Mark Chirnside - RMS Olympic: Titanics Sister

To my inspirational grandparents, Anne and Alfred Hunt
and Joan and Stuart Chirnside

It would have been impossible to complete this work without the generous, kind and comprehensive help from a great number of wonderful people and institutions. It is important that people each person with their own specialised knowledge come together and share their knowledge, to form a comprehensive history. It is difficult to express my sincere thanks and gratitude in words, yet I know my thanks is heartfelt. I would like to thank the following people for generously sharing knowledge, helping me with material, offering interpretations, and advice. Thanks are also due for those who kindly granted permission for me to quote from copyright material:

Scott Andrews; Mark Baber; Raymond Bealing; George Behe; Bruce Beveridge; Randy Bigham; Charles Dragonette; Shelley Dziedzic; Robert Grove; Josh Gulch; Joe Hartwell; Brian Hawley; Nigel Hampson; Philip Hind; Pine Hodges; Brent Holt; David Hudson; Ellen Mackay; Sheila Jemima and Jill Neale; John Johnstone; Stuart Kelly; Daniel Klistorner; Peter Kohler; Ray Lepien; Henning Pfeifer; Bill Sauder; Inger Sheil; Bill Smy; Michael Standart; Eric Takakjian; Kevin R. Tam; Brian Ticehurst; Jason D. Tiller; Dr. Joan Unwin; Pat Winsip; Andrew Williams.

I would also like to thank the following institutions and people for all their assistance: The staff of the Cunard Archives, Sydney Jones Library, Liverpool University; The Imperial War Museum; Public Records Office, Kew, London; the help of the staff of the Maritime Collection, Southampton Reference Library; Gregory Plunges of the National Archives and Records Administration-Northeast Region (New York City); The Cutlers Company, The Cutlers Hall, Sheffield; The Canadian War Museum; Louise Higgs (The Halifax Herald Ltd.); The Canadian Letters and Images Project, Department of History at Malaspina University College. Karen Kamuda and everyone at the Titanic Historical Society; Mrs. J. M. Kenyon, for permission to quote from the diaries of J.R. Tozer, and the trustees of the Imperial War Museum; Antoinette L. Fitzsimons for her kind permission to quote from Colonel Leprohons diaries.

My grateful thanks to Campbell McCutcheon, and everybody at Tempus Publishing. This book would not have come into being without them.

In undertaking such a project, there is always a danger of simply repeating what has been said in the past. Indeed several people expressed to me the hope that this project would not do that; I trust their hope is justified. There is always new information to be found, no matter what the subject. Once people start believing otherwise, history becomes irrelevant. An enormous number of details have been, and no doubt are still being, overlooked. And the obligatory note about source conflict: it can be difficult at times to portray events accurately. Gaps and inconsistencies abound even in primary sources. Sadly there are other gaps due to the misfortune of some records over the years. A number of records of the United States Coast Guard relating to the Nantucket Lightship were destroyed in a warehouse fire in the 1950s or 60s, robbing the researcher of that information. Few White Star records survive prior to the 1934 merger, although the surviving archive includes the 1931 and 1932 balance sheets, General Manager Committee Meetings of 1929 to 1931, and passenger records for that period. There are more.

I encourage anyone with any corrections, or further information and memories, to contact me so that any errors can be corrected, and our collective knowledge increased. I know David Gray would also love to hear information about Olympic s wartime career, to complement his excellent research. As a closing sentence, I would like to emphasise that all errors and mistakes are mine alone, and reiterate my thanks to the many kind people who have helped with this project. Your kindness is astonishing and I am very grateful to you all.

Mark Chirnside, August 2004

It goes without saying that I continue to owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who helped with the first edition of this book. I am very grateful for the encouragement of my parents, family and friends, and all the support they gave me.

I have learned a great deal from correspondence and discussion with numerous individuals since the original book was published. In many cases, people have shared information which has been referenced specifically in the endnotes. At other times, information obtained for other projects or for my own general interest nonetheless proved useful in revising the first edition. Further thanks are due to the following people, who gave so generously of their time and expertise by sharing information, discussing evidence, sharing photographs and plans, and offering encouragement:

Scott Andrews, George Behe, Bruce Beveridge, Jenalin Burdette, Myles Chantler, Pavel Chlupac; Christian Cody, Ed Coughlan, Ray Cowell; John Creamer, Ralph Currell, Neil Egginton; David Hume Elkington; Tad Fitch; Ioannis Georgiou, Steve Hall, Sam Halpern, Sean Hankins; Brian Hawley, Remco Hillen, Ken Hillier; Brent Holt, David Hutchings, Stuart Kelly; Daniel Klistorner, J. Kent Layton, Ray Lepien; Oliver Loerscher, Michael Lowrey, Stuart Lythgoe; Olivier Mendez; Craig Mestach; Peter Mitchell; Mike Poirier, Trevor Powell, Bob Read, Inger Sheil, Jonathan Smith; Nick Thearle, Hilary Thomas; Rich Turnwald; John D. (Jack) Wetton; Russ Willoughby.

A number of people and organisations have helped with both my ongoing research in general and some specific enquiries for the purpose of this project: the staff of the Cranbrook Archives; Cunard Archives, University of Liverpool Library; English Heritage; Getty images; IMarEST; Imperial War Museum; Library and Archives Canada; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; London Metropolitan Archives (accessing Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section); National Archives (formerly the Public Records Office); National Maritime Museum; National Museums Northern Ireland; Public Records Office (Northern Ireland); Southampton Reference Library; TopFoto; Tyne & Wear Archives Service; United States Coast Guard Historians Office. I also owe my sincere apologies to anyone who may have been inadvertently missed out, or those I have not been able to contact.

Finally, my thanks to everyone involved in the mammoth tasks of the original books completion and the preparation of this new edition, in particular Amy Rigg, Commissioning Editor, Juanita Zo Hall, Managing Editor and all at The History Press.

Mark Chirnside, March 2015

A lthough many of the events in this book took place more than one hundred years ago, Olympic s history is still evolving. Researchers continue to unearth new information or documentation that improves our understanding, changes perspectives or adds to our knowledge of the ship and her life. The continuing analysis only improves our comprehension.