Post by Paul Daley on Mar 29, 2005 14:17:59 GMT -5
Sir Edward James Harland
Gustav Wilhelm Wolff
The shipbuilding company of Harland & Wolff stands on Belfast's River Lagan, built on land reclaimed from the river. The company have been building ships since 1853, but it wasn't until 1st January 1862 that the company traded under the name `Harland & Wolff´.
In 1870, Harland & Wolff built their first White Star owned vessel, Oceanic, and over the years, they built more than 70 vessels for them. The Titanic's chief designer, Thomas Andrews, was a managing director at H&W, and also head of the draughting department, responsible for producing every drawing for every part of the ship. He would later be on the maiden voyage, almost continually writing down notes in a book which he always carried around the ship. These notes were used to provide Harland and Wolff with alterations, suggestions and improvements to Titanic and Olympic, and the yet to be built Britannic.
These notes were not a list of errors and problems as such, but more a list of refinements and tiny bits of detail that would allow Harland & Wolff to ensure that these already amazing super liners really were the last word in complete ocean-going luxury. The ships were built on a cost plus basis, which basically meant that all of the bills for materials and labour were passed on to the White Star line, with Harland & Wolff's profit margin added on. Ships were increasing in size at an incredible rate around the turn of the century, and to ensure that they could accommodate these larger vessels, Harland & Wolff had constructed larger docks together with bigger slipways. The builders of the Forth Rail Bridge near Edinburgh in Scotland, Sir William Arrol and Company Ltd, of Glasgow, were brought in to construct a huge new gantry that had been specially designed by the shipyard's own staff. At 840 feet long, by 240 feet wide, it could accommodate two Olympic class liners side by side.
Harland & Wolff at about this time also built two tenders, Nomadic and Traffic, to be used at the French port of Cherbourg. They would carry passengers and mail to the liners, which, being too large to enter Cherbourg's harbour itself, would be moored a couple of miles off shore.
At the time of the liners' construction, about 15,000 people worked at Harland & Wolff's Belfast yard. They worked a forty-nine hour week, with only half an hour for lunch, receiving about £2 per week. They only had one week's holiday in the summer, plus two days at Christmas, and two at Easter. Despite the tough working conditions, there were only eight fatalities reported during the Titanic's construction, five of which were actually on the Titanic.
Gustav Wilhelm Wolff
The shipbuilding company of Harland & Wolff stands on Belfast's River Lagan, built on land reclaimed from the river. The company have been building ships since 1853, but it wasn't until 1st January 1862 that the company traded under the name `Harland & Wolff´.
In 1870, Harland & Wolff built their first White Star owned vessel, Oceanic, and over the years, they built more than 70 vessels for them. The Titanic's chief designer, Thomas Andrews, was a managing director at H&W, and also head of the draughting department, responsible for producing every drawing for every part of the ship. He would later be on the maiden voyage, almost continually writing down notes in a book which he always carried around the ship. These notes were used to provide Harland and Wolff with alterations, suggestions and improvements to Titanic and Olympic, and the yet to be built Britannic.
These notes were not a list of errors and problems as such, but more a list of refinements and tiny bits of detail that would allow Harland & Wolff to ensure that these already amazing super liners really were the last word in complete ocean-going luxury. The ships were built on a cost plus basis, which basically meant that all of the bills for materials and labour were passed on to the White Star line, with Harland & Wolff's profit margin added on. Ships were increasing in size at an incredible rate around the turn of the century, and to ensure that they could accommodate these larger vessels, Harland & Wolff had constructed larger docks together with bigger slipways. The builders of the Forth Rail Bridge near Edinburgh in Scotland, Sir William Arrol and Company Ltd, of Glasgow, were brought in to construct a huge new gantry that had been specially designed by the shipyard's own staff. At 840 feet long, by 240 feet wide, it could accommodate two Olympic class liners side by side.
Harland & Wolff at about this time also built two tenders, Nomadic and Traffic, to be used at the French port of Cherbourg. They would carry passengers and mail to the liners, which, being too large to enter Cherbourg's harbour itself, would be moored a couple of miles off shore.
At the time of the liners' construction, about 15,000 people worked at Harland & Wolff's Belfast yard. They worked a forty-nine hour week, with only half an hour for lunch, receiving about £2 per week. They only had one week's holiday in the summer, plus two days at Christmas, and two at Easter. Despite the tough working conditions, there were only eight fatalities reported during the Titanic's construction, five of which were actually on the Titanic.