I hear this subject has been hotly debated in the past. I have never expressed an opinion on this matter but after receiving the Anatomy book, I do. First of all let me say that I have always questioned why the Olympic was launched with the hull painted gray and the Titanic painted black. I have never been able to find any reference as to why so I assume the reason was that the Titanic was painted dark and close to the final colors in order to save an extra coat of paint or two. Gloss black does not go over light gray very well.
Anatomy book:
p. 7 is the known stern view of the Titanic. I always assumed that the reason the aft line was highlighted even in the shadows was because of the way the light was hitting it. I may be wrong and Bob Read may be right. Most of the things we discuss in this board are basically just interpretations of shades of gray. We know that the final coats of paint aside from touch ups were done in the graving dock. Not in the gantry. Keep that in mind.
( as a side note, Marschall said in his book that he caught a lot of flack because he paints rust marks on the starboard side of the ship. The thing sat outside for months before it was released for service so the rust is a given. He said in the book that Titanic was touched up only on the port side at the Southampton peer. The starboard still showing the rust marks.)
p. 51 is the Olympic being painted. The anti fouling paint is being applied over the light gray and the line appears up in the left corner. That is not sunlight that is making the line look light! It also doesn't appear to match the shade of gray that the gold is represented by in other pictures. I believe that in this picture the line IS NOT PAINTED YET as the shade matches the light gray down below.
p. 55 shows the gold line that I believe would have been painted already. It may not be because as we know the gold line and the names were etched in the steel giving the impression a different shade. If it was painted then it shows the contrast between the gold paint and the light gray below.
p.58 and more, p.59 upper right hand side. The stern of Titanic. It certainly appears that the line is a lighter color then the black. The sun is shining on the starboard side of the ship but the line is evenly shaded around the total length. We must take into account that at this stage, still in the gantry, the first coat of paint is the only thing applied as it was not the final coats. I'm sure the color used at this point was medium to dark gray as proofed on page 60
p. 62, Look at how close the painted gold and black are in shading
p.89 Olympics stern. Look how the line turns up at the top of the page to the fore of the ship. The sun is to starboard aft illuminating the hull but the line doesn't darken with the hull until the absolute top.
I would like to hear other opinions and references.
Questions I would have are: Was the line painted black like the hull as an after thought before being put in service on the Olympic, and if so was it gold? Did the Titanic have this line or is it just another one of those cosmetic differences? The pictures of both sterns would leave me to believe that there was an intention to paint that line on both ships. If it was changed along the way in the graving dock is another question.
Bruce
Posted on Oct 28, 1998, 9:29 PM from IP address 199.179.162.68