Unique artefact surfaces at Titanic exhibition

21 April 2006

A unique piece of maritime history has surfaced at the `Titanic Made In Belfast’ festival, being held this week.

Two fully restored portholes from another famous White Star liner built at Harland and Wolff were brought in for valuation by specialist auctioneers, Henry Aldridge and Sons, earlier this afternoon.

The Laurentic was sunk off Malin Head, with the loss of 354 men, on the night of January 25 1917 by mines laid by a German submarine. She was en route from Liverpool to Nova Scotia, via Buncrana, with a cargo of £5 million in gold bars, to pay for American war supplies.

The Royal Navy mounted a massive operation to recover the 32 tonnes of gold, made up of more than 3,200 bars. The operation was to last seven years, and at the end of it a combination of blasting and storm damage left the Laurentic virtually destroyed on the seabed some 40 metres below the surface of Lough Swilly. However, the fact that 22 gold bars were not recovered makes the Laurentic a popular destination for divers to this day.

“Because there is virtually nothing left of `Laurentic’, it is very rare for artefacts to turn up, and so this is a truly exciting find,” commented auctioneer, Andrew Aldridge.

Originally commissioned as the Alberta and launched in 1908, the 15,000 Laurentic had come to prominence in 1910, when she carried Inspector Dew of Scotland Yard across the Atlantic in pursuit of Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen, who was wanted for the murder of his wife. Crippen, and his mistress, Ethel Le Neve, were attempting to flee to Canada on board the liner, Montrose. However, despite the Montrose having a head start, Laurentic’s superior speed meant she reached Canada first, and Dew arrested the couple of the quayside.

In 1911, the Laurentic recorded a then record time – 13 days and four hours – for the crossing between Liverpool and Montreal, a route the ultimately ill-fated liner plied for most of her short life.

Ironically, a second Laurentic, suffered a similar fate to her predecessor: built by Harland and Wolff for the White Star Line in 1927, she was converted into an armed merchant cruiser in 1939 – and sunk the following year, with the loss of 49 lives, by the U99, commanded by Captain Otto Kretschmer, who was credited with sinking more Allied tonnage than any other German U-boat commander.

The `Titanic Made In Belfast’ festival, commemorating the 94th anniversary of the sinking of the world’s most famous ship, and which has been visited by an estimated 12,000 people during the week, finishes tomorrow (Saturday).

ENDS

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