Can you provide me with more info about Thomas Andrews, please?

-- Mark L. Van Horn (bvanhorn@cyber.sausd.k12.ca.us), October 01, 1998

Answers

Some information I was able to find on the web:

Thomas Andrews Jr. was born 7 February 1873 in Belfast, Ireland.

From Builder of the Ship of Dreams.

-- Thomas M. Terashima (tom@nucleus.com), February 16, 1999.

He wasn't born in belfast

-- Dusty Lambin (chimoko_1999@yahoo.com), April 03, 2001.

Thomas Andrews Jnr. was born in Ardara House, Comber, County Down.

-- James Alexander Carlisle (carlisle@c2i.net), December 30, 2001.

He did not build the titanic

-- Johnsonkj (JOhnsonkj2000@yahoo.com), April 30, 2003.

he designed the Titanic

-- samantha (gryffindor24@sbcglobal.net), November 10, 2003.

During the conception, design and construction years of the Olympic Class Ships, Thomas Andrews was in charge of all design/drafting for Harland and Wolff, designers and builders of all the White Star Ships, including Olympic, Titanic, and Gigantic (ultimately launched as Britannic). The managing director of Harland and Wolff, a highly qualified and respected man by the name of Carlisle, who headed operations of the company during the design and much of the construction of Olympic, was forced, by the International Mercantile Marine, to resign. This was because of his over-zealous promotion of use on Olympic and Titanic of the newly invented Wellin davits. (Note: Bruce Ismay had sold his father's company, publicly known as the White Star Line, to J.P. Morgan's company, the International Merchantile Marine, in 1902. The Wellin Davits allowed large ships to launch more lifeboats from the same number of davits because they allowed for multiple launchings from a single davit. Apparently, use of the new davits and more life boats did not fit into the Morgan/Ismay plan for these floating palaces)

Upon Carlisle's forced resignation, Thomas Andrews was promoted to Managing Director of Harland and Wolff. His uncle, Lord Pirrie, and Bruce Ismay were likely responsible for this promotion as they recognized Andrews' remarkable talents and abilities in ship design and building. Pirrie headed Harland and Wolff and Ismay continued to head White Star Line, even though he had sold the company to Morgan.

Andrews continued to manage all drafting and design, and from then on oversaw actual construction of Olympic and Titanic as well. Andrews was well known for his hands-on approach to design and construction in the shipyard itself.

Andrews was well thought-of by his subordinates, peers and superiors, as well as by the ship building indurstry and the international public at large. The one exception to this high esteem seems to have been Bruce Ismay who appears to have had a serious disdain for Andrews working directly with the men in the shipyards and aboard the newly launched ships. Ismay was definitely a man of his Victorian time and station in life and was apparently not inclined to pay much attention to those he considered to be beneath him.

Unfortunately, Andrews did drown with Titanic so there is much that we will never know about him and what he might have accomplished with the remainder of his life that he did not have the opportunity to complete. However, there are a number of actions attributed to him the night of the tragedy that are not accurate, including the manner in which he died. In fact, he was perhaps even more heroic than he is given credit for being, as were those other Harland and Wolff staff and Titanic engineers onboard who served either under or at the direction of Andrews.

He was known to be both an intellectually and physically powerful man, and yet he was soft spoken and always a gentleman. His traits served passengers and crew well during the approximate 2 1/2 hours through which Titanic actually sank. He, more than any other man aboard, knew how and when Titanic would sink. He had been aboard foundering ships in his earlier years and he knew the panic that would ensue once everyone realized they were going to die. Yet he held his composure to the end.

When people consider those whom we call heroes, they should definitely include Thomas Adrews in the top group. He was the genuine article in every sense of the word and is deserving of recognition for having designed and built the most magnificent and luxurious machines that the world had ever seen.

-- J Randall Ismay (randallismay@cox.net), April 25, 2004.