The Owners

The story of Titanic begins in 1867. At the end of that year the 31 year old Thomas Henry Ismay purchased for the sum of 1000 pounds the name, house flag and goodwill of the White Star Line, a bankrupt company whose sailing fleet had been in Australian trade. Ismay intended to enter the highly competive North Atlantic passenger business. He was encouraged to his endeavours by Gustav Schwabes been called 'the mot, a Liverpool financier and uncle of Gustav Wolff, junior partner in the Belfast shipbuilding firm of Harland and Wolff . Mr Schwabe assured Ismay of financial backing if the new company would order its ships from his nephew's yard.

Together with George Hamilton Fletcher, a close friend. Ismay, arranged to have Harland and Wolff design three vessels of slightly less than 4 000 tons each. During contract negotitions, a fourth vessel was added, as were two more of slightly larger size. The final agreement was made on 30 July 1869, and on 6 September the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company Ltd was registered with a capital of 400 000 pounds.

Harland and Wolff did not disappoint the new company's owners. Their first ship, Oceanic, was launched at Belfast on 27 August 1870 as yard number 73, and incorporated many innovatives features for the North Atlantic liners. The ratio of length to beam was ten-to-one, instead of the usual eight-to-one; first class cabins and the dining saloon were amidship instead of aft; and instead of separate deck houses there was a single structure surrounded by open railings, an arrangement which provided generous deck space. Individual cabins were larger than those on any other liner, and there were electric bells for summoning stewards, as well as running water in each cabin. While the engines were not novel in designs, their arrangement was: four-cylinder compound engines were provided, so that each pair of cylinders formed to complete engine in case of accident.

Oceanic's maiden voyage was scheduled for 2 March 1871, but was delayed until 16 March dur to engine problems. The voyage, once began, was extremely successful and she was greeted at New York as 'the new leviathan'. Indeed, the Oceanic, a triumph of shipbuilding for her time, rightly has been called 'the mother of modern liners'.

Together with her sister ships, Atlantic, Baltic, Republic, Celtic and Adriatic, the vessel formed the basis for a relationship between builders and the owners of which was to endure as long as the red, swallow-tailed pennant wit its white star dominated the North Atlantic and Australian services.

As the scope of the business widened so did the pretige of its management. In 1870 Ismay invited his old friend William Imrie to join his firm and afterwards the White Star Line was managed by the firm of Ismay, Imrie and Company. The line soon became pre-eminent on the Australian run, and while several experimental routes - Central and South America, a trans- Pacific run, and one to the Orient - were never successfully established, the North Atlantic services soon became the standard against which all other passengers which all other passenger services were measured.

J Bruce Ismay

Thomas Ismay's eldest son, Bruce, was admitted to partnership in the firm on 1 January 1891 and exactly one year later, Thomas Ismay retired. Bruce Ismay, with his younger brother James, who had also joined the firm, were thus in control when the decision was made that future vessels of the company would excel in comfort and excellence of design, rather than in speed.

Control of the White Star line passed from the hands of its British stockholders in 1902, following its purchase for 10 000 000 pounds by the International Mercantile Marine Company, a vast shipping combine created by American financier J Pierpont Morgan. The takeover saw the retirement of three of the company partners - William Imrie, James Ismay and W S Graves - but Bruce Ismay and Harold Sanderson remained. They were soon joined by William J Pirrie, management director and controlling chairman of Harland and Wolff who, it was said, had been instrumental in arranging White Star's purchase by the Morgan interests.

International Mercantile Marine's incumbent president, Clement Griscom, was ill; with J P Morgan's full support, Bruce Ismay was offered the job. He accepted in Feburary 1904, and at the age of 41 became president and managing director of IMM, with unlimted control.

The White Star Line's position within the IMM was somewhat complex: White Star was owned by the Oceanic Steam Navigation Co., whose directors were Bruce Ismay, Harold a Sanderson and Pirrie. Ismay was chairman and managing director All Oceanic Steam Navigation shares, except six shares individually held, were owned by the International Navigation Company, which in turn was controlled by the Fidelity Trust Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia (USA), a holding company.

All the International Navigation Compnay's stock was actually owned by the International Mercantile Marine Company, whose president was Ismay, and amoung whose officers were five 'voting trustees', Pirrie, Charles Steele, Ismay, P A B Widener and Morgan. In 1912 the IMM corporation was capitalized at more than 37 000 000 pounds and owned 120 ships with an aggregated gross tonnage of 1 067 425 with six additional vessels being built.

White Star Line had followed the comfort-rather-than-speed policy. Oceanic (18990 and the latest additions to their Atlantic fleet, the 'Big Four' - Celtic(1901), Baltic (1904) and Adriatic (1907) - successively held records for size rather than rapid crossings. But in 1909 technology existed for combing the utmost luxury and stability with engines whose strength and reliability would assure consistent arrival on time.

The time for the 'Olympic class' of liners was at hand...

Chronology

Aftermath
| American Inquiry |
| Causes - An extract from February 1995 Edition of Popular Mechanic |

Remembrance

Facts and Figures
| Harland and Wolff's 101 Answers to the most asked questions about the RMS Titanic |

History	Evidence
Acknowledgements	Links

The Owners

History

Evidence

Acknowledgements

Links

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