A Dinner to Remember

Written by Radi Stanislav 6/17/2023

Updated by Radi Stanislav 4/25/2025

On an April evening, the Chairman of the White Star Line, Joseph Bruce Ismay, was enjoying dinner at the estate owned by William James Pirrie, a wealthy businessman and chairman of the Harland & Wolff Shipyard. The duo were old friends, having worked together in business relating to the shipyard. in the past. Around their time, a new challenge to the White Star Line had arisen- the largest ships in the world at the time, constructed by Cunard Line, had just launched some months prior- the RMS Mauretania and the RMS Lusitania. 

Ismay and Pirrie had their dinner and a drink of coffee. During their time there, they discussed ways to challenge the Cunard Line. By the end of the dinner, the idea of the Olympic class ships were born. More specifically, the RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic were to be constructed as the largest ships on the Atlantic- meant to be the most luxurious and fastest liners of the time. Remember that the RMS Britannic was ordered to be constructed later, and was not finished for nearly two years after the RMS Olympic. 

Although, this story is too good to be true, and debated to this day. There are many theories about this supposed “dinner”. This story originally comes from a book¹ titled "The Ismay Line", written in 1961 by Wilton J. Oldham. The book intended to clear Ismay's name, but whether his intentions were fruitful is to be the topic of much argument. When Wilton got in touch with the Ismay family, Ismay's widow Julia Florence Schieffelin (nearly 80 years old by this point) and his oldest daughter Margaret Bruce Ismay provided this story with a date somewhere in the summer of 1907. To my knowledge, this story was further expanded upon in the book "Titanic: A Journey Through Time".² The order of the Titanic and Olympic took place on the 30th of April, 1907, so even if this story was true, it was impossible the Olympic class ships were conceived at this point.

Citations:

1 | Oldham, Wilton J. The Ismay Line: The White Star Line and the Ismay Family Story. Journal of Commerce, 1961.​

2 | Eaton, John P., and Charles A. Haas. Titanic: A Journey Through Time. Stroud: The History Press, 2020.