Posted by Bruce Beveridge on October 26, 1999 at 18:00:13 in 199.179.160.237:
In Reply to: Re: the mystery of the aft boat deck board posted by James pepper on October 26, 1999 at 07:42:39:
James,
You threw a lot of information out here so let me try and keep this short.
The eye bolts I see could have been used for some sort of sporting activity. Basket ball is NOT being played in this picture.
The Olympic was in New York at the outbreak of W.W.I. In New York she was layed up so that the white superstructer ,gunwales and funnels could be painted in a dull gray. The Olympic made a few passenger trips from the U.K. to the US to get the Americans who wanted to leave out, and the English from the US back home. She was later requisitioned as a troop transport between the U.K and Mudros. Here, she retained the gray drab colors. She was laid up for a number of months after this because they didn't know what do do with her as her coal bunker arrangements made her questionable for other uses because of the ability to re-coal. She didn't have the range as the Cunarders because of this and her draught meant transporting coal across a distance in the water to refuel. When the Canadian government needed a transport to bring over their large contingent of troops, the Olympic was the ship for the job. It was here that she was painted in the dazzle schemes, and not until 1916.
The Olympic had been involved in numerous crashes besides what is commonly written about. There was an occasion, after the war, where she cracked her stern frame. This was a major undertaking to repair. She crashed a lightship, sucked a few tugs under and grounded once or twice also. There was even a fire in her 3rd class galley during the war that took three hours to extinguish.
Bruce