Mark Chirnside author page

Mark Chirnside biography

Mark Chirnside is a British maritime historian and author specialising in the great passenger liners of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His research has focused particularly on the White Star Line ships Olympic, Titanic and Britannic, as well as other liners including Aquitania, Majestic and Oceanic. He has researched ocean-liner history for more than two decades, making extensive use of contemporary records and other primary sources.

Chirnside published his first major book, The ‘Olympic’ Class Ships: Olympic, Titanic & Britannic, with Tempus Publishing in 2004. A substantially revised and expanded edition was published by The History Press in 2011. The book examines the design, construction and careers of the three sister ships, placing their histories within the wider commercial and engineering development of North Atlantic passenger shipping.

His other books include RMS Olympic: Titanic’s Sister, Olympic Titanic Britannic: An Illustrated History of the ‘Olympic’ Class Ships, RMS Aquitania: The Ship Beautiful, The ‘Big Four’ of the White Star Fleet: Celtic, Cedric, Baltic & Adriatic and Oceanic: White Star’s ‘Ship of the Century’. He also contributed to Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic: A Centennial Reappraisal, a collaborative reassessment of evidence surrounding the 1912 disaster.

Chirnside has written research articles on subjects including Titanic’s machinery and propellers, the finances of the Olympic-class ships and the 1911 collision between Olympic and HMS Hawke. His research has included study of Cunard naval architect Leonard Peskett’s contemporary report on a 1911 voyage aboard Olympic. In 2026, The History Press published his Olympic and Titanic: Triumph and Disaster, a 416-page study of the two White Star liners.