English: Harland and Wolff Shipbuilding Yard, R.M.S. Olympic on the stocks (Ships Cradle).

While the photo was labeled as RMS Olympic, the ship we see is in fact her sister, RMS Titanic. This photo was taken shortly before her launch on May 31, 1911, the same day that the completed Olympic was handed over to the White Star Line by Harland & Wolff.

Olympic and Titanic were constructed side by side, with Titanic in the slipway closest to the photographer. When Olympic was launched, her hull was painted white so that her lines would contrast with the surrounding gantry, making her easier to photograph at launch. Titanic, on the other hand, was painted in the traditional White Star livery before her launch.

I think it is possible that our photographer, at the time would want to claim Olympic rather than Titanic, as Olympic was the big news of the day. It was after all the largest liner in the world when it was launched in 1910.

Having said the above I believe it quite possible that any photo of either ship after the Titanic disaster could easily have been claimed as Titanic rather than Olympic.

Thanks to both [/photos/129555378@N07/ sharon.corbet] and [/photos/91549360@N03/ OwenMacC] for the above Titanic theory.

Photographer: Thomas H. Mason

Collection: The Mason Photographic Collection

Date: Circa 1910

NLI Ref: M25/J/3

You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie