WHITE STAR LINE
( OCEANIC STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY )
HISTORY
THE WHITE STAR LINE WAS FORMED BY JOHN PILINGTON AND HENRY WILSON IN 1845.THE COMPANY ORIGINALLY CONCENTRATED ON THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD MINING TRADE.THE EARLY WHITE STAR LINE VESSEL'S WERE THE BLUE JACKET ( LATER TO BECOME THE WHITE STAR ) THE RED JACKET AND THE ELLEN.JOHN PILINGTON LEFT THE COMPANY AND WAS REPLACED BY JOHN CHAMBERS IN 1861.
THE WHITE STAR LINE MERGED WITH THE BLACKBALL AND EAGLES LINE IN 1863 IN AN ATTEMPT TO EXPAND AND TO INCREASE ITS PROFITABILITY.THIS COMPANY WAS KNOWN AS THE " LIVERPOOL MELBOURNE AND ORIENTAL STEAMSHIP COMPANY ".THINGS DID NOT GO WELL.THE COMPANIES NEW VESSEL " SIRIUS " WAS BEING BUILT, BUT HAD TO BE SOLD BEFORE IT ENTERED SERVICE.JOHN CHAMBERS WAS REPLACED BY JOHN CUNNINGHAM IN 1865 AS PART OF A MANAGEMENT RE-SHUFFLE.
IN AN ATTEMPT TO SAVE ITSELF THE WHITE STAR LINE SPLIT FROM THE NEWLY FORMED " LIVERPOOL MELBOURNE AND ORIENTAL STEAMSHIP COMPANY ".THE COMPANIES VESSEL ROYAL STANDARD WAS PUT ON THE LIVERPOOL TO NEW YORK RUN,SHE WAS SLOW AND CUMBERSOME, WHICH DIDN'T HELP THE COMPANIES FINANCIAL SITUATION ( ALTHOUGH A STEAMSHIP SHE WAS REGULARLY OVERTAKEN BY SAIL SHIPS ) IN 1867 WHITE STAR FACED BANKRUPTCY AND WAS PUT UP FOR SALE.
 THOMAS ISMAY |
IN 1868 , SIR EDWARD
HARLAND ( HARLAND AND WOLFF, BELFAST SHIPBUILDERS ) AND THOMAS ISMAY, BUSINESSMAN
BECAME PARTNERS AND PURCHASED THE WHITE STAR LINE AS AN INVESTMENT.THEIR IDEA WAS TO BUILD
FASTER MORE DURABLE VESSEL'S ( I.E IRON SHIPS AS OPPOSED TO ONE'S MADE OF TIMBER ) ONE OF
THE AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE WHITE STAR LINE AND HARLAND AND WOLFF BEING THAT HARLAND AND
WOLFF WOULD BUILD ALL FUTURE WHITE STAR VESSELS, ALSO THAT HARLAND AND WOLFF WOULD NOT
BUILD SHIPS FOR ANY OF WHITE STAR LINES COMPETITORS,AND AT THE SAME TIME WHITE STAR WOULD
NOT PLACE ANY ORDERS FOR SHIPS WITH ANY OF HARLAND AND WOLFF'S COMPETITOR SHIP YARDS. IN 1870 THE WHITE STAR LINE VESSEL " OCEANIC " WAS LAUNCHED AND PUT INTO SERVICE A YEAR LATER.SHORTLY AFTERWARD CAME THE REST OF THE ORIGINAL" BIG FOUR " ATLANTIC,BALTIC AND REPUBLIC.IN 1873 WHITE STAR SUFFERED ITS FIRST SETBACK, THE ATLANTIC RAN AGROUND NEAR HALIFAX,NOVA SCOTIA RESULTING IN THE LOST OF NEARLY 600 PASSENGERS.THE SHIPS MASTER WAS FOUND NEGLIGENT IN HIS DUTY AT THE INQUIRY AND HIS MASTERS CERTIFICATE WAS SUSPENDED FOR TWO YEARS. WHEN THOMAS ISMAY DIED IN 1899 HIS SON JOHN BRUCE ISMAY TOOK OVER THE WHITE STAR LINE. THIS PROMPTED A NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN BRUCE ISMAY AND LORD PIRRIE OF HARLAND AND WOLFF ( SIR EDWARD HAVING DIED IN 1895, AND WAS REPLACED BY LORD PIRRIE ) BY THE EARLY 1900'S COMPETITION WAS FIERCE BETWEEN THE SHIPPING COMPANIES, WHICH WAS DOING NO ONE ANY GOOD.AN AMERICAN, MILLIONAIRE, JOHN PIERPOINT MORGAN, DECIDED TO TRY AND CASH IN ON THE SITUATION AND TO BUY ALL THE RIVAL SHIPPING COMPANIES AND RUN THEM TOGETHER WITH A FIXED SHIPPING PRICE.THUS THE INTERNATIONAL MERCANTILE MARINE, OR IMM WAS FORMED. |
