that Tommy Andrews was a good boy with a promising future, which he expressed to his wife, Margaret, is from Jefferson’s biography, pp. 77–78.
Thomas Andrews is celebrated as the perfect man and a slaughtered innocent in countless accounts of the Titanic disaster. Here, his biography and his record at Harland and Wolff are drawn from Moss and Hume; and Shan Bullock; but the descriptions and opinions of Andrews are informed by many other sources.
The meeting with Andrews, Carlisle, and Wilding that Pirrie called is confirmed by Harland and Wolff archivist Tom McCluskie in Anatomy of the Titanic, p. 12.
Pirrie’s quote in the Ulster Echo that he would build a 1,000-foot ship was passed on by Paul Louden-Brown in an interview in February 2007, and confirmed in a search of that paper’s archive at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. “The 1,000-foot ship was Pirrie’s moon landing, his Mount Everest,” Louden-Brown said.
The description of Pirrie’s original sketches of Olympic and Titanic in the summer of 1907 is from Mark Chirnside’s The Olympic Class Ships, pp. 18–19, and Eaton and Haas, Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy, pp. 20–21.
The decision by Ismay to build Olympic and Titanic with four funnels for aesthetic and public relations reasons is from Paul Louden-Brown’s The White Star Line, pp. 80–93; and Tom McCluskie’s Anatomy of the Titanic, p. 67.
The Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the North Atlantic was first awarded to the steamer Sirius in April 1838, crossing between Cork, Ireland, and Sandy Hook, New Jersey, in 18 days, 14 hours, and 22 minutes. Sirius had set the eastbound record of 18 days flat in early May of the same year. In July 1952, United States crossed westbound between roughly the same two points in 3 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes, a record that still stands. United States had crossed eastbound the week before in 3 days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes, but the record for that crossing was set in July 1998, by Cat Link V, a catamaran ferryboat, which made the crossing in 2 days, 20 hours, and 9 minutes. Cunard dominated the 160-year competition for the Blue Riband, with White Star always on its heels. For a complete listing of the Blue Riband ships, records, and dates, see Arnold Kludas’s Record Breakers of the North Atlantic: Blue Riband Liners, 1838–1952.
Andrews’s comment that Pirrie had never looked happier in his life is from Bullock, p. 55.
According to Herbert Jefferson’s assessment of Carlisle’s character in Viscount Pirrie of Belfast, pp. 98–104, he would not have waited long after the order for Olympic and Titanic to tell Pirrie that he was retiring. In addition to Jefferson, Moss and Hume, pp. 149–50, confirm that Carlisle didn’t care much for Pirrie’s management style and that it played a role in his early retirement. Jefferson also relates that in retirement, Carlisle’s life revolved around his autograph collection and his bicycle. He later became controversial because of his relationship with Wilhelm II, the former kaiser of Germany, who lived in exile in Doorn, Holland, after Germany’s defeat in World War I.
Pirrie’s record of pragmatic relationships with his workers and managers is described in Jefferson, pp. 204–05.
The construction details and specifications produced by Thomas Andrews are from the Harland and Wolff 1:360 scale plans for Titanic from the Ulster Folk and Transportation Museum in Belfast; McCluskie’s Anatomy of the Titanic, pp. 22–48; Chirnside, pp. 18–36; and Rod Green’s Building the Titanic, pp. 84–90.
The scene under the gantry in July 1908 is from Bullock, p. 46.
The date of Ismay’s visit to Harland and Wolff to receive the plans for Olympic and Titanic is from Eaton and Haas, Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy, p. 20.
The original dimensions Andrews specified for the steel plating and iron rivets are greater than those that were used to build the ship. They were reduced by Bruce Ismay. This scaling down of the dimensions was confirmed in interviews with former Harland and Wolff archivist Tom McCluskie and with historian David G. Brown, in February 2007, and in a rivet table and list of steel specifications from the Harland and Wolff archive in the Public Record Office of Northern Island. In Viscount Pirrie of Belfast, Jefferson refers to the preliminary plans to overbuild the ships in his chapter on Andrews.
The final specifications and details of the two ships are from Chirnside; McCluskie’s Anatomy of the Titanic; Moss and Hume; Michael McCaughan’s The Birth of the Titanic; and the Harland and Wolff 1:360 plans.
The price of £3 million (about $15 million), plus overruns and extras for the two ships, is from Shipbuilder magazine, cited in McCluskie’s Anatomy of the Titanic, p.13. The price for the two ships today would be about £150 million ($300 million), using a multiplier of 20 for the difference between historic and modern dollars.
