 victor garber as thomas andrews in TITANIC | In descriptions of Thomas Andrews, such words as "serious", "obsessed", "meticulous", "perfectionist", and "wise" often arise. A portrait of a noble, understanding, kind-hearted genius is painted. In short, Thomas Andrews is a historical figure worth learning about. One interesting thing to note: everyone says they *love* Thomas Andrews (Victor Garber) in the movie, but there is so little about him on the web! So if any of you have facts to add to this, email me about them. A few sources I used: Titanic, The Official Site, and (*especially*) Encyclopedia Titanica. |
| Thomas was born on February 7, 1873, in Belfast Ireland. He went to school at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution in 1884, and dropped out when he was 16. He then got a job at the Harland and Wolff shipyards. His uncle was Lord Pirrie, the principle owner. Thomas started work there as an apprentice, and worked his way up until he became the managing director in charge of designing. In 1908, he married Helen Reilly Barbour. They had one daughter, named Elizabeth. |  thomas andrews |
 | About the Titanic, Mr. Andrews is said to have had a sixth sense. He knew the ship like some people know horses. Nothing about the ship escaped his attention. He carried his notebook with him everywhere he went onboard Titanic, jotting down notes about what could be done to improve her. During both the building and the destruction of the Titanic, Thomas was everywhere at once. He was always busy. I do have a question though: in the movie, he said he put enough davits on the boat deck to take an extra row of boats. It's true that there was an extra row of davits, but I haven't read (yet) that *he* put them there. The only place that I've read anything about whose idea it was to put the extra boats on was in Walter Lord's The Night Lives On, where it said that Alexander Carlisle, the managing director of Hart & Wolff, had put them into the plans as a way of subtly suggesting the lifeboats be added. Does anyone know what's up with that? According to Charles A. Haas and John Eaton's Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy, a reason he was aboard the ship was that Lord Pirrie was ill and couldn't go. So Thomas got a complimentary ticket for room A36. He had a staff of seven experts, called the "guarantee group". They were there to take care of any little emergencies that might arrive. He customarily ate with the surgeon, Dr. O'Loughlin. His bedroom steward was Henry Samuel Etches, who later persuaded Mr. Guggenheim to wear a lifebelt (as the evening wore on, Mr. Guggenheim took it back off). |
| The night of April 14, Mr. Andrews was so engrossed in his plans and notes that he didn't notice the collision with the iceberg. Therefore, he had to be sent for to inspect the damage. He and Captain Smith went down the crew's stairway to avoid attracting the notice of the passengers. After noting that the water was rushing into five compartments, he informed the Captain that Titanic would founder. He then spent a great deal of the time calming the passengers. He seemed to know people as well as he knew Titanic. During the first few days of the voyage, he had often been called on to settle disputes. In A Night to Remember, Walter Lord wrote about some of his words to passengers on the night of the sinking. |  "tell only who you must.." |
 | '...Miss Anderson bumped into Thomas Andrews on A Deck. Andrews greeted her like a cross parent:
'I thought I told you to put your lifebelt on!' | |
 victor garber | Thomas Andrews was last seen in the first class smoking room, in front of the painting, just like he was in the movie. God rest his soul. |
