Featured Article: The Story of Nomadic - The Last Surviving Vessel of the White Star Line

The S.S. Nomadic is a tender that was specially designed and built by White Star to serve the Olympic Class ships. Olympic and Titanic were so large that they could not dock in Cherbourg, France, but had to wait off shore while Nomadic and her sister ship Traffic, brought passengers from the dock to the ship. Nomadic still exists today and is under restoration at Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is the only surviving vessel of the White Star line.

NOMADIC TIMELINE

December 22, 1910

Nomadic's keel is laid down at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

April 25, 1911

Nomadic is launched.

The launch of the SS Nomadic

May 16, 1911

Nomadic completes sea trials.

May 27, 1911

Nomadic is delivered to the White Star Line.

June, 1911

Nomadic arrives in Cherbourg, France.

June 14, 1911

Nomadic services RMS Olympic at Cherbourg. This was Olympic's maiden voyage and first stop on her way to New York.

April 10, 1912

Nomadic ferries 142 first class passengers to Titanic. This was Titanic's maiden voyage and first stop on her way to New York.

Titanic and Nomadic at Cherbourg, France
Image from James Cameron's 1997 film "TITANIC"

June, 1912

Nomadic receives a covered bridge.

SS Nomadic with covered bridge.

World War I Begins

1917

Nomadic is requisitioned by the French government, and is sent to Brest to serve as a troop ship for the U.S. 7th infantry division for nearly 2 years.

1919

Nomadic returns to commercial service. The first ship she tenders is the Cunard Line's Coronia.

1928

Nomadic is involved in a collision with the liner Orinoco.

1933

Cherbourg opens a deep water berth making tenders redundant.

1934

Nomadic is purchased by Societe Cherbourgeoise de Remorquage et de Sauvetage (SCRS) and is renamed Ingenieur Minard.

1936

She is dry docked in Cherbourg for essential repairs before continuing to serve some of the world's most famous liners.

World War II Begins

June 16, 1940

Nomadic helped to evacuate soldiers and workers from the French aviation company Amiot to escape the German army.

June 18, 1940

Nomadic sails to Portsmouth and is requisitioned by the British government. She spends five years as a troop ship, ferrying soldiers from Portsmouth to training camps in the Isle of Wight.

1945

Nomadic is saved from scrapping by her former owner SCRS.

1945-1952

Nomadic is busy working at Cherbourg due to the harbor being virtually destroyed by the German army during the war. When the quays are restored, she becomes redundant and is kept for times when vessels can not berth.

1952

She also continues to service some visits of RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth, the two largest liners in the world when they can not tie up at the quay.

Cunard White Star's RMS Queen Elizabeth with Nomadic in the lower left corner.
At this point in her career Nomadic was named Ingenieur Minard.

November 4, 1968

Nomadic serves the RMS Queen Elizabeth for the last time.

1969

French businessman Roland Spinnewyn purchases Nomadic and tows her from Cherbourg to Conflans Sainte Honorine with the intention of transforming her into a floating restaurant.

1974

Spinnewyn decides his dream is not practical, so Nomadic is sold to entrepreneur Yvon Vincent.

1977

Vincent opens Nomadic as a floating restaurant and function space on the River Seine in Paris where she plays host to many events and concerts over the following 22 years. Details of her internal layout are changed by each new tenant.

Nomadic on the River Seine in Paris serving as a floating restaurant.

March, 1999

Nomadic is closed due to Health and Safety regulations requiring annual inspections of her hull in dry docks.

April 1, 2002

Nomadic is towed out of Paris and down the River Seine to Le Havre.

January 26, 2006

Nomadic is purchased by the Department of Social Development.

July 12, 2006

After 95 years Nomadic returns to Belfast for restoration.

Harland and Wolff continue the restoration project of Nomadic. While the restoration is on going, Nomadic serves as a museum and is part of the new Titanic Quarter and Titanic Belfast attraction in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Nomadic as she currently looks today in Belfast, Ireland.

Featured Article: How Many Lifeboats Should There Be?

When the Olympic Class ships were being designed and constructed, nobody knew exactly how many lifeboats there should be. After all, these new ships were supposed to be lifeboats themselves. Would lifeboats be needed at all? In the early 1900s the number of lifeboats required to be installed was determined on the tonnage of a ship and not the amount of people the ship could carry. This was based on a law established by the British Board of Trade and referred to ships that were up to 10,000 tons. Since ships such as Olympic and Titanic weighed 45,000 tons, this law was obviously outdated.

Today we understand that all ships must have enough lifeboats for everyone on board just in case disaster strikes. In 1909 however, lifeboats were used to gradually get people off of a ship that was in distress and transfer those people to a rescue ship once it had arrived. They were never intended to support all passengers on the ocean indefinitely.

