The Great Titanic Conspiracy

by Robin Gardiner

  As we have seen, ever since the Germans had triggered off the Agadir incident, Morgan had been shipping artefacts, formerly on display in prestigious European museums, to relative safety in America, much to the displeasure of men like Churchill and Lloyd George. From the British point of view this evacuation of treasures under the public gaze was defeatism and would have to be curbed. What better way to achieve this than to physically prevent one of Mr Morgan’s shipments from leaving? That the British Government was itself secretly shipping gold to America and safety should war come was completely beside the point as far as it was concerned. As it was to turn out, this slap on the wrist for Mr Morgan was not the brightest move that could have been made. Until then a great deal of what Morgan was up to was being done relatively openly. He made no secret of the fact that he was moving his treasures across the Atlantic, out of the way. After the Hawke incident Morgan had his own Customs officials sent over from America so that anything he wanted to send home could be packed up in Europe, under the eye of his own men, and be sent to America without any further inspection by European Customs officials. This peculiar Customs arrangement meant that Morgan could ship anything he wanted to without the consent or knowledge of the governments involved. Anything he did choose to send wasn’t checked on its arrival in America either, but went directly to the Metropolitan Museum before the crates were opened. Morgan owned the Metropolitan and paid the wages of all who worked there. This unusual Customs arrangement was to stand Morgan in good stead when, a little over six months later, perhaps he recouped his losses on Olympic due to the Hawke incident and returned the slap on the wrist with interest.

  Chapter 7

  The switch

  When Olympic reached Belfast for repair following the Hawke incident, having taken three days on the short journey from Southampton, the only dry-dock in the world large enough to hold her was already occupied by her slightly younger sister ship Titanic. Harland & Wolff, thanks to the Marconi wireless equipment aboard the liner, must have already known that there was no great hurry to dry-dock Olympic, simply because it couldn’t even be attempted until at least some of the water had been pumped out of her. Eventually this was done and the damaged liner was hauled in for a proper inspection and for repairs, such as they were, to begin. A gigantic and very confusing game of musical chairs had commenced.

  Once the water was removed from the dry-dock the full extent of the damage to the ship seemed obvious. Large sections of three or four of the massive frames comprising the vessel’s skeleton had been smashed and would have to be repaired or replaced, together with plating over more than a third of her full hull length. Plating on the starboard propeller tunnel would also require replacing. More seriously, the starboard engine crankshaft, propeller and propeller shaft would also have to be renewed as they were all damaged beyond repair. The crank, prop shaft and propeller presented a slight difficulty as there were no spares readily available. As Olympic was at that time the world’s largest steamer and was practically brand new, the need for spares had not been anticipated. The only other existing parts that could be fitted to Olympic were those waiting to be fitted to the second sister, Titanic. With no other option open to them, Harland & Wolff decided to cannibalise the necessary spares.

  Only after the work had begun did it become clear to them that the liner had suffered far more serious damage than had first appeared. As we know, the centrally mounted turbine engine, which was normally run on the low-pressure exhaust steam from one or both of the main engines, had been put out of commission by Hawke. While this engine was being repaired it must have been discovered that it had been moved slightly in the collision. Even then, with no obvious break in the ship’s keel, the rectification work would continue. However, the mere fact that this engine needed any repair at all should have told the people at Harland & Wolff that the damage extended at least as far as the centre line of the ship. This fact, allied to the way that the temporary patch on the vessel’s hull had failed during the short voyage from Southampton to Belfast, would in its turn tell them that the hull was no longer rigid and would have to be stiffened. While hull plating was removed to allow access to the engineering spaces in the ship, such as the main engine rooms, it was not an insurmountable task to fit what amounted to an extra bulkhead or two. These new bulkheads would of course have to run longitudinally, which rather turned the whole design concept of the vessel on its head. We already know that when Dr Robert Ballard was exploring the wreck of the ship we know as Titanic in 1985 and 1986 he discovered a bulkhead within the vessel that did not appear on any of her drawings. This bulkhead must have been fitted as an afterthought and surely was intended to stiffen up the hull - there is no other believable reason. Judging from later events, the hurried repairs and stiffening failed to do the job.

  Harland & Wolff was under a considerable amount of pressure to complete the repairs to Olympic as quickly as possible. The ship had cost the White Star Line about £1,500,000 to build (to gain some idea of how that figure relates to today’s prices you have to add a couple of noughts), and the company was losing between £4,000 and £5,000 a day in lost fares, freight charges and builders’ costs while the ship was laid up. So without further ado the crankshaft and propeller shaft intended for Titanic were fitted in place of Olympic’s own bent and twisted ones. Then it was time to fit Titanic’s starboard main propeller to her damaged sister; still bearing Titanic’s build number 401, it is clearly visible in the wreck, showing that the ship is in fact Olympic. Only at this point did it become apparent to all concerned with the repair that they were wasting their time.

