Mark was in Northern Ireland as the guest of Belfast Titanic Society. He addressed our February meeting on the subject of exploding some of the myths behind Olympic.  Did business drop off on the liner after the Titanic disaster and did JP Morgan actually own the Olympic, Titanic and Brittanic?  The answer to both questions is no and mark was able to elaborate as to why.  It was a fascinating insight into how White Star raised money to buy their ships. I am no financial expert but basically it was in the form of share issues.  Mark has spent countless hours poking through dusty boxes of White Star files to unearth new material to back up his theories.

I was lucky enough to spend the day with Mark on my Titanic Tour.  He was especially pleased to be able to get on board a White Star ship,  the SS Nomadic here in Belfast and to stand on the slipways where Olympic was built and in the drawing office where she was designed.  In a way, it was an extra dimension to his enthusiasm for the ship to be able to visit the place where she came into existence.  One partuclar conversation we shared over a pint concerned Olympic’s murder, something of which I was not aware.  Apparently a passenger on board Olympic murdered his wife and disposed of her body by chopping her up and throwing her out of the porthole!

It was a pleasure to spend time with someone who has produced such detailed work on Titanic’s older and more successful sister.  What he has achieved at such a young age is truly remarkable and I hope Belfast Titanic Society will stay in touch with him in the coming years.