Piece of wood carving from the Titanic?

[Rachael1918]

My grandad had the piece of wood carving shown in the picture in his shed for many years, and the story he told was that his father (my great grandfather) was a carpenter who worked on the Titanic in Belfast (my great-grandad was from Co. Durham, but travelled to Belfast for work before WWI). My grandad thought that the wood carving shown was from the Titanic itself, but I'm no expert and it's possible it was some sort of tall tale. I was just wondering if any of the members here had expertise in this sort of thing, and could advise on whether this style of carving looks like it could have come from the Titanic or a similar grand ship? Thank you!

 

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

If I had to guess, it's not from the Titanic. At the time, the Titanic was a tragedy but no one sought to recover pieces of the wreckage. Any wood from the great ship is long gone.

Having said that, it's possible that it may be a piece of scrap wood from when the trim was being installed in the ship.

 

[Seumas]

Does it have a number stamped on the back by any chance ?

The problem is that Belfast and Southampton in particular have seen thousands of "this was meant to be on the Titanic but was never delivered/installed on time" type of stories. 99% of them are not true.

If I had to guess, it's not from the Titanic. At the time, the Titanic was a tragedy but no one sought to recover pieces of the wreckage. Any wood from the great ship is long gone.

Having said that, it's possible that it may be a piece of scrap wood from when the trim was being installed in the ship.

Some wood from the ship's panneling and stairwells was recovered after the disaster. A few deckchairs too.

The carpenters from the ship's sent to recover bodies hauled aboard some wood that they subsequently worked into things like chessboards and decorative pieces.

 

[Rachael1918]

Yeah it certainly wasn't recovered from the wreck - the story was that it was intended for the Titanic but not used, either due to some imperfection or its being some kind of overcut.

There seems to be something scratched into the back, but it's quite indistinct and could either be a number or a pair of initials.

It's obviously very difficult to prove this sort of thing - I guess the only way of proving it (or coming close);would be if there were similar wood carvings that could be proven to be part of the ship.

 

[Jim Currie]

It's not all that strange.

Many years ago, I was a New Building inspector at the John Brown's Shipyard, Clydebank, Scotland. At that time, I bought a McGruer, twin screw yacht. It had been constructed in the late 1940's from wood cured before WW2. However, it did not have a stern flag pole.
I mentioned this to one of the Yard Foremen and he had the Carpenter's Shop make one for me. They made it from a spare oar leftover from the building of the first Queen Elizabeth in 1938. ( I was actually at that launch). So your ancestor's story may well be true.

 

[Seumas]

Yeah it certainly wasn't recovered from the wreck - the story was that it was intended for the Titanic but not used, either due to some imperfection or its being some kind of overcut.

There seems to be something scratched into the back, but it's quite indistinct and could either be a number or a pair of initials.

It's obviously very difficult to prove this sort of thing - I guess the only way of proving it (or coming close);would be if there were similar wood carvings that could be proven to be part of the ship.

The fact that there is something scratched on the back rather than stamped raises a red flag with me I'm afraid.

We know that the master chippies at H&W used a stamp (with the ship's assigned yard number) for every piece of wood they worked on. They didn't scratch anything into them.

I think (but am not 100% sure) that the British Titanic Society and the Irish Titanic Society might have members in their ranks who might know how to authenticate things like this. The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum might be another place to try. What I'd do is contact them and see if perhaps they could advise you how to one day find if it is real or not.