Fun Fact #505 The Incident at Southhampton

 Fun Fact #505

The Incident at Southhampton

Designed to be the pinnacle of comfort and luxury, The RMS Olympic was the biggest ship in the world, with just one equally sized problem. The boat sucked. 

In 1910 she was the only ship her size and so when a new navigator took over the ship in 1912 he ordered her tugboats to disengage before she cleared the Harbor. When her propellers started to rotate, the amount of water displaced caused the Royal Navy’s cruiser HMS Hawkeye– to be sucked in and run over. The resulting collision left both ships stuck at port for repairs and a court case.  

Seeing the damage this could cause to their reputation and The already strapped for cash parent company “White Star Line '' decided to move forward with The maiden Voyage of their newest Ship of the Olympic line while investigations were underway. Yet disaster nearly struck a second time as the navigator for the The RMS Titanic made the same mistake, ripping the SS City of New York from its moorings only for crisis to be averted when the Tugboat Vulcan –which had broken port rules by staying near the Titanic against orders because it's captain was still uneasy after the Olympic's collision– stepped in to divert the ship at the last second, missing the Titanic by mere inches. This incident rightfully spooked many of those onboard resulting in a number of people leaving when she docked in Ireland just before the Trans-Altlantic trip. One member of the crew –John Coffey– was even so scared that he hid himself in the mail bags to stow away to Ireland and be fired rather than trust the ship with his life –becoming the last person to disembark the ship at port. 

Then on April 15th, 1912 The Titanic collided with an Iceberg and sank in the Atlantic ocean killing over 1,500 people.  Upon hearing the fate of The RMS Titanic, the Captain of The Vulcan became deeply depressed and resigned. He thought that If he had just followed the Navigator’s orders to move the tug away –at worst– the Titanic would have sunk in the Harbor where help would have been abundant and immediate. Also worthy of note, The RMS Olympic’s Trial led to all crew for “White Star Line '' to be retrained and require ship-line certifications for crew on all future ship lines. 

While things did not end well, It should be noted that the actions of The Vulcan’s Captain did save the lives of 36 crew members who were aboard the City of New York, as well as other nearby ships like the fully loaded passenger ship The RMS Oceanic (2,059 people aboard) and the already damaged HMS Hawkeye who were also being drawn in by the Titanic’s displacement as it steamed on ahead. Suffice it to say, without The Vulcan’s involvement, tragedy could have been much worse than what came to pass. 

The SS City of New York breaks free of her moorings (Oceanic is in the back).