The relationship with Liverpool
see below
>The successful completion of three vessels for J. Bibby & Sons & Company of Liverpool - "VENETIAN", "SICILIAN", and "SYRIAN", which are still listed as Nos. 1, 2 and 3 on the present company's orderbook - brought further orders, and by 1861 Harland found it necessary to take in a partner to assist in the management of the business. He chose his 27 year old assistant Gustav Wilhelm Wolff.
Wolff, who had been educated in Hamburg and Liverpool, was also an engineer, and the combination of these two young and able men led to a whole spate of new ideas in shipbuilding.
Harland increased the length of his ships without increasing their beam - his competitors in Liverpool called them "coffins" - to give greater carrying capacity without any decrease in speed. He replaced the wooden upper deck with one of iron, thus effectively making the hull a box girder of immensely increased strength.
More here >http://www.die-titanic.de/harland_&_wolff.htm
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White Star Line
>For the princely sum of £1000, Ismay rescued from bankruptcy the ailing White Star Line which had plied the Australian trade routes. He made it (1869) part of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., based in Liverpool.
>Ismay's big ideas needed even bigger financing if Cunard was to be challenged. Enter Gustav Schwabe, a Liverpool financier.
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Ismay had immediate plans for a big ship, which he would name after his company: the 'Oceanic'. But Schwabe too had his own ideas, as to who should build it.
Schwabe not only supported Ismay but also, to support a nephew of his, resolved to connect the fortunes of the two men.
The nephew was Gustav Wolff- the Wolff of Harland &Wolff (H&W) Belfast shipyards, in the north of Ireland.
So, there you have some of the connections between harland &Wolff, and Liverpool and white star
kat
More here>
http://library.thinkquest.org/12687/titanic/star.html
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