| THE BRITISH SHIPPING
COMPANIES WERE NOT AMUSED, AND CONSIDERED IT A THREAT TO THEIR LIVELIHOOD WHICH PROMPTED
THE CUNARD LINE TO DO SOMETHING, AND FAST. THE RESULT WAS THE LUSITANIA AND THE
MAURITANIA.WITH THESE TWO CUNARD LINERS OPERATING ON THE NORTH ATLANTIC ROUTE THE WHITE
STAR LINE DECIDED TO ACCEPT THE OFFER FROM JOHN PIERPOINT MORGAN AND BECOME PART OF THE
IMM.ONE AGREEMENT THAT MORGAN HAD WITH THE BRITISH ADMIRALTY WAS THAT IN TIME OF WAR THE
WHITE STAR LINE SHIPS COULD BE REQUISITIONED BY THE ADMIRALTY.WHICH WAS A BIT OF FORWARD
THINKING ON THE NAVY'S PART, AS GREAT BRITAIN WAS LOOKING AT THE POSSIBILITY OF WAR WITH
GERMANY SHORTLY. BRUCE ISMAY WOULD REMAIN AS WHITE STAR LINE'S CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR.LORD PIRRIE ( HARLAND AND WOLFF ) WAS HAPPY WITH THIS ARRANGEMENT AS HIS FIRM WOULD NOW BUILD ALL VESSELS THAT CAME UNDER THE IMM.THE ONLY PROBLEM LEFT NOW WAS THE COMPETITION FROM CUNARD LINE AND FROM SOME OF THE GERMAN LINES, THAT WERE BUILDING SOME VERY LARGE VESSELS AT THE TIME.THE ANSWER WAS TO BUILD SOME EVEN BIGGER , IF SOMEWHAT SLOWER VESSELS.THE " OLYMPIC CLASS LINER ". THE FIRST TO BE BUILT WAS THE OLYMPIC FOLLOWED BY THE TITANIC AND FINALLY THE GIGANTIC ( SHE WAS LAID DOWN UNDER THIS NAME, BUT LAUNCHED AS THE BRITANNIC WHICH WAS CONSIDERED A MORE SUITABLE AND PATRIOTIC NAME AFTER THE TITANIC DISASTER.THE IMAGE TO THE LEFT SHOWS THE TITANIC'S DESIGNER THOMAS ANDREWS. |
JOHN PIERPOINT MORGAN |
BRUCE ISMAY
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DURING THE WAR YEARS
MOST OF WHITE STAR'S VESSELS WERE TIED UP WITH THE ADMIRALTY ( THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE
NAVY AND JOHN PIERPOINT MORGAN'S IMM ).IN 1927 ALL WHITE STAR LINE VESSELS WERE BACK UNDER
THEIR CONTROL, AND IT WAS BUSINESS AS USUAL.IN 1936 WHITE STAR WAS TAKEN OVER BY HER OLD
RIVAL THE CUNARD STEAM SHIP COMPANY.THE COMPANY WAS NOW KNOWN AS THE CUNARD - WHITE STAR
STEAMSHIP COMPANY.IN 1957 THE WHITE STAR PART OF THE NAME WAS DROPPED AND THE COMPANY
RETURNED TO ITS ORIGINAL NAME OF CUNARD STEAMSHIP COMPANY.THE WHITE STAR LINE HAD OPERATED
BETWEEN 1845 AND 1936 AND HAD APPROXIMATELY 120 SHIPS UNDER HER CONTROL.NOT ALL
BEING BUILT FOR WHITE STAR, OR FOR THAT MATTER OWNED BY HER, SOME BEING CHARTERED, MANAGED
OR HAD BEEN OBTAINED FROM GERMANY AS WAR COMPENSATION OR JUST PURCHASED FROM OTHER
COMPANIES.
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LORD PIRRIE |
THOMAS ANDREWS |
CAPTAIN SMITH |
LORD KYSLANT |
