Third Officer Herbert John Pitman of the Titanic

Herbert John Pitman was Titanic’s Third Officer. He had been at sea for almost nine years, and the last five of those had been with the White Star Line. He received a telegram, as did all the junior officers, informing him to report to the White Star Line’s Liverpool offices at 9a.m. on 26th March, in order to pick up their …

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Olympic II

Builder: Harland and Wolff Yard No.: 400 Launched: October 20th, 1910 Maiden Voyage: 14th June, 1911 Gross Tonnage: 45,324 tons Length: 852.4 ft. Beam: 92.5ft. Decks: 5 Funnels: 4 Masts: 2 Propellers: 3 Engines: 2 x four cylinder triple expansion engines + 1 l.p. turbine to center propeller Boilers: 25 double ended, 4 single ended Speed: 21 knots Port of Registry: Liverpool Carrying Capacity: 1.054 first class, 510 second class, 1,020 …

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Titanic’s Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall

Titanic’s Fourth Officer Joseph Groves Boxhall was born on 23rd March, 1884, in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. He had served almost thirteen years at sea when he joined Titanic, starting his nautical career at William Thomas of Liverpool, where he was an apprentice. He then joined the Wilson Line of Hull where he became an officer, …

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Titanic’s Engines

As Titanic was the largest moving man-made object built to date when launched, she needed some rather powerful machinery to push her along. The White Star Line’s major rival, Cunard, was already operating the quadruple-screw, turbine-driven sister ships Lusitania and Mauritania, and the turbine-only propulsion system these vessels both employed was a great success, combining good speed with economy too, and embraced technology …

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Titanic’s Lifeboats

Titanic carried a total of 20 lifeboats, but Alexander Carlisle, one of the managing directors at Harland and Wolff, had suggested using a new type of larger davit, which could handle more boats, giving Titanic the potential of carrying 48 lifeboats, providing more than enough seats for everybody on board. But in a rare cost-cutting exercise, the White Star Line decided that only …

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