since the earliest days of ship building
Engineers have faced a difficult
challenge how to actually get their New
Creations into the water in the first
place ships can’t just be built in the
ocean they need to be constructed on
land and then launched or floated out of
a dry dock the problem is that the
process of launching a ship isn’t just
as simple as shoving it into the water
complex calculations have to be done to
make sure something doesn’t go wrong
unfortunately through history a few ship
launchers have done just that resulting
in minor incon conveniences all the way
to tragic fatalities ladies and
gentlemen I’m your friend Mike Brady
from ocean liner designs and today we’ll
look at five ship launches that didn’t
go exactly according to
[Music]
[Music]
plan for starters let’s look at a very
famous ship launch that had some rather
unexpected results for onlookers
September 26th 1934 and perched high up
on the slipway overlooking Clyde Bank
Scotland was the mighty white Hull of
the RMS Queen Mary shortly to become the

RMS Queen Mary

largest floating object in human history
up to that point the ship’s construction
had been marred by financial troubles
and the Great Depression but by 1934 the
hour had finally arrived and the pride
of British ship building was at last
ready to take to the water Queen Mary
was absolutely immense her Hull was 1 ,9
ft or 310 M long and even empty it all
weighed well over 36,000 tons once
completed the ship would eventually
weigh in at
77,4 now the ship had been built to be
launched backwards into the Clyde River
but this alone was no simple task the
river itself had to be widened and
deepened to accommodate the Monstrous
ship’s H if they didn’t widen it then
the launched ship would immediately
Beach itself on the opposite side of the
bank to smooth the ride and prevent
excess friction hundreds of of tons of
Tallow fat and soap were lathered onto
the slipway beneath the ship and to
arrest the hull hundreds of more tons of
heavy drag chains were attached to the
hle so that they would bring the ship to
a stop once it was afloat the stage was
set and the hour had at last arrived Her
Majesty Queen Mary of tech revealed the
liner’s name and a bottle of Australian
wine broke against the hle then these
big steel triggers were released and
with a rumble the hole was set free to
fall down the slipway and into the river
the whole thing was captured by news
reals and
and watched by tens of thousands of
Spectators on all sides of the river
Clyde some in specially designed stands
those on the opposite side of the river
to the launch arguably had the finest
view along the entire length of the
ship’s Hull But Then There came an
unexpected event as Queen Mary roared
into the river she displaced nearly
40,000 tons of the cide which needed to
go somewhere it surged up and poured
over the river bank like an enormous
tidal wave catching on Lookers
completely off guard suddenly a twoot
high wave broke over the bank and surged
around the spectator’s ankles catching
some of them off their feet and
drenching them completely now it’s not
known exactly how many people were
soaked but dozens at least were caught
by the wave there were no injuries from
the event and many actually found it
quite funny but it shows clearly the
impressive physics at play behind the
launching of a ship Queen Mary’s launch
was ultimately successful and the chains
brought her to a halt after which tugs
came alongside to take her to a fitting
outwar for completion now it’s a fun
little side note in the story of this
legendary ship but history tells us that
sometimes waves caused by ship launchers
could prove extremely dangerous now
about 36 years earlier in 1898 a new
warship was being Reed for launch she
was called the HMS albian she was a
battleship one of the newest and most
powerful in Britain’s Fleet she

