one important respect the date of his entry may be accounted fortunate,
for about that time, chiefly through the enterprise of the White Star
Company in the matter of constructing a fleet of giant ships for the
Atlantic service, great developments were imminent, if not already
begun, in the shipping world. To a boy of sixteen, however, the change
from the comforts of home and the comparative freedom of school-life to
the stern discipline of the yards must have been exacting. It was work
now, and plenty of it, summer and winter, day in day out, the hardest he
could do at the hardest could be given him. He was to be tested to the
full. With characteristic wisdom, Mr. Pirrie had decided that no favour
whatever was to be shown the boy on the score of relationship. By his
own efforts and abilities he must make his way, profiting by no more
than the inspiration of his uncle's example: and if he failed, well,
that too was a way many another had gone before him.

But Tom was not of the breed that fails. He took to his work instantly
and with enthusiasm. Distance from home necessitated his living through
the workaday week in Belfast. Every morning he rose at ten minutes to
five and was at work in the Yard punctually by six o'clock. His first
three months were spent in the Joiner's shop, the next month with the
Cabinet makers, the two following months working in ships. There
followed two months in the Main store; then five with the Shipwrights,
two in the Moulding loft, two with the Painters, eight with the iron
Shipwrights, six with the Fitters, three with the Pattern-makers, eight
with the Smiths. A long spell of eighteen months in the Drawing office
completed his term of five years as an apprentice.

[Illustration: HARLAND AND WOLFF'S TURBINE ERECTING SHOP]

Throughout that long ordeal Tom inspired everyone who saw him, workmen,
foremen, managers, and those in higher authority, as much by the force
of his personal character as by his qualities of industry. Without doubt
here was one destined to success. He was thorough to the smallest
detail. He mastered everything with the ease of one in love with his
task. We have a picture of him drawn by a comrade, in his moleskin
trousers and linen jacket, and instinctively regarded by his
fellow-apprentices as their leader, friend and adviser in all matters of
shipyard lore and tradition. "He was some steps ahead of me in his
progress through the Yard," the account goes on, "so I saw hi