The Yacht-Like Olympic
As [Olympic] lay abreast the stage yesterday the general opinion among the many thousands of sightseers who thronged both banks of the river was that the Mersey had never borne a ship of more beautiful proportions or more graceful lines. So exceedingly well balanced are the proportions of the vessel that at first glance her vast bulk is hardly realised; indeed it is impossible for the eye to form any complete vision of the tremendous size of the vessel without comparison; that is until some other vessel becomes dwarfed by her vicinity.
The Journal of Commerce describes Olympic‘s visit to Liverpool, June 1911
There were many compliments about Olympic‘s profile when she entered service in 1911, but she also won favourable reviews for the way she handled. On more than one occasion, mariners commented positively on how she steered, likening her to a ‘catboat’ and a ‘yacht’.
‘She steers like a catboat. I went onboard from […] the pilot boat, at half past two this morning off the lightship, and we were anchored in Quarantine an hour later. She handled beautifully’.
Pilot J. J. Adler, New York Harbour Pilot, June 1911.
‘Does the Olympic steer well?’
‘Very well.’
Captain Edward J. Smith, Olympic’s commander, November 1911.
‘We all observed the marvellous rapidity with which this prodigious ship turned from side to side, answering to its steering gear like a yacht answering to the tiller’.
Account of manoeuvres in May 1912, published in The American Marine Engineer, June 1912.
‘…she came out along the Turbot Bank like a small yacht would, and answered her helm just like a yacht’.
Captain James Tobin, who commanded mail tenders at Queenstown over four decades, describing one of Olympic’s visits to the port
These quotes are among many nuggets of information in Olympic & Titanic: Triumph and Disaster. (Thanks to Mike Poirier.)
