M
Mark Baber
Staff member
Moderator
Member
The New York Times, 27 June 1911
OLYMPIC PREPARING TO SAIL
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Mayor, Lunching Aboard, Discusses Pier Extension with Mr. Ismay
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A double force of men will to-day finish grooming the giant White Star liner Olympic for her first voyage from this port. She will sail at 3 P. M. to-morrow. It was said last night at the White Star Line pier that she would probably finish coaling by this morning.
The Olympic will carry out on her first departure one of the largest passenger lists to leave this port in months, and the largest cabin list on record. There are booked to depart on her 725 first cabin, 500 second cabin, and 1,000 steerage passengers. The line yesterday refused to give out an advance list of cabin passengers.
The seating capacity of the saloon on the Olympic is 523 persons at one time. When the sale of cabin tickets last week began to mount up to 700 the company officials feared that all could not be fed in the first cabin saloon. So they lowered the rate, agreeing to give purchasers of tickets a $25 discount provided such ticket holders ate in the “a la carte” restaurant during the voyage. Those who have received the $25 discount will eat only twice a day if they want to get through on the $25 saved in the purchase of tickets.
It is estimated that the Olympic passengers will pay between $250,000 and $300,000 for their accommodations. Of this amount probably $40,000 is contributed by the steerage.
Yesterday was not a regular inspection day aboard the big liner, but it is estimated nonetheless that fully 3,000 persons visited her. The day was set apart to allow intending passengers and their friends to go aboard. Three thousand passes were issued, and it is said that every one of them was used. It is calculated that during Friday and Saturday, when an admission fee of 50 cents was charged, 16,000 persons passed up and down the gangplank of the Olympic. A record in this respect is held by the North German Lloyd, for in 1897, during the four days that the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was open for inspection, 48,000 persons visited her.
There was a luncheon party yesterday on board the Olympic. J. B. Ismay, the President of the International Marine [sic] Company, and P. A. S. Franklin, the Vice President, entertained Mayor Gaynor, Robert Adamson, his secretary; Dock Commissioner Calvin Tompkins, State Engineer Benzel, R. A. C. Smith, and several members of the New Jersey Riparian Commission. After the luncheon the party inspected the vessel. They examined also the temporary pier extension which was built to accommodate the Olympic and her sister the Titanic.
At the office of the White Star Line, it was said that the gathering was entirely unofficial. Following the visit of Mr. Ismay and the company officials to Montauk, the meeting on the Olympic, it was stated, was arranged for the purpose of permitting those present to exchange their views regarding the extensions of the piers to meet changed conditions.
The period under which the present extension of the White Star Line piers was sanctioned by the War Department is eighteen months, and the permission can be rescinded at any time. Mr. Ismay and Mr. Franklin desire that permanent facilities be provided for berthing the big liners at New York, and during the few days of his stay on this side Mr. Ismay wished to meet the men interested in the subject and to look over the ground.
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OLYMPIC PREPARING TO SAIL
---
Mayor, Lunching Aboard, Discusses Pier Extension with Mr. Ismay
---
A double force of men will to-day finish grooming the giant White Star liner Olympic for her first voyage from this port. She will sail at 3 P. M. to-morrow. It was said last night at the White Star Line pier that she would probably finish coaling by this morning.
The Olympic will carry out on her first departure one of the largest passenger lists to leave this port in months, and the largest cabin list on record. There are booked to depart on her 725 first cabin, 500 second cabin, and 1,000 steerage passengers. The line yesterday refused to give out an advance list of cabin passengers.
The seating capacity of the saloon on the Olympic is 523 persons at one time. When the sale of cabin tickets last week began to mount up to 700 the company officials feared that all could not be fed in the first cabin saloon. So they lowered the rate, agreeing to give purchasers of tickets a $25 discount provided such ticket holders ate in the “a la carte” restaurant during the voyage. Those who have received the $25 discount will eat only twice a day if they want to get through on the $25 saved in the purchase of tickets.
It is estimated that the Olympic passengers will pay between $250,000 and $300,000 for their accommodations. Of this amount probably $40,000 is contributed by the steerage.
Yesterday was not a regular inspection day aboard the big liner, but it is estimated nonetheless that fully 3,000 persons visited her. The day was set apart to allow intending passengers and their friends to go aboard. Three thousand passes were issued, and it is said that every one of them was used. It is calculated that during Friday and Saturday, when an admission fee of 50 cents was charged, 16,000 persons passed up and down the gangplank of the Olympic. A record in this respect is held by the North German Lloyd, for in 1897, during the four days that the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was open for inspection, 48,000 persons visited her.
There was a luncheon party yesterday on board the Olympic. J. B. Ismay, the President of the International Marine [sic] Company, and P. A. S. Franklin, the Vice President, entertained Mayor Gaynor, Robert Adamson, his secretary; Dock Commissioner Calvin Tompkins, State Engineer Benzel, R. A. C. Smith, and several members of the New Jersey Riparian Commission. After the luncheon the party inspected the vessel. They examined also the temporary pier extension which was built to accommodate the Olympic and her sister the Titanic.
At the office of the White Star Line, it was said that the gathering was entirely unofficial. Following the visit of Mr. Ismay and the company officials to Montauk, the meeting on the Olympic, it was stated, was arranged for the purpose of permitting those present to exchange their views regarding the extensions of the piers to meet changed conditions.
The period under which the present extension of the White Star Line piers was sanctioned by the War Department is eighteen months, and the permission can be rescinded at any time. Mr. Ismay and Mr. Franklin desire that permanent facilities be provided for berthing the big liners at New York, and during the few days of his stay on this side Mr. Ismay wished to meet the men interested in the subject and to look over the ground.
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