Steamship Gallery

Queen Mary Ocean Liner, at Southampton

Reaching Southampton the Queen Mary docked in an enormous King George V graving drydock, ready for its maiden voyage to New York in May 1936. Within thirty minutes of her stem entering the dock she was moored fast, the last 200 feet of her journey was done by man power, engines switched off, twenty men hauled her into position by ropes with 8ft 6 inches to spare on either side of her. The same night, 58, 000, 000 gallons of water was being pumped out of the dock, hundreds of workmen with brooms cleaned and scraped the hull, removing barnacles and covering below the water-line with anti-fouling composition. Date: March 1936

© Mary Evans Picture Library

Queen Mary Ocean Liner, whistles used for signalling

Queen Mary's three giant whistles two on the fore funnel and one on the midships funnel, were fitted. Each were seven feet in length, and could be heard five miles away, but so low pitched, not to annoy the passagers. These whistles were used for signalling the tugs during the first voyage down the Clyde, by a series of whistles signals the position of the pilots navigating officers. Date: 1936

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Hole torn in the hull of RMS Olympic after the collision with HMS Hawke in the Solent, 1911

Hole torn in the hull of RMS Olympic after the collision with HMS Hawke in the Solent, 20th September 1911. The collision took place as Olympic and Hawke were running parallel to each other through the Solent. As Olympic turned to starboard, the wide radius of her turn took the commander of Hawke by surprise, and he was unable to take sufficient avoiding action. Hawke's bow, collided with Olympic's starboard side near the stern, tearing two large holes in Olympic's hull, above and below the waterline which resulted in the flooding of two of her watertight compartments and a twisted propeller shaft. At a subsequent inquiry the Royal Navy blamed Olympic for the incident, alleging that her large displacement generated a suction that pulled Hawke into her side

© Kirk & Sons of Cowes / Heritage-Images