TOM SNAITH. Thomas Ismay and the White Star Shipping Line

Thomas Ismay was born in Maryport in humble surroundings but went on to own The White Star Shipping Line , the premier passenger shipping line  in the world at the time. All the fleet was built at Harland and Wolff in Belfast.  His son, Bruce, took over as chairman on Thomas’s  death in 1899  and oversaw the building of the Titanic.  He also survived the sinking of the Titanic on her maiden voyage under somewhat controversial  circumstances which left him as a broken man.