Titanic's bow name plates

[david wilson]

Surely nobody in this discussion is suggesting that a H&W tradesman painted in those letters on photos #3 to #6.That is chalk!probably applied by a sixteen year old,1st year app,just to draw attention to the plate.
regards.
dw.

 

[david wilson]

Parks,how are you?Regarding your statement "seven months of sun & the elements weathered the paint".Having spent most of my life in belfast I can assure you that no way would you get seven months sun in a calender year.It would be more like seven days,this is why I now live in western australia lol.
regards.
dw.

 

[Ken Marschall]

Steve writes, "What's interesting is that fig 2 shows the letters positioned differently when she left Southampton."

Consider the different angle from which the hull is being viewed, which alters the relationship between portholes and letters.

David writes, "Surely nobody in this discussion is suggesting that a H&W tradesman painted in those letters on photos #3 to #6.That is chalk!"

Again, this is the hand of the negative "retoucher," nothing applied to the hull itself.

Ken

 

[Steven Hall]

I believe there is some general consensus that the letters had not been on the ship until mid May 1911. In the photographs just prior to launch the letters are almost certainly there — though behind the “retouchers” handy work.
Below is fig 1 (as posted at the start of the thread. Image right — sepia is Titanic early October 1911, dry-dock. Little has changed.

 

[Steven Hall]

Below — February 1912. (image a lot more clear with higher resolution) Gone !
[more tomorrow]

 

[Parks Stephenson]

David,

Nice to talk with you. I've read your posts in the "Titanic Hull" thread with great interest.

By mentioning "sun" above, I didn't mean to imply that Belfast was a tropical paradise. How about this...I should have said that a fresh coat of paint will look different in both shade and texture to paint left exposed to the elements for 7 months.

I envy you living in WA. Fremantle was my favourite port visit, the worst drunk I ever had was at a West Coast Eagles match and if Saddam hadn't tried to invade Kuwait a second time in 1994, I might be married to a nice girl from Perth today (if my wife is reading this, I'm glad things turned out the way they did, dear).

Parks

 

[Parks Stephenson]

Steve,

The answer is obvious...they switched Titanic and Olympic in Feb 1912. This should make the second edition of your book interesting. :-D

Seriously, it's hard to explain what's going on here. The letters don't just come and go at someone's whim. I would wager that the letters are still there in the photo above but that they just didn't show on film. Exactly how and why, I couldn't say.

Parks

 

[Steven Hall]

Parks, I thought people might have been thinking along those lines over the last few days because of my connection with the theory. LOL (like my wife said the other day, that conspiracy theory is going to haunt you forever dearest)

Honestly though Parks, the book is selling like hot meat pies at West Coast Eagles match. What is it about the conspiracy that attracts readers ?

I really had no intention of taking this oddity (surrounding the name) this far.

There is another oddity only a few feet away also on Titanic. It’s the port side anchor. (she does not have the same port anchor she had when launched) I’ll save this one up for another day.

The image of the missing letters is actually a photograph — not a screen capture from the film footage.

I think it might be time for me to slink back into the shadows (from were I came) and watch and see where the thread takes us.

Steve

 

[Paul Lee]

That picture labelled "feb 12- Dry Dock" - is that a picture from the newsreel footage? Because, as the camera pans down the hull, the name Titanic is clearly visible!

Cheers

Paul

 

[david wilson]

Every time I see the picture of titanic's port bow with the name we have just been discussing,it reminds me of an incident on the other side of the gantry.That would be olympic's port side.There was a concrete path about 12' wide which ran up the hill first ,going aft & then down hill all the way to the victoria channel.On the right hand side was a row of single story offices,these were for the head foremen of all dept's.The first one was Tommy Megahey,head foreman plater.H&W plating dept had quite a few steel "bogies"made from 3"x3"x1/2"angle with 4 of 9"x3"x20'long oregon planks bolted on.These were used to move small jobs from machine to machine & eventually out to the slip.One day,when I was an app my marker boy & I had just delivered a job to the boat on #2 slip,that would be olympic's.Coming back with the empty bogie,we decided to have a rest & sit on the end of the planks.A few pushes with the feet & away we went,hell for leather down the concrete path,just feet from the offices.Mr Megahey(you were obliged to call them Mr if they wore a bowler hat)stepped out into our path,we didn't hit him,just spun him round.I told the boy to pull his coat over his head & scarper.I avoided that man for a month.
I often wonder what effect killing him would have had on history.I know hundreds would have thanked me for it.
regards.
dw.

 

[david wilson]

Those gantries were home to millions of starlings.
They always came home to roost at go home time.So everybody had to run the gauntlet through the bird poo.Every morning the labourers had to use the fire hydrants to wash the place & the boats.The stench of ammonia was overpowering.Harlands tried every device known to man to drive them away,but to no avail.They eventually succeeded.They removed the gantries & 30,000 jobs,but it got rid of the birds.
regards.
dw.

 

[david wilson]

Parks,as you have read my posts on the shell plating methods of the day,can I refer you to the photos #3 & #4.The strake below the name strake is obviously an "in".Directly below the space between the T & I,you can see quite distinctly the butt break at the aft end of the fwd plt.The change in the shape of the shadow makes this very evident.On one of the other sites there is the best photo I've seen of the same angle,but you can see all the butt breaks.
regards.
dw

 

[Scott R. Andrews]

David,

Ugh! I imagine the droppings from all of those birds couldn't have been much good for the ironwork of the gantry, either - that stuff is awfully corrosive!

By the way, do you have any idea what became of the floating crane? Did it remain in use as long as the gantry?

Thanks,
Scott Andrews

 

[Ken Marschall]

Steve,

In the above drydock photo you posted, the reason the engraved letters don't show is the same reason the letters "Cherbourg" barely show in the close-up photo of Nomadic's stern lettering earlier referred to. Only the edges of the letters are cut in, merely as a painter's guide. You need a raking (low-angled) light to see them well. At the great distance and extreme angle of the drydock photo, it's no surprise that the letters are not evident.

Ken

 

[david wilson]

Scott,the 150ton floating crane was mostly used by outfit riggers,predominately to install the engine.As you probably know the engine was fitted after the launch.The boats would be towed to an area in belfast harbour called the deep water.The floating crane was always in this area.The last time I seen it was around canberra's time,early 60's.I'm pretty sure the best man to answer your question is Jim (alick)Carlisle,from the belfast titanic society.His Email is on this board,very recent,talking to me about a poem on the titanic I submitted last week.
regards.
dw.