Mark Chirnside
Warwickshire, Great Britian
Occupation: Student
I’ve been interested in the great ocean liners since an early age, although my first interest was – as with many others – the Titanic. I remember seeing the film ‘A Night to Remember’ and then buying one of Dr. Ballard’s books about the wreck’s discovery in 1985 and exploration the following year. Then I became more interested in the Titanic’s sisters, Olympic and Britannic. It seemed incredible to me that one ship could be so famous and yet her two siblings appeared largely forgotten. Although I have concentrated my research into the ‘Olympic’ Class, my interest has broadened to include other liners – such as Cunard’s ‘Lusitania’ Class, especially Aquitania, and the Majestic II (as well as her sisters from the ex-HAPAG trio). I still regard Olympic as my all time favourite.
In recent years, I wrote ‘The "Olympic" Class Ships – Olympic, Titanic & Britannic’ in 1999-2001 and found a publisher in the summer of 2002; it is scheduled to be published by Tempus in April - May 2004. I tried to shed some light on the sister-ships as a class, by seeking out hitherto unpublished or little-known information, and although there are is some new Titanic content the focus is primarily on her sisters. The volume includes numerous unpublished photos of all three ships. I subsequently wrote a detailed history of the Olympic for the same publisher, which will hopefully be published near the end of this year if all goes according to plan, and look forward to future writing projects.
As for modelling, it’s something I am not very good at. I never got further than one of the Revell Titanic kits, so I class myself as a ‘researcher’ and could never truthfully describe myself as a keen ‘modeller.’ That said, through my liner research I have found a number of details that modellers have found to be useful. Time permitting, on occasion I’ve been on the Debris Field and its message boards since 2000-01, though my visits have become more frequent since 2003. I am fortunate in that I often have a chance to visit the Merseyside Maritime Museum, at Liverpool, that has the wonderful ‘hybrid’ model of the ‘Olympics’ and most closely resembles ‘Titanic.’ They maintain a wonderful archive and ship model exhibition, and it’s incredible to see the variety of models that are on display there.
I have got a number of other interests, ranging from an interest in a number of other historical subjects, to music, poetry, and cinema. I like a challenge and have an ongoing publishing project involving poetry.
It’s nice to see the Debris Field back and growing in size. As I’ve just reached my twentieth year, I hope to be around to participate for a good time to come. It’s a joy to be part of it. There are many talented modellers here. As an aside, I participate in a number of other websites, such as the TRMA, Encyclopedia Titanica, and Michail Michailakis’ Britannic website and forum.
I can be contracted through the forum, as well as at:
e-mail: mark.chirnside@myself.com