Page:Walker - An Unsinkable Titanic (1912).djvu/114

AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC not a contract-built ship in the commonly accepted sense of that term. On the contrary, she was built under a system which conduces to high-class workmanship and eliminates the temptations to cheap work, which must always exist when a contract is secured in the face of keen competition.

The famous White Star Company have pointed with pride to the fact that the excellence of their ships was due largely to the fact that they had been built in the same shipbuilding yard and under an arrangement which encouraged the builders to embody in the ships the most careful design and workmanship. Under this arrangement, Messrs. Harland & Wolff, of Belfast, build the White Star vessels without entering into any hard and fast agreement as to the price: the only stipulation of this character being that, when the ship is accepted, they shall be paid for the cost of the ship, plus a certain profit, which is commonly believed to be ten per cent.

Of the strength of the Titanic and the general high character of her construction there can be no doubt whatever. Not only was she built to the requirements of the Board of Trade and [ 92 ]