  Between the front face of the propeller and the rear face of the huge stern frame of the ship there should be a massive thrust bearing, a large bronze ring that stopped the propeller rubbing directly on the frame and prevented the stresses imposed by the thrust from the propeller being transmitted directly to the engine’s crankshaft. Without this bearing the life of the engine would be dramatically reduced. When they came to fit that bearing they discovered that there simply was not enough room for it. The propeller shaft, even though both Titanic and Olympic were supposed to be identical as far as their engines, transmission and steering gear were concerned, was not long enough. Hawke’s bow, acting as both a wedge and a lever, had stretched the starboard side of Olympic’s hull. Because of the sheer size of the ship and the extra stiffening that had gone into her, it was impossible to bend her hull back into shape. Luckily for the shipbuilders there was another set of thrust bearings part way along the propeller shaft, but these were not enough on their own to absorb all of the stresses. Nevertheless, they would have to manage for a while because there was no way on earth that the original thrust bearing could be refitted. To compound the builders’ problems, Olympic’s starboard propeller had continued to turn for as least one full revolution after coming into contact with Hawke. Even one revolution of the bent propeller shaft would have effectively destroyed the bearing through which it ran in the ship’s stern frame. These bearings were never intended to be a replaceable part and were meant to last the full life of the ship. There is, then, every possibility that the huge frames at the rear end of the liner had been damaged by Hawke and the replacement of such frames had never been done before. Not for another 20 years would a large ship have her stern frame replaced after its hull had been plated.

  Under normal circumstances, at this point the ship would either have been written off as beyond economic repair or the decision to completely rebuild the aft part of the hull would have been taken - but these were not normal circumstances.

  Harland & Wolff was short of money and could not afford to do a proper repair job on Olympic without extracting a large percentage of the cost from White Star before the work was completed. Unfortunately White Star was also experiencing something of a cash crisis. It had already paid out for one new ship, and was in the process of paying for a second. The line’s owner, J. P. Morgan, had for the time being invested as much as he was prepared to in his s
hipping cartel. As far as Morgan was concerned, if White Star could not solve its own financial problems, it would just have to go. It wasn’t as if White Star was the only shipping line he owned, and, if it did go under, his other lines would buy up the best of its ships at knock-down prices. As no real money would actually change hands, this scenario would have caused Morgan no concern at all.

  Joseph Bruce Ismay, the man actually running IMM, was concerned about the fate of the White Star Line. Until White Star had been taken over in 1901/2 he had been the owner of the company, which had been built up by his father. Ismay was not about to sit idly by while his father’s shipping line went under. The quick answer to the problem was already at Belfast, fitting out. What could be easier than sending the second sister to sea in Olympic’s place?

  There is no record of a conversation between Ismay and Pirrie, the head of Harland & Wolff, about the possibilities of swapping the damaged Olympic with her still incomplete sister ship, nor would we expect there to be, even though the conversation must have taken place. To switch the identities of ships without informing the relevant authorities is illegal. However, I am informed by a retired marine insurance investigator that switching vessels’ identities is still, and always has been, the most common of maritime frauds.

  As far as Harland & Wolff was concerned, there would be no great problems in the switch because the two vessels had been built from the same plans and were in most respects absolutely identical. As previously mentioned, some minor changes had been incorporated into the second sister, after she had been launched, on the suggestion of Ismay, who had sailed across the Atlantic aboard Olympic on her maiden voyage. On that voyage Ismay had noticed that the B Deck promenade was not used a great deal and, in his opinion, could be usefully converted into first-class cabin space. The first-class restaurant at the aft end of B Deck, on the other hand, had proved extremely popular and ought to be enlarged. A new feature, a Café Parisien, would also be incorporated to one side of the restaurant. None of these changes was of a major nature as far as the builders were concerned, as they were all built into the ship’s superstructure and constructed from much lighter plating than the vessel’s hull. By the time of the Hawke incident and Olympic’s return to Belfast, at least the outer, visible, parts of these alterations had been carried out. They would have to be changed back to their original layout, but as anyone who has ever done anything practical will know, it is much easier to take something apart than to put it together.

  At the time the decision to switch the ships was made, the second sister was still some way from being ready for service, but it would still be a lot quicker to complete her than to properly repair Olympic, even if a proper repair was possible.

  Once the decision to switch the ships had been made the immediate problems were somewhat simplified. All that was required was that Olympic be patched up well enough to return to service for the time it would take to alter and complete her sister as a reasonable doppelgänger. In the same time, hopefully, the parts to effectively make good Olympic could be obtained, parts such as a slightly longer starboard propeller shaft or an aft bearing of reduced thickness. Nothing, of course, could be done about the stern bearing. They would just have to accept the fact that the starboard engine and shaft would vibrate and that the bearing would for evermore allow a certain amount of water to enter the ship. All ships leak to a lesser or greater degree, which is why they have pumps, so this was a problem they could cope with.

