John Eaton, one of the co-authors of Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy said that in the summer of 1907, J. Bruce Ismay and Lord James Pirrie, a partner in Harland and Wolff, met to discuss plans to build two ocean liners that will surpass anything built to date. This simple meeting set off a chain of events that led to the death of over 1500 people less than five years later.
The two ocean liners were to be called the Olympic and the Titanic. A third ship was added to the plans later. The Titanic's hull plate was laid in 1909 and a little over two years later, Titanic's 26,000 ton hull is launched at Harland and Wolff's shipyard. The ship reached a speed of twelve knots when it slid into the water before six anchor chains and two piles of cable drag chains weighing 80 ton's each brought her to a halt. The White Star Line never christened their ships. Many people still consider this to be a bad omen (Eaton 87-90).
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