|
Article:
Bruce & Robert's Titanic Trip To Southampton
|
|
-
|
|
Over the weekend of
the anniversary of the Titanic disaster, April 13th-16th 2000,
Robert and I had the opportunity to travel to Southampton and
London as special guests of the British Titanic Society (BTS).
Steve Rigby, our pleasant host, welcomed us with some of the
kindest hospitality I have ever seen! leaving us with a most
positive remembrance of the English people, and the members
of the BTS.
I don't want to bore anyone with my personal visits,
but it is useful for the rivet counter to see some of the finds
we uncovered while abroad. I only want to add some of
my other photos for personal gratification.
On the 13th of April, we were asked to visit Alistair
Arnott, curator of the Southampton Archives; fist and foremost,
even before checking in to our Bead and Breakfast. In
the offices of the Southampton archives, Alastiar opened the
complete Titanic, Olympic and Britannic collection to us.
We actually held Boxhall's Master' Certificate in our hands
as well as looked through piles of photographs, private papers
and passports of crew members and old postcards.
After we had some tea and finished our look through the
paper archives, Alastair pointed us in the direction of
the back room warehouse. Enclosed in this building are
artifacts of all sorts of antiques and ship related items.
Chairs from the Majestic, wooden ship models etc.
In a matter of seconds after entering the room, Robert
ran to the left of me and shouted out "Look, a Lord Kelvin's
Motorized Sounding Machine". Sure enough, there it
was sitting on the top shelf under some old piece of an antique
remains. Right next to it was the old hand crank type
Kelvin's. Below are some pictures, though not very good,
they are at least something. We took mental notes of the
device for a future drawing. As you can see, it is painted
dark green. The hand crank Kelvin's is gray and is sitting
next to the motorized device. There was a dark green hand
crank Kelvin's also on the racks farther away. It is unknown
what ship this sounding machine is from. Robert had to
climb up about ten feet to get these pictures, so forgive him
for the quality. The antique piece of (whatever it is,
cotton mill?) could not be moved as it was unstable.
|
|
-
|
 |
| - |
 |
| - |
|
|
|
-
|
|
Within a short period
of time, Alastair was driving us to the old gate#4, the White
Star docks. It was here that I photographed the Calshot
Spit Lightship. It is now a symbol of days gone by as
seen here in the picture below. Alastair said it is actually
from the 1912 era. You may have read some accounts of
the Calshot Spit Lightship when reading about the occurrences
of the Olympic.
|
|
-
|
|
Driving on through
the gates, we came across the dock where the New York and Oceanic
were tied up on that famous day of April 10th 1912. The
day the Titanic nearly collided with the New York after her
moorings were sprung by the suction of the water as the Titanic
was passing.
|
| - |
 |
|
The
dock where the New York was tied up to. In the background
is a Red Funnel tug from the 1920's, still in use.
|
| - |
| Of
course it would not be long before Robert and I would get to the
actual Titanic dock. Unfortunately there was a "Tall
Ship" celebration going on at the same time. This obstructed
our view of the background. The White Star buildings are
all gone now, but the railroad tracks are still in the same place
they were at the time this famous picture of the Titanic was taken.
|
| - |
 |
 |
|
The
Titanic Dock at Southampton
|
| - |
| After
the Titanic dock tour, Robert and I walked a slip over to pay
our respects to the remains of the old H&W repair facility
in Southampton. It was here that such great liners like
the Berengaria and Aquitania were brought for repairs. It
has been filled in now, all except the very outward portion which
still remains with the gates, steps and an old work house.
|
| - |
 |
|
The
old H&W Southampton repair facility with it's dry dock.
Now only a parking lot.
|
| - |
| It
was now time for a Guinness and off to the convention site, the
Hilton National Hotel.
On the second
day of the convention there was an auction held. Robert
and I appeared to see the merchandise but did not stay because
we simply couldn't afford the prices. However, after arriving
that morning, we ran across fellow TMRA member and Olympic enthusiast,
Stuart Kelly. Stuart walked us around and talked us through
the many pieces of the Olympic's woodwork that was up for auction.
|
| - |
 |
| - |
 |
|
Stuart
Kelly and yours truly
|
| - |
 |
| Stuart
showing us the back sides of one of the Olympic's paneling boards.
