Researching The Olympic Class Liners

This blog post was last updated in August 2026.

The Olympic Class Liners are three ships built by the White Star line in the 1910s. These are the RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic, and HMHS Britannic. Out of these three ships, only the Titanic is well-remembered due to sinking on her maiden voyage. However, her sister ships have also had interesting careers, and I would love to share my interest in these ships with you.

Where My Interest in the Olympic Class Liners began

In 2012, I first heard of the Olympic Class Liners through the 1997 James Cameron Titanic film. As it was the centenary, there were a lot of things going on about the Titanic. I was eleven at the time of the centenary, and my class watched the trailer. After school, I did more research into the ship and watched the film. It was during this research that I discovered that the Titanic had two sisters, the Olympic and the Britannic.

The History of the Olympic Class Liners: Useful Books, Websites, and YouTube Channels

A lot of YouTubers and websites cover the history of the Olympic Class Liners, and there can be a lot of misinformation out there. However, one of the channels I watch regularly that gives reliable information is the Historic Travels YouTube channel. Sam does a lot of research for each video to give viewers the most reliable information he can about the Olympic Class Liners and other ships he researches. A lot of his videos are about the Titanic, and that is a great place to start.

Atlantic Liners has a lot of information about different ships, not just those owned by the White Star Line. The author is J. Kent Layton, who helped write the books On A Sea of Glass and Recreating Titanic and Her Sisters, so the information on his website will be accurate. Titanic Officers is another website that I use for my research, which focuses on the officers on the Titanic, including the first captain, H. J. Haddock and the original second officer, David Blair. There is also a website about the Titanic’s first officer, William Murdoch, on williammurdoch.net that focuses on him and his life.

There are also books available going into the history of these ships, and I have read a few. My favourites so far are Exploring the Britannic by Simon Mills, who owns the wreck, Titanic Officers and a Gentleman by Ned W. Schillow, and On A Sea Of Glass by Tad Fitch, J. Kent Layton and Bill Wormstedt. I also own Recreating Titanic and Her Sisters by the same three authors, but I have not read it yet. However, the artwork in there is incredible. It will certainly be a useful book whenever I write about the Titanic.

As I do a lot of research on the Olympic-Class liners before writing one of my fanfictions, I find these books, websites, and videos useful. There are also a lot of documentaries out there, and they are useful as well if you are researching the Olympic-Class Liners.

Fanfiction about the Olympic Class Liners

I write fanfiction about the Olympic-class liners. If you want to read my blog post about why I love writing fanfiction, you can find it here. You can also find links to my fanfiction account there, but I mostly use fanfiction.net and A03 to write my fanfictions about the Olympic Class Liners. So far, my Titanic fanfictions are in relation to my Emma’s Six fanfiction on fanfiction.net and AO3.

Fictional Books, Films, TV series, and Stage Productions about the Olympic Class Liners

There is a lot of media out there about the Olympic-Class liners, but most of it focuses on the Titanic rather than the Olympic or the Britannic. Because the Titanic is more well-known, it makes sense to write more about her than her sisters, even though the Olympic and Britannic also have interesting stories.

Books

I will want to write proper reviews of these books, so I will include the links below once I write the reviews.

On The Edge of Daylight- Giselle Beaumont
The Titanic Tunnel- Glen Blackwell
The Ship of Doom- M. A. Bennett
Titanic- Stephen Davies
The Titanic Sisters- Patricia Falvey
The Girl on the Carpathia- Ellen Enwright Hodgetts
Trapped on the Titanic- Tammy S. Knox
Kaspar Prince of Cats- Michael Morpurgo
No Greater Love- Danielle Steel

Films and TV series

 

I watched several films and TV series related to the Titanic. One film in particular, the 1997 Titanic film, sparked my interest in the Titanic. It encouraged me to learn what I could about the Olympic-Class Liners. I started writing Titanic fanfiction and include it in many of my works on AO3. As my fanfiction is centred more on the officers, it encouraged me to research them and eventually visit places connected to them.

You can read my Titanic fanfiction on AO3.

Stage Productions

The only stage production about the Titanic I know about is Titanic the Musical, which was launched in 1997, preceding the James Cameron film by several months. I have the book about the musical, which also contains the original script from when it was on Broadway, and the soundtrack. You can watch clips about the musical on YouTube. I love listening to the soundtrack, and I sometimes find myself listening to it when I write my fanfiction.

Update (22/08/2026): Titanic the Musical toured the UK in 2023, and I saw it in High Wycombe in May 2023. A pro shot has also been released and is available to buy or rent on Amazon Prime.