HMS Albion

displaced about 14,000 tons and was
about 420 ft or 128 M long impressive
for a warship of the age she had been
built at the TS Ironworks Shipyard in
London right on the river temps itself
towering over the sky line of small
houses and Factory chimneys was the huge
white Hull of the ship and as ever it
caused quite the scene thousands came
out to see the event with many lining
the decks of nearby ships specifically
for this occasion though viewing
platforms had been constructed on the
temps around the slipway so guests could
see the launch up close and personal one
of these was a wooden stage with support
struts built to accommodate just a small
party of workmen but on the day it was
burdened by over 200 people now
incredibly the launch itself was
actually filmed by at least two separate
cameraman giving us a rare glimpse into
this special bit of History Mary of tech
the actual very same Mary of tech who
launched the Queen Mary in 1934 was at
that point just the Duchess of York she
launched the albian and thousands of
pairs of eyes watched on as the ship
slipped down into the river although
this footage looks peaceful and the
launch was indeed a success it had
shocking consequences for the nearly 200
people perched a top on one of the
viewing platforms as albian hit the
water she too caused a huge wave that
rolled over the river and smashed into
the supports of the stage the wooden
legs gave way and the entire structure
crashed down into the water with over a
100 Spectators many of them women and
children the issue was that the cries
for help and the sirens were drowned out
by the steam whistles which boomed out
celebrating the launch of the ship
eventually the news spread that
something had gone horribly wrong and
dozens of people were struggling to keep
their heads above water all this in an
era when many people couldn’t actually
swim and Woolen clothes once drenched
weighed an absolute ton Workman
inspector haors dived in heroically to
help and they plucked quite a few people
out to safety but in the end nearly 30
people had died the youngest being just
3 months old it was one of the worst T’s
peacetime tragedies and resulted in some
serious controversy because the footage
of the launch although it had not
captured the actual stage collapse was
distributed afterwards which many Saw as
poor taste the footage of the aftermath
and the rescue efforts in particular was
seen by the Victorian public as poor
form it actually stands today as one of
if not the earliest example
of Journalism covering a disaster using
the film camera the temps is no stranger
to failed launches though it had
actually played host to another
disastrous attempt some years earlier in
November 1857 now this was probably one
of the most ambitious undertakings in

SS Great Eastern

all of engineering history because it
had almost no parallel up until that
point famous engineer ismad Brunell had
worked closely with other engineers and
Naval Architects notably John Scott
Russell to design and build an
absolutely monstrous ship ship for a
Time SS Great Eastern was no less than
18,957
task brenell and his team proposed what
should have been a simple solution no
slipway in the world was yet big enough
to support Great Eastern instead she’d
be built on a ramp opposite Greenwich on
the temps in London the ramp could
support the Great Eastern’s Hull which
itself would see it on a kind of cradle
the idea was that once supports were
removed the Cradle would move along the
Tallow coated ramps rails and the Great
Eastern would slide gently into the
river sideways now the launch had to be
timed for the perfect tide that would
then carry the ship’s Hol safely away
from the banks then finally on November
3rd 1857 the moment had come the Great
Eastern 692 ft 210 M 12,000 ton Hull
began to rumble down but then things
went wrong the ship moved 4 fet when her
way was checked the launch system failed
and a man was killed by Falling Timbers
great easn became lodged unable to move
and Stranded like some kind of enormous
iron whale of course it caused Brunell
and his team to be relentlessly moed
which is especially unfair since Brunell
had actually been doing his best to
downplay the event since he must have
feared or even suspected that something
could go wrong but amidst the mockery
came sympathetic parties other Engineers
who wanted to help they wrote in with
ideas and advice a huge amount of
equipment was assembled to actually
bodily haul the ship down into the river
over the course of 2 months and finally
in January 1858 the massive vessel was
AF float it had not only been an
embarrassing Affair it had actually cost
the ship’s backers a small all Fortune
Great Eastern’s failed launch was just
the first chapter in an epic and bizarre
tale of a ship marred by poor fortunes
and strange happen STS today you can
actually still visit the launch side
because it’s been largely preserved at
mil wall London now Brunell had some
kind of ill premonition that something
about his launch might go wrong but in
the case of this next launch it was a
freak accident that nobody could have

