June 1911: Olympics's Maiden Voyage

[Martin Pirrie]

Has anyone any good evidence that Lord Pirrie did sail on the second, or any other, voyage of Olympic apart from the one he made in June 1924 when his body was brought back to the UK after he had died on a cruise through the Panama Canal?

He did sail from Belfast to Liverpool on Olympic with J. B. Ismay and J. Pierpoint Morgan on 31st June 1911.

 

[Steve Anderson]

Martin:

Lord Pirrie sailed on the RMS Aquitania a few times after the war.

Pirrie, stated to Chalres Spedding(Aquitania's purser): "Spedding you have made the Aquitania the most popular ship in the world; the atmosphere of ocean travel in entirely changed."

These comments were based on the fact that Cunrad's Aquitania was not an "Atlantic Ferry" she was more a "palace" of enjoyment.

 

[Mark Baber]

Randy---

Quite welcome.

Martin---

The immigration records available at www.ellisisland.org show Lord Pirrie as arriving in New York on Olympic on 19 July 1911 and 3 November 1920. (These are the two records which turn up using the correct spelling; there may be others if his name was spelled incorrectly on other occasions. The records only show about four or five trips to New York by Pirrie at any time, which I'm certain is not correct.)

Oddly enough, the Ellis Island records also show his arrival on Ebro in June 1924, without any indication that he had died before Ebro reached New York.

 

[Martin Pirrie]

Mark & Steven, thanks for information.

 

[Mark Baber]

The New York Times, Wednesday, 19 July 1911

OLYMPIC CUTS HER OWN TIME
---
Five Days, 13 Hours, 20 Minutes from Daunt's Rock to the Lightship
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The new White Star liner Olympic, which arrived in Quarantine last night and anchored, made even better time on her second voyage westward than she did on her first, nearly a month ago. She left Queenstown at 2 P. M. on Thursday, July 13, and passed the Ambrose Channel Lightship at 10:50 P.M. last night, making the voyage across in 5 days, 13 hours and 20 minutes from Daunt's Rock.

Capt. E. J. Smith, in his wireless dispatch last night, said that the Olympic's daily runs were 525 miles to noon on Friday, July 14; 560 to noon on Saturday, 534 to Sunday, 536 to Monday, and to noon yesterday 518 miles, making an average speed for the five days of 21.68 knots an hour.

The Olympic is expected to dock at 8 o'clock this morning. Among her passengers is Lord Pirrie, head of Harland & Wolff's shipbuilding yard at Belfast, who was the principal associate with J. Pierpont Morgan in forming the Atlantic combination now known as the International Mercantile Navigation [sic] Company, of which the White Star line is a part.

-30-

 

[Eric Longo]

Hi All,

97 years ago today! And thanks again Mark for all this wonderful data you post about these vessels and voyages.

Best,
Eric

 

[Jon_dalbyball]

Hi
I was reading an old BTS Bulletin and someone said the Titanic slipped out of Southampton virtually un-noticed when compared to Olympic! Hence with the Olympic being the first in the class did she get more attention ? They did make more of a special effort painting her white for the photographer during her launch. So at the time (before Titanic's loss) was the Olympic the more famous ship ultimately getting more attention than Titanic ?

Cheers

Jon

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Yes, of course. Likewise I can still recall the excitement of the media coverage of the first Moon landing, but number two was just more of the same. After that, as with the Titanic, it took something more dramatic ("Houston, we have a problem") to focus the World's attention for a second time.

 

[Dave Gittins]

You'll notice that the first departure of Olympic was filmed and preserved, but no film of Titanic's departure exists.

Compare the number of spectators at Olympic's departure with the few captured in Francis Browne's photos.

By the Titanic departed, the technical magazines were turning the the German big three, all larger than Titanic.

 

[Paul Lee]

The film of Olympic was on the return leg of her voyage, as she was leaving New York.

[Moderator's Note: This message and the three immediately above it, originally a separate thread in "General Titanica," have been moved to this pre-existing thread about Olympic's maiden voyage. MAB]

 

[Dave Gittins]

Thanks for the 'small correction', as they say on the charts.

For some reason, I'd assumed the film was a composite of shots from New York and Southampton. Looking again, the shed gives it away.

 

[Michael Cundiff]

After reading the posts above, I reflected on a previous post of mine, however, it may have been on Titanic@Lisbox.com (now defunct) or what have you. Anyhow a N.Y. Times June 2? 1911 column headed: BIGGEST OF LINERS GETS NOISY WELCOME

Of particular interest to me was, and I quote:

"The Lusitania did not salute the latest addition to the Atlantic fleet as she passed either by whistle or dipping the ensign, which was generally done by other liners moored at their piers along the water front. It was thought that in the hurry of getting his ship under way and receiving congratulations on his coronation honor of Commander of the Bath, Capt. Charles, skipper of the Lusitania, overlooked the Olympic as she passed the Cunard pier."

END QUOTE
Source: NY Times microfilm June 2? 1911.

Overlooked the Olympic?

Michael Cundiff
NV, USA

[Moderator's note: The complete text of the NYT article referred to here appears earlier in this thread; it's dated 22 June 1911. MAB]

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Overlooked the Olympic? <<

Possibly. When a ship is getting underway, the watch has a lot on it's mind. If the Olympic was out of the way, she wouldn't have been a priority concern.

Of course, it could have been a snub as well.

 

[Matt DiTullio]

I guess the Lusitania was jealous. Poor thing. : (

By the way, I loved reading this. I am currently reading Lusitania : An Epic Tragedy and in the book it talks about the immense welcome the Lusitania received arriving in New York for the first time. So I was just a bit curious as to what kind of welcome Olympic received. Thanks for the articles.

 

[Mark Baber]

In the event you haven't seen it yet, Matt, the NYT reporting of Lusitania's MV appears in this thread.

 

[Matt DiTullio]

Thanks Mark! I'll have to check it out as soon as I feel like reading. lol . Take care. ; )

 

[Glenys Young]

Hi all. I'm trying to do some research comparing the Titanic's voyage with the maiden voyage of the Olympic. Does anyone have information on Olympic's speed or location at various points during the voyage?

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

You can look here;

Olympic and Titanic : Maiden Voyage Mysteries