The original head designer of the Olympic Class ships, Alexander Carlisle, did in fact envision a way to have enough lifeboats for everyone on board using new davits developed by the Welin company. Carlisle's concept design suggested 48 to 64 lifeboats per ship.

Bruce Ismay disagrees with Carlisle, saying that so many lifeboats could cause passengers to worry, and would only be obstructions on the deck. The exact conversation between Ismay and the Harland & Wolff design team regarding the number of lifeboats has been a continued debate. In the end, Olympic and Titanic just barely exceeded the law with 20 lifeboats per ship.

Olympic and Titanic Lifeboat Details

14- Wooden Clinker-Built Lifeboats (65-person capacity)

2- Wooden Cutter Emergency Lifeboats (40-person capacity)

4- Engelhardt Collapsible Lifeboats (47-person capacity)

Timeline Article: From the Drawing Board to the Real World - Olympic's First Keel Plate is Laid

A postcard showing the new Arrol Gantry at Harland and Wolff.

Late 1908, the dream of the next generation of ocean liners moves from the draftsman's table to the real world. To accommodate the building of the massive size of the new Olympic Class ships. Harland and Wolff has to convert 3 of their already huge slipways into 2 bigger slipways. By the end of 1908, Harland and Wolff had designed the tallest gantry ever that stood over the slipways.

This gantry, known as the Arrol Gantry named after Sir William Arrol. He was a Scottish civil engineer and was contracted by Harland and Wolff to construct the enormous gantry. The gantry was equipped with heavy machinery for the construction of steel ships. Also, bridges that would allow the ship workers to get from one end to the other. This system of construction made it possible to build ships as big as Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic.

Olympic's keel being laid underneath the gantry.

Once the gantry was completed. Harland and Wolff started to hire ship workers in record numbers. They lay Olympic's first keel plate beneath the gantry that towers over Belfast. The Lagan River behind the gantry and had to be dredged to 50 feet to accommodate the launch of these new super liners, and to support ships with a deeper draft. Meanwhile back in Southampton, White Star arranges for similar dredging. While all this is taking place, Bruce Ismay is in America doing whatever is necessary to make sure that the piers in New York will be long enough for his liners to dock.

Featured Article: What Happened To Gigantic?

An unauthorized publication
showing the name "Gigantic".

One of the most enduring myths surrounding the Titanic story is actually about her younger sister, Britannic...

In the summer of 1907 when the Olympic Class liners were conceived, only Olympic and Titanic had been officially named. Since the two ships were going to be built side by side at the same time. White Star wanted to add a third ship later, but it was never given an official name at the time. The three ships had hull numbers and were listed as 400, 401, and 433. The public in Belfast knew about the White Star Line's order for 3 new ships and knew of Olympic and Titanic, but they were curious about the third ship's name. As curiosity grows, unauthorized publications such as posters and articles about the three liners began to circulate. A poster like the one pictured (above left) was an unofficial publication advertising "Gigantic" as the third ship in the class. Since White Star always branded its publications, this particular one does not belong to White Star. 

During the early stages of construction, there was photographic evidence that the third and final ship of the class was named "Britannic" and not "Gigantic".

Framing and plating of Britannic in 1912.
Notice the plaque reading
"White Star Royal Mail Steamer Britannic".

After Titanic sank, a rumor began to circulate that the White Star Line had indeed planned to name the third ship "Gigantic" but then changed the name after the Titanic sank to avoid the appearance of arrogance. 

White Star denied these claims at the Titanic inquiries. It was made known that by the time the first ship Olympic was launched in October of 1910, all of the Harland and Wolff documented records indicated that the third ship of the class was to be named "Britannic".

For years I (Joshua Allen Milford) had believed the above rumor was true. However, I became curious about the name change and wondered if there was really any name change at all. I contacted the Titanic Historical Society for help. I stated the question of the name change and the origin of the "Gigantic" poster. 

This is the response that I received:

"The origin of the poster that you illustrate is extremely vague, but it is quite certain that it was not a piece of official White Star Line publicity. Nor did it have anything to do with Harland and Wolff. What is certain is that as of October 1911, the only name in the available Harland and Wolff records is Britannic. None of the documents at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) record any name changes even after the vessel had been ordered, which was almost six months before the Titanic went down."

-Simon Mills
 Britannic Wreck owner
 and Olympic Class Historian


"If it is of any assistance in all my years as Archive Manager in H & W I can confirm I never saw any official reference to the name Gigantic being used or proposed for the third of the Olympic class vessels. In any event the name of the vessel would be of only passing interest to us as the vessel number, in this case 433, would be the principal identifier."

-Tom McCluskie
 Harland and Wolff Archive Manager
 and Harland and Wolff Historian

An official White Star publication advertising
Britannic in her intended livery, before
she was requisitioned to be a hospital ship. 

