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.