London - Downshire House

Downshire House Berkley Square London

Downshire House, 24 Berkley Square, was the London residence of Lord Pirrie, Chairman of the Harland And Wolf Shipyard.  

Berkley Square London

In July 1907, Bruce Ismay, Chairman of the White Start Line, dined  with Lord Pirrie. The topic at dinner was the White Start Lines rivals on the Atlantic Crossing, ,Cunard, newset ships the Lusitania and the Mauretania. The question as how would the White Star Line compete with Cunard.

Lord Pirrie                                                   Bruce Ismay

After dinner, Ismay and Bruce discussed the construction of three sister ships. The White Star Line looked to provide the most luxurious and comfortable accommodation, primarly aimed at wealthy passengers, though all three would have to be capable of significant speed. As a result, these three ships would make the White Star Line once again prominent on the Trans-Atlantic route.

The chosen names ascribed the three ships would signify might and powerful,t he biggest the world had ever seen; the Titanic, Olympic and Gigantic (would be actually named Britannic).


The Olympic and the Titanic would be nearly one and a half times larger than Mauretania and the Lusitania. Rough drawings were made of the three ships which envisaged three funnelled ships each with two or three masts. The final plans added a forth "dummy funnel" for ventilation but the ships would only have two masts.

Titanic Sketch - three funnels

Downshire House Berkley Square London
February 2019

New York - News of Titanic Sinking

The Titanic began sending out distress signals shortly after midnight ships time (22:05 EST). The messages detailed that the ship and had hit an iceberg and requested assistance. News began to circulate.  The first bulletin to arrive at the New York Times reached their office at 01:20 EST an hour before the Carpathia reached the survivors. 

New York Times Newsroom at time of Titanic sinking

The first news that the Titanic had sunk was reported from the SS Carpathia in a telegram to the Associated Press in New York. 

SS Carpathia reports sinking of Titanic

The news of the tragedy started to unfold, more details originating from the SS Olympic when the ship arrived at the the position where Titanic sank. 

Telegram detailing sinking of Titanic

The full extent of the tragedy was not know as the story began to break in the early editions of the newspapers. The New York American was reporting in Times Square that the loss of life was between 1,500 to 1,800.

News of Titanic's sinking Times Square New York

Times Square New York 2016

The New York Times reported that 876 had been rescued , speculating that as many 1,250 had perished. 

New York Times headlines April 16th 1912



New York Times April 16th 1912