I believe this proves that White Star never changed the name from "Gigantic" to "Britannic", and that the records indicate that the name "Britannic" was the official name before Titanic sank. Perhaps the name "Gigantic" was simply suggested during the time the 3 ships were being conceived but never made official.

HMHS Britannic
(Painting By: Ken Marschall)

The only thing that had changed about her name was the prefix. She was supposed to be named "RMS Britannic", just like RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, but lost that title due to the outbreak of World War I. Before she could be completed, she was requisitioned to serve as a hospital ship by the British Admiralty. She took the name "HMHS Britannic" which stood for "His Majesty's Hospital Ship Britannic".

After completing 5 successful voyages as a hospital ship, she was considered the finest hospital ship afloat. On November 21, 1916, Britannic was on her 6th voyage when she struck an underwater mine off the coast of the Greek island of Kea in the Aegean Sea.

HMHS Britannic

She sank in only 58 minutes taking 30 out of 1,036 lives. She was the largest ship lost in WWI and is the largest ocean liner on the sea floor to this day.

Britannic sinking off the coast of
Greece near Kea Island.
(Painting By: Ken Marschall)

The wreck of the HMHS Britannic.
(Painting By: Ken Marschall)

Timeline Article: Contract Signed for the Olympic Class Ships

On September 17, 1908, a contract is signed to start construction for the Olympic Class Liners that were envisioned the previous year. Bruce Ismay and other White Star members arrive in Belfast, Ireland to review Harland and Wolff's construction plans. Chairman of H&W, William Pirrie presents the drawings with the assistance of his nephew, the managing director and head of the drafting department, Thomas Andrews. 

Ultimately, they decide that they will build Olympic and Titanic side by side as identical twin sisters, then build Britannic later. This decision signals an economic boom for Belfast whose main industry is shipbuilding. This also gives a higher profile to Southampton, which is rapidly becoming the leading passenger port for England.

William Pirrie (left) Thomas Andrews (right)

Timeline Article: White Star Conceives a New Line of Ships

In the summer of 1907, the White Star Line plans to amaze the world with a new line of ships. Since the Cunard Line has positioned itself for speed, White Star will have to present the world with sheer spectacle.

One evening over dinner White Star's president J. Bruce Ismay and the president of the Harland and Wolff ship yard Lord William Pirrie, meet at Pirrie's home and conceived a new line of ships. Together they envisioned the largest moving objects ever made by man. Three liners that were to be 50% bigger and 100 feet longer than anything yet built. These three "Olympic Class" liners would be constructed to lure the wealthiest passengers with their magnificence, and be able to carry more immigrants to America than ever before.

These three liners will be called...  

"Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic"

Timeline Article: Oceanic - "The Ship of the Century"

RMS Oceanic (1899)

1897 - 1899

By the late 1890s the White Star Line's Majestic and Teutonic had quickly become outdated due to the rapid advances in marine technology. White Star’s chief rival, the Cunard Line, had introduced the Campania and Lucania in 1893, and other competitors such as the German Norddeutscher Lloyd Line, began introducing four new Kaiser Class ocean liners by 1897. To compete with these ships, White Star needed to produce a new flagship which could rival them.

Oceanic under construction
at Harland & Wolff

A new ship was conceived by White Star and construction would take place at the Harland and Wolff shipyard at Belfast, as was the tradition with White Star Line ships. Her keel was laid down in 1897. Hull number 317 was named after the first successful ship of the line, Oceanic of 1871. The hull was launched on January 14, 1899, and the fitting out process began thereafter. 

Construction on Oceanic was completed on August 26th that same year.

At 704 feet, Oceanic was to be the first ship to exceed the length of the largest ship to have been built at that time, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Eastern (1859 - 1889). However, only in length but not in tonnage.

SS Great Eastern (above). RMS Oceanic (below).

At 17,272 tons, the Oceanic would cost one million pounds and require 1,500 shipworkers to complete. However, Oceanic was not designed to be the fastest ship afloat or compete for the Blue Riband, an award given to ship that achieves the fastest transcontinental record, as it had recently become the White Star Line's policy to focus on size and comfort rather than speed.

She was powered by two triple expansion engines, which were the largest of their type constructed at that time and could produce 28,000 horsepower which gave her a service speed of 21 knots or about 24 miles per hour.

Her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York began on Wednesday, September 6, 1899. The following November, White Star’s chairman Thomas Henry Ismay died leaving the responsibilities of chairman to his son J. Bruce Ismay. Oceanic would be the last ship ordered by Thomas Henry Ismay as well as the last British ship built in the 19th century.

Thomas Henry Ismay (left) and
Bruce Ismay (right)

A sister ship for Oceanic to be named Olympic was proposed. However, following the death of Thomas Ismay, the order was postponed and eventually cancelled. Instead, the company decided to deploy the resources to produce a set of larger liners which would become known as the "Big Four" class. The name Olympic was later given to first ship of the Olympic Class which also included Titanic and Britannic.