Calm before the storm: Rare pictures of Titanic’s construction

Titanic was one of three vessels conceived by the Liverpool-based White Star Line to take on its principal rival, Cunard, and the optimism with which the Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff set about their work is evident from these pictures from the archive.

She was in a class of her own. An immense dining saloon, four lifts and a swimming pool were laid on for passengers with the most expensive tickets, while the standard accommodation was comparable to the first class quarters on other liners. Even those in steerage could travel in relative comfort.

Titanic was unsinkable, too, said the designers. She had 16 compartments with doors that could be closed from the bridge to contain water. Four could be flooded without compromising her buoyancy.

It was in April 1912 that Titanic was declared seaworthy, and she set out on her maiden voyage already renowned as one of the biggest and most opulent liners ever. The millionaire’s special, her admirers called her.

The rest, of course, is history. But even before she encountered the iceberg that sank her, the voyage had been fraught. As she set off from Southampton, she generated so much suction that a docked ship, the New York, swung into her path and it took an hour of manoeuvring to prevent an accident. That evening, the dock at Cherbourg was too small for her, causing passengers to be ferried ashore in tenders.

It was the shortage of other small boats that was to be her undoing. With capacity for only around half the 2,200 on board, the stage for one of the worst tragedies in modern history had been set.

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