  Even without doing a proper repair, it still took the full might of Harland & Wolff two months to patch up Olympic well enough for her to return to service for the limited period they needed. During those same two months work began to alter Titanic back to her original layout as a lookalike for her sister, as well as continuing to complete her normal fitting out. The alterations to Titanic again presented no particular difficulties for the shipbuilders. However, they realised that it would take a little longer to do the alterations and to complete the ship than it would have done to simply continue as they had been doing, so they announced a postponed completion date. By way of explanation they said that the repairs to Olympic had drawn manpower from the second ship, thus delaying her completion. This explanation was plainly an excuse.

  The work needed to patch up Olympic was of a major structural nature, such as removing and replacing heavy steel components and 30 feet by 6 feet, 1-inch-thick hull plates, while the work needed to complete Titanic was such as carpet fitting, installing wooden panelling, putting in the electrical fittings, and so forth. Even in 1911 riveters did not put in wooden panelling and electricians did not install propeller shafts. Completely different groups of workers were needed for whatever had to be done aboard each sister ship, which was why they had been built with one progressing a few months ahead of the other in the first place. For the repairs to Olympic, steelworkers must have been seconded from other ships being constructed in the yard or brought in from outside. Olympic’s repairs could not have materially affected the progress in completing Titanic. Only altering the layout of the ship at the last moment provides a believable explanation for the postponed completion date.

  Harland & Wolff had a little less than five months to alter Titanic back to her original layout, or at least something like it. As long as they could fool everyone for a couple of months they were in the clear. After that, any differences could be explained away as minor improvements, done while the ship was lying in port between voyages or during one of her not infrequent returns to the builders’ yard.

  It had been the intention of the owners and builders to make Titanic even more luxurious than her older sister. She was to have been Olympic perfected. These improvements, such as carpets in public rooms where Olympic had linoleum tiles, were of a very minor nature. Extra small portholes that had been cut to allow more natural light into toilets would have to be sealed up. Again this was obviously no problem to the workforce at Harland & Wolff, as the number of portholes on various vessels changed throughout their lives. The extra cabins on B Deck could all be removed and the promenade area reinstated without any major problem except for a large pipe that, on Olympic, had run along the ceiling (deckhead) of the promenade. On Titanic this pipe had been re-routed to run along the outside of the hull beneath the overhang of the superstructure and not through the new cabins. Working on the assumption that this pipe was pretty well out of sight anyway, it was ignored.

  The White Star Line and Harland & Wolff did have one apparently serious problem, however - secrecy. Obviously they could not allow the whole world to know what they were doing, which is where Mr Churchill’s draconian alteration to the Official Secrets Act came in remarkably handy. Under the Act anything that happened within the shipyard was an official secret, if the company wanted it to be. As a result, although just about everyone living in Belfast knew about the switch, nothing about it ever appeared in the newspapers. Local gossip remained just that, and still does. As late as the 1950s schools in the Republic of Ireland were still teaching pupils that the Titanic disaster was an insurance fraud, which was at least partly true. Stories of the switch still circulate throughout what was Northern Ireland’s shipbuilding capital, and also spread to other parts of the British Isles; they were a regular topic of conversation in the pubs of Liverpool and Southampton, where many seamen who would sail on the ships actually lived.

  In fact, the secret of the change in identities of the two vessels was no secret at all - the story just never appeared in the newspapers. The Official Secrets Act was a powerful tool in the hands of a Government that had a vested interest in keeping the switch under wraps. It was its highhandedness that had brought the event about in the first place. In the second place it had another use for the crippled Olympic, so as long as the ship was available for its purposes, and didn’t actually cost it anything, the Government didn’t mind what White Star and Harland & Wolff got up to.

  Back at Belfast the new Titanic slowly began to take on the appearance of her sister. Only when the botched
-up repairs to Olympic were complete and the ship had left the builder’s yard would a large enough workforce become readily available to push the job forward. On 20 November Olympic was as ready as she ever would be to return to service. Her port main and turbine engines seem to have been operable within normal parameters, but the battered starboard engine still vibrated badly at anything more than a few revolutions per minute. Consequently, it was decided that the vessel should for the foreseeable future operate at reduced speeds. The reduction in stress would also go some way towards relieving the strain on the weakened hull and keel. By way of an excuse White Star explained that the slower cruising speed of the ship was an effort to conserve coal. As there was a great deal of industrial unrest in Britain at the time, and both miners and dock workers were either threatening to strike or had already downed tools, this excuse seemed reasonable enough. For westerly crossings the excuse might even have had an element of truth in it, but coal was readily available in New York. Even so, Olympic still only cruised at 20 knots on her homeward passages.