In 1909, the White Star Line joined forces with the Dominion Line to operate a joint service on the Liverpool-Quebec-Montreal route. Operating under the title of White Star - Dominion Line Join Service, there were four large passenger cargo ships.

The Dominion Line provided the Canada and Dominion, while the White Star Line contributed two new ships, the Laurentic and Megantic.

Of 14,800 tons, the two ships were each 550.4ft. (167.75m.) long with a beam of 67.3ft. (20.51m.) and had accommodation for 230 First class, 430 Second class and 1,000 Third class passengers. Both were completed at Belfast.

Laurentic had been launched in September 1908, sea trials would prove her faster and more economical in service. She went out on her premiere crossing in late April 1909.

Laurentic would then go on to play a major part in the apprehension of Britain’s most notorious killer, Dr. Crippen.

Megantic built by Harland & Wolff in 1908 as Albany for the Dominion Line, but was transferred to White Star before her launch in December .

She was delivered the White Star Line on June 3, 1909 for the Canadian service she crossed from Liverpool to Montreal on her maiden voyage on June 17.

1909

The Building of TITANIC begins.

31st March First keel plate laid, hull number 401.

A 1500 strong workforce was assembled to forge together more than two thousand one - inch steel plates to form the hull, which soon dwarfed the whole of Belfast as it towered over the shipyard.

Over three million rivets on each of the three ships which, once completed, weighed 46,000 tons each and had a length of 882.5 feet, the length of nearly three football pitches.

It would take a further ten months to complete Titanic, fitting out the interiors and installing the massive state-of-the-art engines, boilers and mechanical equipment.

Interestingly, of Titanic’s four funnels, only three were real, the fourth being added for aesthetic value and to act as a ventilation shaft.

RMS Titanic’s height from keel to funnel was 175 Feet, five feet taller than Nelson’s column London.

* Estimated cost £1,500,000

* 45,000 tons gross register ~ 66,000 tons displacement

* Length: 882 feet, 9 inches/268 metres

* Height: 60.5 feet waterline to Boat Deck, 175 feet keel to top of funnels.

* Beam: 92.5 feet/28 meters

* Watertight compartments: 16, extending up to F deck

* Rudder weight 100 tons

* Stern frame, rudder and brackets 280 tons

* Each anchor 15 tons

* Bronze Propeller 22 tons

* Launching weight 27,000 tons

* Decks: 9 in total (counting the orlop deck) the boat deck A,B,C,D,E,F,G below G boiler rooms.

* Draft: 59.5 feet

* Boilers: 29

Engines: 2 reciprocating 4 cylinder, triple expansion, direct - acting, inverted engines: 30,000hp 75 rpm. 1 low pressure Parsons turbine:16,000hp 165rpm

Propellers: 3. Center: 16 feet Left/Right wings: 23 feet

Gross tonnage: 46,328 tons Net tonnage: 24,900 tons

Lifeboats: 20 total - 16 wooden lifeboats with 4 Engelhardt collapsibles. Capacity - 1,178 persons

Top Speed: 23 knots

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