Snapshot: Captain Smith on the Olympic

Here's an interesting shot of Captain E.J. Smith looking out of Olympic's starboard docking wing. He would of course go on to command the ship's younger - and more infamous - sister Titanic.

E.J. Smith was regarded as one of the world's most experienced and confident seafarers, so it seemed a natural choice to place him in command of the new Olympic-class liners.

"...the last of the Line."

Continuing on my recent string of Nomadic posts, this documentary clip shows the ship as she was in Paris while serving as a restaurant.

Snapshot: Olympic & Nomadic

The tender Nomadic services the RMS Olympic, the last remaining ship of the White Star Line's grand trio that included Titanic and Britannic.

Of all these great ships, however, only the small 1,270 GRT Nomadic remains. She is currently undergoing renovations in Belfast, Northern Ireland and slated to be opened as a museum ship in the near future.

Snapshot: Nomadic Returns Home

Nomadic - the last remaining White Star Line ship afloat - returned home to Belfast, Northern Ireland in July 2006 after serving as a restaurant in Paris for a number of years. Launched in 1911 and ported in Cherbourg, France, she was a tender for the great Olympic and ill-fated Titanic.

After the merger with Cunard in 1934, however, Nomadic went on to service the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth until their respective retirements.

Snapshot: Olympic & Mauretania

This photo was taken in 1935 and shows two former rivals at anchor - the White Star Line's Olympic and Cunard's Mauretania - shortly before going to the breakers that same year. Following the creation of the Cunard White Star Line in 1934, both aged ships were retired to make way for such new liners as the unfinished Queen Mary and planned Queen Elizabeth.

Mauretania went to Rosyth and Olypmic to Jarrow. The demolition of these two ships provided plenty of employment opportunities for these poverty-stricken areas.

The Olympic "Mutiny"

The RMS Olympic was ordered to be outfitted with additional lifeboats after her sister Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. The White Star Line's chairman, J. Bruce Ismay, gave specific instructions that the ship was not to sail again until accommodations were made for all persons aboard.

The Olympic first received 16 lifeboats...then 40. Ten of them came from the HMS Soudan and looked to be in rather poor shape and downright unseaworthy - especially the 10 taken off the warship. The appearance of these lifeboats (which were scruffy to say the best) alarmed several members of the Olympic's crew. A total of 276 firemen, trimmers and greasers subsequently refused to sail aboard the ship and were arrested for mutiny.

The Olypmic "mutineers" stood trial at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court. All were found guilty after a three day hearing but were not punished for their actions. The court found found that the men did have a justifiable cause for refusing to sail aboard the ship: they simply did not feel safe. So they were set free afterwards. They rejoined the ship's company after several of the lifeboats had successfully been tested.

The Olympic was ready to resume her sailings, and arrived in New York on May 22, 1912.


References: Robin Gardiner, The History of the White Star Line (Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, 2001), 152.