OLYMPIC CARRIES PIRRIE'S BODY HOME
Home William James Pirrie OLYMPIC CARRIES PIRRIE'S BODY HOME
Saturday 14th June 1924
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White Star Liner Was Biggest Ship Ever Built in Viscount's Yards
DIED ON WAY FROM TROPICS
Great Shipbuilder, Near Death, Insisted on Being Carried Out to See Panama Canal
The body of Viscount Pirrie, who had been called the world's greatest shipbuilder and the richest man in Great Britain, arrived here late Thursday night on the Pacific Steam Navigation Company's liner Ebro, on which he died on Saturday, June 7. It was transferred yesterday to the White Star liner Olympic, the largest ship ever built in Harland & Wolff's shipyard at Belfast, of which Viscount Pirrie was the head.	The coffin was borne from the Ebro by the crew, conveyed in a hearse to Pier 59, North River, taken over by the crew of the Olympic and carried to the specially prepared room on the E deck, which was draped in black and purple.
According to the arrangements made by Lord Inverforth, the body will be conveyed in a motor hearse from Southampton to Godalming, where it will be received by the tenants on his estate, and then proceed to London, where the public funeral services will be held. Later the body will be taken to Belfast for interment at Ormesby, where the great shipbuilder had passed most of his life.
Viscountess Pirrie was met at Quarantine late on Thursday night by Lloyd B. Sanderson, head of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, and a friend of her husband for more than a quarter of a century. During the forty-five years they had been married Lord and Lady Pirrie had never spent ten days apart. She had accompanied him on all his travels to all corners of the globe.
Lord Pirrie had caught a cold at Antofogasta, Chile, which had become worse when the Ebro arrived at Iquique, and the doctor would not permit him to go ashore. At Panama two trained nurses were taken from the Ancon Hospital to look after him, but he gradually became worse. He had always desired to see the Panama Canal. Although he was very weak, Lord Pirrie insisted upon being carried out on the main deck, and as the ship steamed through the canal he expressed his admiration at the manner in which she was handled in the locks. He was conscious almost up to his death, and dictated to Captain A. T. Marshall, his secretary, his observations of Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Valparaiso regarding the port facilities and possibilities for future development. The papers will be taken back to England to be read before the next meeting of Harland & Wolff. Lord Pirrie was a director of thirty-nine corporations connected with the shipbuilding and oil industries, and his wealth has been estimated at $500,000.000.
When the Ebro docked yesterday morning at the foot of Morton Street, Lady Pirrie was met by Lord and Lady Inverforth, who will sail with her on the Olympic scheduled to leave at 1 A. M. today; Sir James Currie, P. A. S. Franlin, President of the International Mercantile Marine Company, and E. J. Berwinrd, who escorted her and her sister, Miss A. M. Carlisle, to the Olympic, where they occupied the suite originally reserved for Lord Pirrie's use on the voyage home.
Related Biographies:
William James Pirrie
Relates to Ship:
Mark Baber
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