RMS Titanic: Made in the Midlands

Made in the Midlands

Andrew P.B. Lound, Andrew Lound

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780750967051
• eBook ISBN: 9780750982061
• Topic: Technologie et ingénierie
• Subtopic: Histoire de la Grande-Bretagne

The story of the ill-fated liner Titanic is one that has been told and retold countless times – it is hard to imagine that there could be any new stories or twists to the tale. Yet Titanic's strong connection with the Midlands is one such story that is not so well known. The ship may have been built in Belfast, registered in Liverpool and sailed from Southampton, but over 70 per cent of her interiors came from the Midlands. This pivotal piece of research from Titanic expert Andrew P.B. Lound explores the role played by the people and the varied industries of the Black Country in the life of the most famous ship in the world.

ONE SHIP – A THOUSAND TRADES

Titanic was built at a time when passenger shipbuilding was reaching a new level, both in quantity of ships built and in size of construction. This increase in size was driven by three forces. Firstly, the need to transport goods and emigrants across the Atlantic. The increase in skilled labour leaving the Old World for a better life in the New required better transport to carry them, with shipping companies vying with each other to attract passengers. This boom in emigration from Europe to the United States had fuelled the need to build larger ships with more accommodation for emigrant passengers, or ‘third class’ as they were now to be called. This new class was to improve on-board conditions for the passengers, bringing them up to the level of second-class accommodation on smaller ships. The second force was the rivalry between Germany and Great Britain at sea. Kaiser Wilhelm wanted a navy as powerful as the Royal Navy and wanted his merchant fleet to challenge Britain’s global domination. Global trade was a big feature in both of these forces, with British government policy favouring free trade with limited, if any, tariffs on imported goods from the United States and European countries. The United States and most European countries, however, charged strict tariffs on British goods and this had placed a great strain on industry. Joseph Chamberlain, an MP for Birmingham and a former president of the Board of Trade, was keen to see tariff reforms protecting British industry from what he saw as unfair foreign competition.

The demand for shipping was immense and around the UK shipbuilders were hard at work with full order books. This was due, in part, to the third force, which was not known to many people at the time. The great shipbuilders were large employers in a variety of trades, and these builders also supported a vast quantity of suppliers of parts, equipment, sundries and men from all over the country. The motor car and the rail industries of the mid- to late twentieth century supported a chain of manufacturers, and the shipping industry operated in the same manner. It was important that the shipyards had full order books, and the shipbuilders conspired to encourage their customers to build bigger and better – in essence creating their own market. This was assisted by the cosy relationship the shipbuilders had with the shipping companies. For example, Harland and Wolff was the sole builder for the White Star Line, an arrangement guaranteed by the chairman of Harland and Wolff, Lord Pirrie, having a seat on the White Star board. It was in this climate that the two rival shipping companies, Cunard and White Star, vied to attract passengers to their ships, and to attract them they had to build larger and more luxurious vessels.

In 1907 Cunard had two new ships crossing the Atlantic: Mauritania and Lusitania, the largest, most luxurious and fastest ships afloat. These ships were built with the aid of a government loan of £2.6 million at 2.75 per cent interest, payable over twenty years through an arrangement entered into by Cunard in order to help prevent them from being taken over by the International Mercantile Marine (IMM), an American company headed by the famous and somewhat ruthless businessman J. Pierpoint Morgan. Morgan wanted to control the cost of shipping across the Atlantic. He took control of the US shipping companies International Navigation Company (operating the Atlantic Line and Red Star Line) and the Atlantic Transport Line. Morgan then turned to Britain, taking control of the Leyland Line, Dominion Line and, most remarkably, the White Star Line. He then entered into partnership with the German shipping companies Norddeutscher Lloyd and the Hamburg-Amerika Line, agreeing to conditions protecting German shipping. Morgan’s new company IMM seemed destined to dominate world shipping when he turned his attention to the other great British Atlantic carrier – Cunard. Cunard’s chairman, Lord Inverclyde, decided to play Morgan off against the British government in order to get the best deal for his shareholders. After his stint at the Board of Trade, Joseph Chamberlain became Secretary of State for the Colonies and his concern turned to the shipping industry, as shipping was critical to Britain and its empire. Chamberlain was anxious that Morgan’s domination of the shipping industry would threaten Britain’s security, as, by prior arrangement in a time of crises, passenger liners were used by the Royal Navy as auxiliary cruisers, hospital ships and troop carriers at a preferred rate. If Britain’s passenger and cargo fleets fell into the hands of foreign ownership Britain might find itself in jeopardy. Chamberlain met with Morgan to discuss the issue, but the two could not reach an agreement. Chamberlain suggested that government subsidies should be given to Cunard in order to protect British shipping. This led to the loan to Cunard of £2.6 million, plus an annual subsidy of £150,000, and put Cunard and IMM on a collision course.

Mauritania and Lusitania were constructed in line with Admiralty specifications, as they may, in the future, have had to face attack from warships. This specification dictated the nature of the power plant for the ships – six Parsons turbine engines (four forward, two reverse) that would enable the Cunarders to easily outpace any rival ship.

Morgan’s aim had been to dominate the Atlantic shipping industry, thus controlling the cost of cargo transport, which would give him control of supplies to and from the United States. His failure to secure the takeover of Cunard was a blow to his plans, one which led to an even greater rivalry between his White Star Line and Cunard. What’s more, due to Chamberlain’s intervention, the French shipping company of Compagnie Générale Transatlantique found it could stand up against Morgan and his dreams of domination came to an end.

The putting to sea of the Cunarders Mauretania and Lusitan...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 One Ship – A Thousand Trades
• 2 Anchors Aweigh!
• 3 Fitting Out
• 4 Resting On Sea Beds
• 5 Crystal, China and Plate
• 6 Buttons, Whistles and Guns
• 7 Midlands Crew
• 8 Midlands Passengers
• 9 Maiden Voyage
• 10 Sunday 14 April 1912
• 11 Midlands’ Reaction
• 12 Epilogue
• Selected Bibliography