SS Daphne

seen coming the SS daffany of 1883 was a
small steamer built in G Scotland on the
Clyde River River she was only about 450
tons designed to run on the regular
service to Ireland from Glasgow it was
only a short Voyage so she didn’t need
to be too large the ship was only about
178 ft or 54 M long the timeline for
delivering ships like this was quite
tight and she was not a vessel of any
real Prestige so her launch was seen as
little more than a practical Affair
dozens of workmen were aboard doing
their jobs to get the ship ready for
service when the hull was launched into
the river the idea was for two anchors
one on each side to check her progress
so that she’d come to arrest but that
day something went horribly wrong the
starboard anchor held but the port
anchor dragged causing the ship to swing
wildly around the river’s strong current
caught her and hurled the entire thing
over onto her side she capsized and
flooded almost immediately trapping
dozens of the workmen on board the
rolling caught them completely off guard
actually threw many up top into the
river once survival lat Road I felt the
vessel toppling over to the right and in
a moment every person on board was
hurled into the water the shrieks and
cries were terrible I along with some
others scrambled onto the bottom of the
vessel which was turned upside down and
retained a hole in a few moments a man
came around with a small boat and asked
me to jump into the water I did so and
was rescued I believe that over 200
people were in The Vessel I cannot
possibly describe the heartbreaking
scenes which I witnessed 124 workers
many of them in their 20s or younger
were killed when the Daphne rolled over
causing an outpouring of grief from the
tightly knit glass Egan ship building
community and immediately tough
questions had to be asked an established
inquiry surprised all by actually
clearing the yards owners of all blame
the families and friends of victims were
outraged and accused the investigative
bodies of a cover up now regardless the
disaster did actually result in reforms
that limited the number of personnel
that could be aboard ships during a
launch and also ensured that heavy
equipment and tools were fastened down
during the event the ship’s wreck was
not actually a write off she was
eventually salvaged repaired and put
into Service as the SS Rose today you
can actually find two memorials to the
Daphne and G even though the disaster
has essentially been consigned to the
history books and is today little known
now finally let’s end on a slightly
lighter note this is the launching of
the infamous SS principesa Yolanda which

SS Principessa Jolanda

is actually a ship we’ve covered on this
channel before that the story doesn’t
get any less ridiculous every time I
tell it the ship was supposed to
represent the very finest of Italian
ship building when she was completed and
ready for launch in 1907 she was
actually largest passenger vessel yet
built in Italy up to that point and
boasted magnificent luxurious Interiors
she was perched high up on the slipway
at Riv troso dozens of important
government officials dignitaries and
businessmen were invited to watch the
spectacle and the usual throng of
hundreds and hundreds of onlookers were
drawn to the amazing side now you might
notice something unusual about the
prince of pessa most ships are launched
in an unfinished State this means that
the ship’s hulls are at their lightest
they’re easier to control and AR rest
after the launch prin pessi Holland’s
Builders however decided to mix things
up a bit the ship was virtually
completed with all of her tall external
fittings like funnels and Ms fixed into
position all of her furniture the time
came the signal was given priness of
Yolanda roared down into the water to
the cheers and Applause of thousands and
then she immediately rolled over now the
ship’s mostly completed state was offset
by the fact that the ballast or the
weight deep in the ship’s Hull designed
to balance it all out had not been taken
on it meant the ship center of gravity
at launch was very high up and the
vessel was a topheavy white elephant
with a groan the ship listed and rolled
before lying completely flat on her
side fortunately the prince pessa did so
gently and it gave the captain and those
guests a board time to escape safely in
the ship’s boats and nobody was hurt or
killed but the incident was of course
highly embarrassing even worse was the
fact that surveyors concluded the ship
was a complete write off she couldn’t be
salvaged or repaired taken around 2
years for the complex technologically
advanced and luxurious ship to be built
but she had lasted just an hour on the
water’s surface lessons were obviously
learned and a future sister ship was
launched in the usual unfinished state
but the poor old Prince of pessi
orlander was broken up for scrap having
traveled just a couple of hundred feet
from where she’d been built ship
launchers are an incredible spectacle
but if history tells us anything it’s
that the immense physics at play deserve
to be respected now if you ever get
invited to attend a launch for ship the
size of something like the Queen Mary
go ahead and enjoy it but maybe just
make sure to pack a spare change of
trousers in case of unexpected title
waves ladies and gentlemen it’s your
friend Mike Brady from ocean liner
designs thank you so much for watching

Outro

this video If you enjoyed it please
leave a comment below don’t forget to
subscribe to the channel because we get
new videos out weekly if you want to
support my work and get really cool
perks like behind the scenes and Early
Access please visit my patreon in the
link in the description below or sign up
as a YouTube member come and join the
crew as always stay safe stay happy I’ll
see you again next time