SS Olympic, Origin of a Design - Titanic Commutator - 2Q 2001

Front Cover of The Titanic Commutator: The Official Journal For The Titanic Historical Society, Inc. for Issue 152 circa February 2001. GGA Image ID # 1044b7e725

On the Front cover: The Daily Graphic, 5 April 1873. SS Atlantic's Chief Officer, John Firth, "When daylight came I counted thirty-two persons in the mizzen-mast rigging with me including one woman...Her half-nude body was still fast to the rigging, her eyes protruding, her mouth foaming, a terribly ghastly spectacle, rendered more ghastly by the contrast with numerous jewels which sparkled on her hands. We had to leave her body there, and it is probably there yet. The scene at the wreck was an awful one, such as I have never before witnessed, and hope never to witness again." THS Collection.

This issue includes the conclusion of SS Atlantic - One of Ismay's Triumphs And His First Major Disaster, and an article on RMS Olympic, the sister ship of the Titanic called "Evolution Of A Design."

RMS Olympic Evolution of a Design

by Bruce Beveridge

Among the great transatlantic liners. RMS Olympic is one of the venerated and, rightly so, for she was a prototype—many of the structural characteristics and fittings were tested on her, then incorporated on the Titanic and are illustrated in photographs and deck plans creating a visual timeline.

This article is not intended to be her complete record but merely a depiction of how ships change with circumstances—accidents, war, technology, and the economy.

CONTENTS

• SS Atlantic, Part 2, Conclusion
  Compiled by Karen Kamuda
• Rev John Harper and the Titanic
  by Rev Mick Steiner
• Michel Navratil (Titanic Survivor)
  by Don Lynch
• Great Fosters
  by Simon Mills
  The Lost Film Location From "A Night To Remember"
• Halifax Convention 2001
• Titanic Museum Collection, 2001
• SS Olympic, Origin of a Design, Part 1
  by Bruce Beveridge
• Items from the THS Oceanliner Store
• Sea Poste

Back Cover of The Titanic Commutator: The Official Journal For The Titanic Historical Society, Inc. for Issue 152 circa February 2001. GGA Image ID # 10450ad7e4

On the Back cover: A painting by Norman Wilkinson, circa 1911, depicting the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company's forty years of progress. To the right is White Star's latest design—the Olympic-class and Olympic, in this issue and the earliest, the Oceanic-class (left) beginning with Oceanic (I), Atlantic, (featured in this issue), Celtic (I) and Baltic (I). Photograph: Peabody Museum Collection.

Publication Information

The Titanic Commutator A Quarterly Journal Devoted to Original Research into Ocean Liners. Thirty-Eight Years of Continuous Publication.

Volume 24, Number 152, 2000 | Publication date: February 2001

THE TITANIC COMMUTATOR

Published quarterly and continuously for nearly forty years by The Titanic Historical Society, Inc., (ISSN 004-8182) and mailed from Springfield, Massachusetts, the journal has been the groundbreaker in providing primary source materials.

Accounts from Titanic passengers, biographies of White Star liners and other shipping companies are standard; also varied maritime interests, illustrations, and commentaries—ensuring a permanent record.

Sixty-four pages of exceptional content make this publication the largest and best of society journals whose excellence and accuracy is renowned.

Letters, email, advertising, articles, news items, and photographs are welcome. However, articles submitted must be exclusive to The Titanic Commutator.

No remuneration is made, and the Society cannot guarantee publication. General interest, veracity, and originality are the criteria; the burden for accuracy rests with the author, and the expressed opinions are not necessarily those of The Titanic Historical Society, Inc.