Britannic's Grand Staircase - Honour and Glory Clock

C

Colin Renner

Member
I've seen the illustrations of the stairs, but they don't seem to be able to answer my question: was there an Honor and Glory Crowning Time clock fitted into that particular staircase, if only to fit in with the Olympic and Titanic?
 
>>...if only to fit in with the Olympic and Titanic?<<

I have the impression from this that you mean a ship other then either the Olympic and Titanic. If this is the case, exactly what ship would you be referring to?

If it's the Britannic, to my knowladge, the clock was never fitted as the ship was at least partly stripped of some of her fittings for wartime service. That it was fitted on the Olympic is a documented fact courtesy of a well known photo of the Olympic's Grand Staircase.

If it's the Titanic you're referring to, there has been some controversy over that. Some aspects of the Titanic's fitting out were a bit rushed in order to get the ship into service after several delays. As a possible consequence of this, the clock may have been left on the beach as fitting it in was not a priority. Since no photos of the Titanic's intact Grand Staircase are known to have survived to the present day, this can't be verified one way or another.
 
I mean the Britannic. I know it was never installed, but had it been, would it have featured the clock.
 
I always thought there was a painting. It might be covered in the Britannic section of this web site.
 
>>but had it been, would it have featured the clock.<<

Probably. Harland & Wolff had a habit of building ever larger versions of the same ship. The decor varied some but not by a whole lot.
 
>>Probably. Harland & Wolff had a habit of building ever larger versions of the same ship. The decor varied some but not by a whole lot.<<

I would agree and really there isn't much reason not to have a clock there since A. it's attractive and B. it's functional. Why fix something that isn't broken? Just my thought.
 
>>Why fix something that isn't broken? Just my thought.<<

White Star and Harland & Wolff probably thought the same. Take a look at a lot of their ships of this period. Same hull form, same long forecastle, and this applied to livestock carriers and passenger ships in equal measure. While they could be innovative at times, they tended to stick with the solid and conservative.
 
It come off to me that, as Michael put it, that White Star basically had "modified clones" of the same design.
 
Now that I think about it, why not change it up a little? As the design had already been incorperated in to Titanic (supposedly) and the Olympic.
 
>>that White Star basically had "modified clones" of the same design.<<

That's about the size of it.

>>Now that I think about it, why not change it up a little?<<

They did. Nothing dramatic however. Harland & Wolff's engineering and White Star's preferences tended to be more for the evolutionary...making incremental improvements on what came before...as opposed to revolutionary. Sometimes they even came up with some very cost effective solutions.

The combination reciprocating engines/turbine plant for example. It was powerful enough to make the ship fast enough for a 21 knot oriented service without breaking the bank. It didn't catch on in the long haul but it served well for the time.
 
There is evidence of an elegantly decorated oak panel from Britannic "representing Peace & Commerce". When the ships' furniture and fittings were auctioned in 1919 the piece was bought by the Central Furnishing Company and was put up for sale in Belfast. In November 1920 it was still in storage. I believe this is would be located where Honor & Glory was on the sister ships. The newspaper ad with the reference to this decorative element can be seen on my Instagram account.

Best regards,
Michail
 
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