May 31, 1911

[Martin Antonenko]

Launching Without Ship Christening...


Anyone who walked past the "Harland & Wolf" shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the end of May 1911 could see it from afar over the boundary wall of the shipyard site:

The huge hull of the largest ship in the world, the "Titanic", was ready on the slipway, the launch of the ship was imminent!



The shipyard and the shipping company "White Star Line" had actually set June 1st as the date for this important event.



However: when the shipyard workers started coating the slipways with tons of grease and soft soap two weeks before the scheduled date, the heavy hull began to move by itself - and had to be held in place with huge chains!



The launch was hastily brought forward by one day, to May 31, 1911!

Important personalities (or those who were thought to be) received these invitation cards by messenger...



...normale Sterbliche mußten - wie im Zirkus - Eintrittskarten kaufen...:



**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Part II

Nevertheless, on May 31, more than 100,000 people flock to the shipyard site, out on the River Lagan, which flows into the Irish Sea near Belfast, all sorts of excursion boats rocking at a respectful distance, on which as many seats as possible are also rented out to the paying public Has.

At 12 o'clock the workers are ready at the hydraulic pumps, which are supposed to give the huge hull a last push - everything is ready!



At the last minute (so with maximum effect) the owner of the shipyard, Lord William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie and the boss of the "White Star" shipping company, Bruce Ismay, arrive at the Stapelauf place...



...and go past the hydraulic pumps onto a wooden scaffolding that has been erected under the bow of the giant hull.



Their speeches are short - and only understandable by people very close. Lord Pirrie...



...focuses on the joint achievement and Irish worker pride - during the construction of the "Titanic" there were several serious incidents (1 dead, several injured) in clashes between Catholic and Protestant staff members.

Bruce Ismay...



...points to the unrivaled luxury and speed of the new building; Strictly speaking, he is no longer the master of the "White Star Line", but a better salesman, the real owner behind the scenes is the US multi-billionaire John P. Morgan...:



However, the "Titanic" deliberately avoided a common ritual: the traditional ship christening!

Normally, every ship is christened immediately before it is launched, with a woman throwing a bottle of sparkling wine against the bow and naming the ship.

This ritual, which dates back to ancient times, is not just baptism with a name, but is also intended to bring the ship a happy voyage at all times - but only if the bottle also breaks at the bow!

(In June 1996, during the christening of the German Navy destroyer "Schleswig-Holstein" (D-182), the former Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein, Heide Simonis, had to throw the champagne bottle a full seven times against the ship's bow until it finally broke and the christening "was valid"! )

Bruce Ismay made a conscious decision not to baptize the Titanic, which he dismisses as "superstition"!

Ismay had prevailed over Lord Pirrie, who advocated the traditional ship christening, with the argument that the "Titanic" did not need "luck", because of its new type of construction with steel bulkheads...



...which divide the ship into individual watertight compartments, ultimately "unsinkable"!

At a show of hands from Pirrie, shipyard workers smash away the last of the chain stops with heavy hammers and activate the hydraulic pumps, and the huge hull slowly begins to move.

A shipyard worker quickly bangs a bottle full of mineral water on the bow of the "Titanic" and calls out: "Bye, old girl!" - and after 62 seconds it's all over.

The "Titanic" glides gently into her element...:





















In less than a year, the "unsinkable" ship will lie at the bottom of the Atlantic amidst a mountain of corpses...


One last word:

When I write about the "Titanic" here as a "huge ship", it is also a question of the temporal perspective!

In addition to a modern cruise giant of our days, the "Titanic" looks like a small pleasure boat...:

 

[Nap]

Amazing engineering

Hard to comprehend the sheer size of the ship even compared with todays cruise ships ......at the time a wonder of the world

Thank you Martin

Nap