2. Bad Luck Comes in Threes

Titanic: Ship of Dreams

NOISER

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.8 • 774 Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Titanic is cleared for departure, but no one tells the inspector that a fire is raging in one of the coal bunkers. Extra lifeboats are proposed then rejected, as the first and only lifeboat drill takes place. White Star boss J. Bruce Ismay makes himself at home in his deluxe suite, as Titanic’s first-class facilities are unveiled in all their glory. And on the way out of Southampton Harbour there’s a nail-biting near miss. One that almost scuppers the maiden voyage before it’s begun… A Noiser podcast production. Narrated by Paul McGann. Featuring Stephanie Barczewski, Julian Fellowes, Clifford Ismay, Tim Maltin, Susie Millar. Written by Duncan Barrett | Produced by Miriam Baines and Duncan Barrett | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design & audio editing by Miri Latham | Assembly editing by Dorry Macaulay, Anisha Deva, Liam Cameron | Compositions by Oliver Baines and Dorry Macaulay | Mix & mastering: Cian Ryan-Morgan | Recording engineer: Joseph McGann | Nautical consultant: Aaron Todd. Get every episode of Titanic: Ship of Dreams two weeks early, as well as ad-free listening, by joining Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's September the 20th, 1911.
0:06.0	We're in Southampton, on the south coast of England.
0:10.0	In seven months' time from this exact spot, RMS Titanic will depart on her ill-fated maiden voyage.
0:19.0	Right now though, it's another almost identical vessel that's about to weigh anchor.
0:26.6	While Titanic is still in Belfast being fitted out with all the bells and whistles
0:30.6	that will turn her into a floating five-star hotel,
0:34.6	her sister ship, RMS Olympic, is ready to set off for New York.
0:41.4	Olympic has been plying the transatlantic route for three months already. A total of eight
0:46.6	crossings back and forth without incident. Unless you count a minor scrape with a tugboat in the
0:52.5	Hudson River, which left a few scratches
0:54.9	on her paintwork. Her commander, White Star Commodore Edward Smith, is regarded as the safest
1:01.6	possible pair of hands. When asked by a reporter to describe his 40-year career, he can honestly
1:08.9	reply, uneventful. But Smith is about to receive a rude awakening.
1:18.2	At 1125 a.m., Olympic Way's anchor. Some of her 1,300 passengers gather on deck,
1:26.4	watching the quayside slowly recede into the distance.
1:29.3	Others remain in their cabins.
1:32.3	It's a wet, windy morning, not the best time to take the sea air.
1:39.3	Before long the giant ship approaches the Solent, the strait of water separating mainland Britain
1:45.4	from the Isle of Wight.
1:47.5	It's a busy passage, with clear shipping lanes marked out by boys.
1:53.3	At 1243pm, Olympic makes the turn to port, signaling her intention to any other ships
2:00.2	in the vicinity with two sharp blasts of the whistle.
	...

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