Hull No. 400 for Olympic and Hull No. 401 for Titanic were confirmed in the general ledgers of Harland and Wolff at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
CHAPTER EIGHT. A THOUSAND DAYS
The order dates for steel and castings for Hull Nos. 400 and 401 are from the ledger titled “Nov. 1883–Jan. 1919, Contracts (#7) Iron and Steel,” in the Harland and Wolff archives at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
The details of steelmaking, circa 1908, and its relationship to the shipbuilding industry are from David Pollock’s The Shipbuilding Industry.
The dates on which work began on the various stages of Olympic and Titanic are from Moss and Hume, pp. 518–19; and McCaughan, p. 67.
Descriptions of the riveters and other workmen laying the keel are from McCaughan, pp. 66–85; Green, pp. 39–43; and an interview with Harland and Wolff archivist Tom McCluskie in February 2007.
The location of the sheds surrounding the slipways are from a plan of the shipyard, circa 1910, in the Harland and Wolff archives at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
The details and implications of the Republic disaster to Andrews, and Harland and Wolff are from Chirnside, pp. 32–33; Louden-Brown, The White Star Line, p. 77; and an interview with Louden-Brown in February 2007.
Una Reilly of the Belfast Titanic Historical Society described the Harland and Wolff timekeeping system, which was in use through the 1960s. Tom McCluskie, who worked at the yard, still has his board, number 155314, which he produced during an interview in Belfast in February 2007. His number is also confirmed in his book No Place for a Boy, p. 33.
The description of the plating shed is from photographs in the Harland and Wolff archives at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
Confirmation of Helen Andrews’s pregnancy in 1910 and her visit to the shipyard to view Titanic and Olympic with Halley’s comet overhead is from Bullock, p. 27.
The details of the launching of Olympic, including the ticket receipts from the grandstand sales and the donation to the ambulance fund, are from Chirnside, pp. 36–37; and Moss and Hume, pp. 144–45.
The details of Olympic’s departure from Belfast are from Chirnside, pp. 40–41; and Moss and Hume, p. 144.
Confirmation that the sides of Olympic were “panting” is from an interview with Tom McCluskie in February 2007: “The hull panting was recorded by Thomas Andrews in his design notebook, which he carried with him at all times, and he also made reference to it on the shell drawing which he modified for Titanic to include extra stiffening. The panting and hull cracking found on Olympic is widely documented in the White Star papers held by the Public Record Office in Kew, London.” In an interview in January 2007 David Brown, an expert on the structure of the Olympic-class ships, also agreed that Andrews and others observed panting, because the repairs made to strengthen Olympic after the Titanic disaster focused on seams above the double bottom and on the top deck of the superstructure, which would have endured the most stress from a panting hull. At the British Board of Trade inquiry following the Titanic disaster,
Edward Wilding refers to the panting of the hulls of Olympic-class liners in his testimony.
CHAPTER NINE. TITANIC
Author and seaman Joseph Conrad was an outspoken critic of the giant new White Star and Cunard ships. Like many, he believed the “monster ships” would concentrate too much life and wealth in a single bottom. Conrad’s statement in the epigraph is quoted in Wyn Craig Wade’s The Titanic: End of a Dream, p. 16.
The scathing description of J. P. Morgan is quoted in the New York Times, April 13, 1910.
The description of Pirrie’s office suite is from a visit to the Harland and Wolff main building, which is still standing, along with a photograph taken of the office in 1911, which is in the archive at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
The details of Titanic’s launching are from McCaughan, pp. 87–97; and accounts from the Belfast News-Letter, and the Irish News, June 1, 1911.
The details of the deaths and casualties during the construction of Olympic and Titanic are from safety reports submitted to the Harland and Wolff directors at monthly meetings, found in the company archives at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
The details of fitting out are from McCaughan, pp. 110–29; and photographs from the Harland and Wolff archive held at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Belfast.
The best article on Titanic’s engines, boilers, and generators is “Titanic’s Prime Mover: An Examination of Propulsion and Power,” by Samuel Halpern, Encyclopedia Titanica, July 2007.
A note on Titanic’s power plants: There were five rows of five boilers, and one row—nearest the bow—of four boilers. In the bottom of each boiler were three furnaces. They could be stoked from either end, except for the five boilers nearest the stern, which had single-ended furnaces. From the coal fires in the furnaces, flames and smoke flowed upward into bundles of steel tubes surrounded by water. The heat turned the water to steam. The steam drove the engines. The smoke went up and out the funnel.
