Lights
Deck Officer
Location: Anyplace on Water
Posts: 637
Rivets: 17 (+17/-0)
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Final Crossing Pt 1C
The last sounds from the crowd died away as Lord Pirrie looked around. In addition to the celebrities and those who had paid admission, hundreds upon hundreds of Harland and Wolff yard workers were present to see the launching of the second great Olympic-class ship, sitting or standing wherever they would be able to get a good view. On the gantry under which Titanic’s hull stood, propped up by heavy shoring timbers and connected to a series of hydraulic rams to send her on her way, were three flags. On one side hung the Stars and Stripes, on the other side, the Union Jack and in the centre the White Star house flag. Below these spelled out by semaphore flags was one word: success. Oh, yes, success indeed!
At a few minutes past twelve, a rocket shot up into the sky with a whistle followed by a loud bang. This was the launch signal. Men ran about the ways, knocking down shoring timbers so that the great hydraulic rams could do the work of sending Titanic on her way into the River Lagan.
Once all the workers were cleared, Pirrie activated the ram mechanism and slowly, almost imperceptibly, Titanic began to move, picking up speed as her stern came closer and closer to the water. At last, with a gentle motion, she slid into the river Lagan, to the cheers of the hundreds on shore, travelling roughly her full length again before her enormous drag lines brought her to a stop.
Ismay smiled as he looked at the hull, riding high in the water. God, his dream of making White Star the world’s greatest line was coming true! No, he corrected himself, had come true.
Most people were not aware that a ship was not launched fully-built, but the part of construction which took place under the gantry dealt mainly with the hull. After launch, Titanic would be towed to her graving dock, a sort of dry-dock where, once water had been pumped in, the hull would be gently nudged into her new home, the gate closed and water pumped back out. There, for several months, she would undergo the process of becoming a true ship, like her sister, Olympic. Here, her massive reciprocating and turbine engines would be added, along with boilers, inside panelling, fixtures, carpeting, light fixtures-well, everything that made a ship what she was. The crowning touch would be the four funnels which, when installed, would tower a good sixty-five feet above her boat-deck.
A launch was such a lovely thing to see, at least as far as he was concerned. Well, maybe one had to be a ship owner or shipbuilder to be able to appreciate that sort of thing. All he knew was that he thought launchings to be a beautiful sight.
Well, then, these ladies would be the queens of the ocean. Yes, all of them-Olympic, Titanic, and Gigantic-were going to make history!
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The young boy sat next to his father, looking puzzled. Weren’t they supposed to break a wine bottle or something over her bow?
“Da, why didn’t they christen the ship?”
“Oh, White Star don’t never christen their ships. They just builds ‘em and shoves ‘em in.” the man shook his head, “That’s not good, laddie. A ship needs to be christened or she’ll never know good luck.”
Yes, indeed. There’d been rumours in the yard that late at night, and sometimes in the day as well, an eerie, plaintive moaning could be heard coming from the great hull. That wasn’t good at all. That lass was just crying out to be properly christened. That’s what that moaning meant: she was beset with some spirit and needed it driven out of her!
One thing was certain, the man thought as he emptied his pipe, Titanic was one ship that he would never sail on-not in a million years!
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Last edited by Lights, Jul/8/2006, 12:03 am
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TSOLD's time is: Nov/27/2009, 7:20 pm