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| Thomas Andrews | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Thomas Andrews, Jr. 7 February 1873 Comber, County Down, Ireland |
| Died |
15 April 1912 (aged 39) RMS Titanic, Atlantic Ocean |
| Occupation | Shipbuilder |
| Known for | Head Designer – RMS Titanic |
| Spouse | Helen Reilly Barbour (1908 – 1912) (his death) |
| Children | Elizabeth Law Barbour Andrews (1910-1973) |
Thomas Andrews, Jr. (7 February 1873 – 15 April 1912) was an Irish businessman and shipbuilder; managing director and head of the drafting department for the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. Andrews was the naval architect in charge of the plans for the ocean liner RMS Titanic. He was travelling on board the Titanic during its maiden voyage when it hit an iceberg on 14 April 1912 and was one of the 1,507 people who perished in the disaster.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Thomas (second from right) with family, circa 1895.
Thomas Andrews was born at Ardara House, Comber, County Down, in Ireland, to The Rt. Hon. Thomas Andrews, a member of the Privy Council of Ireland, and Eliza Pirrie. His siblings included John Miller Andrews, the future Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and Sir James Andrews, the future Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. Thomas Andrews lived with his family in Ardara, Comber. In 1884, Andrews began attending the Royal Belfast Academical Institution until 1889 when, at the age of sixteen, he began a premium apprenticeship at Harland and Wolff where his uncle, the Viscount Pirrie, was part owner.
Andrews with wife, Helen Barbour, and daughter, Elizabeth Law Barber Andrews.
Harland and Wolff[]
At Harland and Wolff, he began with three months in the joiners' shop, followed by a month in the cabinetmakers' and then a further two months working on the ships. The last eighteen months of his five-year apprenticeship were spent in the drawing office. In 1901, Andrews, after working his way up through the many departments of the company, became the manager of the construction works. That same year, he also became a member of the Institution of Naval Architects. In 1907, Andrews was appointed the managing director and head of the draughting department at Harland and Wolff. During his long years of apprenticeship, study, and work, Andrews had become well liked in the company and amongst the shipyard's employees.
On 24 June 1908, he married Helen Reilly Barbour, daughter of John Doherty Barbour and sister to Milne Barbour. Their daughter, Elizabeth Law Barber Andrews (known by her initials, "ELBA"), was born on 27 November 1910. The couple lived at "Dunallan", 20 Windsor Avenue, Belfast.[1][2] It is known that Andrews took Helen to view the RMS Titanic one night, shortly before Elizabeth was born. After Thomas's death, Helen married Henry Peirson Harland (of the Harland and Wolff family) and died 22 August 1966 in Northern Ireland.
RMS Titanic[]
In 1907, Andrews began to oversee the plans for a new superliner, the RMS Olympic for the White Star Line. The Olympic and its sister ship the Titanic, which began construction in 1909, were designed by William Pirrie and general manager Alexander Carlisle along with Andrews. As he had done for the other ships he had overseen, Andrews familiarised himself with every detail of the Olympic and Titanic, in order to ensure that they were in optimal working order. Unfortunately, Andrews was overruled to have 46 lifeboats (instead of only the 20 lifeboats that it ended up with) and a double hull and water tight bulkheads that went up to B deck.
Andrews headed a group of Harland and Wolff workers who went on the maiden voyages of the ships built by the company (the guarantee group), to observe ship operations and spot any necessary improvements. The Titanic was no exception, so Andrews and the rest of his Harland and Wolff group travelled from Belfast to Southampton on Titanic for the beginning of her maiden voyage on 10 April 1912. During the voyage, Andrews took notes on various improvements he felt were needed, primarily cosmetic changes to various facilities. However, on 14 April, Andrews remarked to a friend that Titanic was "as nearly perfect as human brains can make her."
On 14 April at 11:40 PM, the Titanic struck an iceberg on the ship's starboard side. Andrews had been in his stateroom, planning changes he wanted to make to the ship, and barely noticed the collision. Captain Edward J. Smith had Andrews summoned to help examine the damage. Andrews and Captain Smith discussed the damage to the ship shortly after midnight, after Andrews had toured the damaged section of the ship and received several reports of the vessel's damage. Andrews determined that the first five of the ship's watertight compartments were rapidly flooding. Andrews knew that if more than four of the ship's compartments flooded, it would inevitably sink. He relayed this information to Captain Smith, stating that it was a 'mathematical certainty', and adding that in his opinion, the vessel had only about an hour before it completely sank. He also informed Smith of the severe shortage of lifeboats on board the ship.
As the evacuation of the Titanic began, Andrews searched staterooms telling the passengers to put on lifebelts and go up on deck. Fully aware of the short time the ship had left and of the lack of lifeboat space for all passengers and crew, he continued to urge reluctant people into the lifeboats in the hope of filling them as fully as possible.
