By Joe McCann
IT was once one of the most important and influential offices in world shipbuilding.
In the Drawing Office of Harland and Wolff some of the world’s best ship designers worked on plans for some of the world’s best known ships, plying their trade in specially designed buildings at the heart of one of the most iconic shipyards.
The most obvious ship whose design emerged from the Drawing Office was the Titanic which was one of a series of passenger liners including her sister ships the Britannic and Olympic as well as more modern ships such as the Canberra, a passenger ship which was requisitioned to serve as a troop transporter during the Falklands War.
The Drawing Office also designed warships such as HMS Belfast, which was built in 1938 and is now a floating museum on the river Thames in London, and HMs Formidable, an aircraft carrier launched in 1939.
As shipbuilding changed, much of the Harland and Wolffe shipbuilding complex changed radically, with key areas, such as the Drawing Office, with its unique architecture, closing down for good.
The Drawing Office remained closed up for many years before eventually being transformed into what is now the Titanic Hotel, which has kept some of the original architecture.
In 2008, Bangor photographer Gerry Coe was granted access into the Drawing Office building to capture what were probably the final images of life in a bygone age of world shipbuilding.
Although the pictures were taken a number of years ago, they provide a fascinating look at the offices as they were left, with Gerry being able to capture many of the original plans for famous ships such as the Britannic, which had not been disturbed since the designers left decades earlier.
“I took all these photos in 2008,” said Gerry. “A friend of mine organised getting the two of us in and they’ve beensitting on the hard drive for this length of time. In some way, I always thought I would make a book about them.”
Gerry has been a longstanding member of Bangor Camera Club and also has worked as a photographer since he was 16. He worked for many years as a portrait photographer with a studio and framing business on the Lisburn Road in Belfast.
The book contains several wonderful photographs of the Drawing Office and the old building which still maintains its elegance and grandeur against the test of time. In the photographs readers can see the old marble staircases with their wrought iron bannisters upon which the designers of the Titanic and the Olympic once tread.
Amazingly, when he was photographing the offices, documents were still there and on display and these are prominently shown in the photographs, including plans and designs for the Canberra and the Olympic and many other of the great ships which were once made in Belfast.
Gerry said of photographing the old plans and drawings: “[They] were just sitting there when you went in. I touched nothing, I just took photos of it all as it lay.
“I didn’t arrange anything, but I did later go and look up some of the numbers on the files which were there and match them with the ships which were built. The plans for the Canberra were just sitting out as I found them.
“It is history,” he said. “And it’s amazing, but it’s not just recording, there’s an artistic level to it as well. Where you pick up different things and use the light and on that day I got very lucky with the light.”
Now that the building is now the Titanic Hotel situated right beside the Titanic Museum, Gerry said he would be interested in speaking with both about showcasing his work about what the buildings and area looked like before the mass renovation of what is now known as the Titanic Quarter.
“In the hotel the telephone exchange is something they’ve kept as well as the office of the man who designed the Titanic,” said Gerry. “The original banisters on the staircases are all there as well, as well as some of the features in the bathrooms.”
Asked if he had any personal connection to the shipyards, Gerry said his grandfather had once worked there as a stager who built the scaffolding around the ships.
He said: “My grandfather, he worked in the shipyard. He was a stager, putting the staging around the ships, building them up so the riveters could then come on. It was quite a dangerous job and he got hurt one time. A chain from a crane wrapped around his leg and he was hoisted up. He was off for quite a while, but apparently, they kept him on.
“He was able to get back to work but he wasn’t able to do the same job. They said to him you can retire if you want, or you can keep working. He said, ‘I’ll keep working’.
Also amongst the files Gerry photographed were the plans and sketches for the Britannic, the sister ship of the Olympic and Titanic. It was used in the First World War as a hospital ship but was sunk by a mine laid by a German U-Boat off the Greek island of Kea in November 1916, with the loss of around 30 people.
Interestingly, the Britannic sank at roughly the same speed as the Titanic did and experienced a similar sinking and breaking but the warmer mediterranean sea and help being close at hand, plus the availability of more lifeboats led to the vast majority of the passengers and crew being saved.
Gerry’s book is available for £15 and anyone can receive a copy by contacting him at gerrycoe@me.com or on 07846 871704.