All of the pieces had been marked by H&W as to where they
went and on which deck, as seen in this picture.
|
| - |
| Shortly
after entering the lobby on the way out, we were approached by
Genevieve Baily, Historian reporter for the B.B.C. She was
well aware of who we were and asked to give us a personal tour
of some of Southampton. What a pleasure! Not only
did we visit the Southampton Maritime Museum, but we also ate
at "The Grapes" (any Titanic enthusiast should
know what that is), and to top it off, we visited some buildings
and churches from the middle ages. She even took us into
restricted areas that were below the level of the street; places
that were once used in the 16th and 17th century. |
| - |
 |
| - |
 |
| - |
 |
|
Builder's
Model of the Britannic in the Maritime Museum
|
| - |
| Later
on in the evening, Robert and I gave a lecture on the Hahn Plans
and the differences between the Olympic and Titanic to a full
house in the lecture room. Afterwards, while enjoying a
nice luke warm Guinness, we had the opportunity to meet a man
whose presence took us by surprise. I saw a man sitting
next to Charlie Haas who looked like a High School wrestling coach
with his buzz hair cut. Little did I know that we would
become good friends with none other than Mark Warren. Not
only was he as down to earth as you can get, but he insisted that
we sit with him at his table for the Gala Dinner. To make
this occasion even more special, were those who we were also sitting
with, Jack Eaton and Charlie Haas. I literally had Robert
Hahn on my right and Jack Eaton on my left. Both of these
two men were also fine people and very interesting to talk with.
It seems they enjoyed our conversation, and of course I got a
few questions in the mix as well. It seems we will be corresponding
more in the future with Eaton and Haas, much to my liking.
Sitting right behind our table were Melvina Dean and other officers
of the BTS such as Brian Ticehurst. Shortly after the Gala
dinner, Robert and I were asked to be Honorary Members of the
BTS for Life. Voted in on the spot by the three BTS trustees.
All for a set of plans and a true love for the Titanic?
They must have really liked our speech! We were overwhelmed
by this, and very pleased |
| - |
 |
| Me,
Mark Warren and Robert Hahn
|
| - |
 |
| Robert
Hahn, Jack Eaton, Charlie Haas and me
|
| - |
 |
It's
a bad picture, sorry, but it's all I have.
Jack Eaton, Melvina Dean and myself
|
| - |
| On
Saturday morning, Robert and I had a table in the convention hall
with the other vendors. right next to us was Claes Wetterholm,
a Swedish Titanic Historian. Claes is seen in all of the
European Titanic specials, and a hell of a nice guy! Directly
across from the Hahn table was a man who had original pencil drawings
of some of the Olympic and Titanic's woodwork and carvings.
It is here that I found the answer to the lighted grand staircase
dome. It was actually lit from lights positioned in a lip
that ran around the base of the dome right above the carved work.
|
| - |
 |
| - |
| While
playing with my video camera on the floor, I didn't notice the
man standing in front of our plans until I looked up. Low
and behold it was Simon Mills! I said "your Simon Mills"
and he said "That's me" I replied with "I
have some questions for you sir" From there on out
we undertook a lengthy discussion on Simon's recent acquisition,
the ownership of the actual wreck of the Britannic. Needless
to say, we will be keeping in close touch with Simon. In
fact, he was the first one to E-mail me after I returned to the
US. |
| - |
 |
| - |
| I
could quite literally go on and on. Those that will attend
the TMRA get together on the 27th of May can hear the inside scoop.
To finish it up, I wanted to add some photos of the "Halls"
patented anchor that is on display at the National Maritime Museum
in Greenwich. This is what the things looked like rivet
counters. However, this is a later version and possible
a bit smaller, it appears to be the exact same design.
|
| - |
Thanks
for reading,
Bruce Beveridge
|
| ______________________________________________________________________ |
| - |
 |
| - |
 |
| - |
 |