One of the most famous legends of the sinking of the Titanic is that of Thomas Andrews standing in the first–class smoking room staring at a painting, "Plymouth Harbour", above the fireplace, his lifejacket lying on a nearby table. The painting depicted the entrance to Plymouth Sound. [3] But this story, which was published in a 1912 book (Thomas Andrews: Shipbuilder) and therefore perpetuated, came from John Stewart, a steward on the ship who in fact did leave the ship in boat n. 15 at approximately 1:40 a.m.[4]
There were testimonies of sightings of Andrews after that moment.[4] It appears that Andrews stayed in the smoking room for some time to gather his thoughts, then he continued assisting with the evacuation.[4] Another reported sighting was of Andrews frantically throwing deck chairs into the ocean for passengers to use as floating devices. Andrews was last seen leaving the ship at the last moment. His body was never recovered.
Finally, on 19 April 1912, his father received a telegram from his mother's cousin, who had spoken with survivors in New York, searching for news of Andrews. The telegram was read aloud by Andrews Sr. to the staff of the home in Comber: "INTERVIEW TITANIC'S OFFICERS. ALL UNANIMOUS THAT ANDREWS HEROIC UNTO DEATH, THINKING ONLY SAFETY OTHERS. EXTEND HEARTFELT SYMPATHY TO ALL."
Legacy[]
Newspaper accounts of the disaster labelled Andrews a hero. Mary Sloan, a stewardess on the ship, whom Andrews persuaded to enter a lifeboat, later wrote in a letter: "Mr. Andrews met his fate like a true hero, realising the great danger, and gave up his life to save the women and children of the Titanic. They will find it hard to replace him." A short biography was produced within the year by Shan Bullock at the request of Sir Horace Plunkett, a member of Parliament, who felt that Andrews' life was worthy of being memorialised.
In his home town, Comber, one of the earliest and most substantial memorials for a single victim of the Titanic disaster was built. The Thomas Andrews Jr. Memorial Hall was opened in January 1914. The architects were Young and McKenzie with sculpted work by the artist Sophia Rosamond Praeger. The hall is now maintained by the South Eastern Education Board and used by The Andrews Memorial Primary School.
SS Nomadic is the sole surviving ship designed by Andrews today. She was the tender to Titanic and Olympic, and is also the last White Star Line ship afloat. Nomadic is currently preserved in Belfast, where full restoration work is expected to be completed by 10 April, the centenary of Titanic's maiden voyage. By February 2012, Nomadic's superstructure (with the exception of lifeboats, davits, and a covered bridge) was completely rebuilt and the ship was repainted in her original White Star Livery. Nomadic will be the centerpiece of Titanic Quarter, a previously-derelict section of Belfast now being rebuilt and filled with monuments and buildings to honour the Titanic.
Portrayals[]
- Patrick Macnee (1956) (Kraft Television Theatre) (A Night to Remember)
- Michael Goodliffe (1958) (A Night to Remember)
- Geoffrey Whitehead (1979) (S.O.S. Titanic) (TV Movie)
- Victor Garber (1997) (Titanic)
- Michael Cerveris (1997) (Titanic) (Broadway Musical)
- Vern Urich (1998) (Titanic: Secrets Revealed) (TV Documentary)
- Don Lynch (2003) (Ghosts of the Abyss) (Documentary)
- Damian O'Hare (2005) (Titanic: Birth of a Legend) (TV Documentary)
- Stephen Campbell Moore (2012) (Titanic) (TV series/3 episodes)
- Billy Carter (2012) (Titanic: Blood and Steel) (TV series/12 episodes)
- Nick Danan (2012) (The Titanic Boys) (Stage Production- Grand Opera House, Belfast)
References[]
- ↑ NationalArchives.ie
- ↑ Ulster History Cycle
- ↑ The painting is often incorrectly shown on television and in movies as depicting the entrance to New York Harbor.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 ON A SEA OF GLASS: THE LIFE & LOSS OF THE RMS TITANIC" by Tad Fitch, J. Kent Layton & Bill Wormstedt. Amberley Books, March 2012. pp 321-323
- M. A. Kribble. "Thomas Andrews: Builder of the Ship of Dreams". Thomas Andrews: Builder of the Ship of Dreams. Archived from the original on 2 February 2003. http://web.archive.org/web/20030202164216/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6136/index.html. Retrieved 9 July 2005.
External links[]
Template:Commons category
- Thomas Andrews on Titanic-Titanic.com
- Encyclopedia Titanica Biography of Thomas Andrews
- LibraryIreland.com, "Thomas Andrews Shipbuilder", a 1912 biography of Thomas Andrews
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