The Titanic | Ireland The Titanic > The Titanic was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. RMS Titanic was a passenger liner that struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, and sank on 15 April 1912. She struck the iceberg four days into the crossing, at 23:40 on 14 April 1912, and sank at 2:20 the following morning, resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. The largest passenger steamship in the world, the Olympic-class RMS Titanic was owned by the White Star Line and constructed at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. She set sail for New York City on 10 April 1912 with 2,223 people on board. The high casualty rate resulting from the sinking was due in part to the fact that, although complying with the regulations of the time, the ship carried lifeboats for only 1,178 people.

A disproportionate number of men died due to the "women and children first" protocol that was enforced by the ship's crew. Titanic was designed by experienced engineers, using some of the most advanced technologies and extensive safety features of the time. Adding to the ironic nature of the tragedy is the fact that the liner sank on her maiden voyage. The high loss of life, the media frenzy over Titanic's famous victims, the legends about the sinking, the resulting changes in maritime law, and the discovery of the wreck have all contributed to the enduring interest in Titanic. Titanic was designed to compete with the rival Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauretania. Titanic, along with her Olympic-class sisters, Olympic and the soon-to-be-built Britannic (which was to be called Gigantic at first), were intended to be the largest, most luxurious ships ever to operate. The designers were Lord Pirrie, a director of both Harland and Wolff and White Star, naval architect Thomas Andrews, Harland and Wolff's construction manager and head of their design department, and Alexander Carlisle, the shipyard's chief draughtsman and general manager.

Carlisle's responsibilities included the decorations, the equipment and all general arrangements, including the implementation of an efficient lifeboat davit design. Carlisle would leave the project in 1910, before the ships were launched, when he became a shareholder in Welin Davit & Engineering Company Ltd, the firm making the davits. > Harland & Wolff Shipyard [ edit ] Early history Harland and Wolff was formed in 1861 by Edward James Harland (1831–1895) and Hamburg -born Gustav Wilhelm Wolff (1834–1913, in the UK from age 14). In 1858 Harland, then general manager, bought the small shipyard on Queen's Island from his employer Robert Hickson. Harland and Wolff has 500 employees. Workers leaving the shipyard at Queens road in early 1911. The RMS Titanic can be seen in the background, underneath the Arrol gantry. After buying Hickson's shipyard, Harland made his assistant Wolff a partner in the company.

Wolff was the nephew of Gustavus Schwabe, a financier from Hamburg , who was heavily invested in the Bibby Line , and the first three ships that the newly incorporated shipyard built were for that line. Harland made a success of the business through several innovations, notably replacing the wooden upper decks with iron ones which increased the strength of the ships; and giving the hulls a flatter bottom and squarer section, which increased their capacity. Statue of Edward James Harland in the grounds of Belfast City Hall When Harland died in 1894, William James Pirrie became the chairman of the company until his death in 1924. Thomas Andrews also became the general manager and head of the draughting department in 1907. It was during this period that the company built the RMS Olympic and her sister-ships RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic between 1909 and 1914, commissioning William Arrol to construct a massive twin gantry and slipway structure for the project. In 1912, the company acquired another shipyard at Govan in Glasgow , Scotland .

It bought the London & Glasgow Engineering & Iron Shipbuilding Co's Middleton and Govan New shipyards in Govan and Mackie & Thomson's Govan Old yard. The three neighbouring yards were amalgamated and redeveloped to provide a total of seven building berths, a fitting-out basin and extensive workshops. Harland & Wolff specialised in building tankers and cargo ships at Govan. The yard was eventually closed in 1962, when the company opted to consolidate its operations in Belfast. [ edit ] The war years During World War I , Harland and Wolff built monitors and cruisers , including the 15-inch gun armed "large light cruiser" HMS Glorious . A burner operating at night on the deck of a ship at Harland and Wolff's Liverpool yard. ( 27 October 1944) In 1918, the company opened a new shipyard on the eastern side of the Musgrave Channel which was named the East Yard. This yard specialised in mass-produced ships of standard design developed during the First World War . The company started an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary with Short Brothers , called Short and Harland Limited in 1936.

Its first order was for 189 Handley Page Hereford bombers built under license from Handley Page for the Royal Air Force . During the Second World War , this factory built Short Stirling bombers as the Hereford was removed from service. The shipyard was busy during World War II , building 6 aircraft carriers , 2 cruisers (including HMS Belfast ) and 131 other naval ships; and repairing over 22,000 vessels. It also manufactured tanks and artillery components. It was during this period that the company's workforce peaked at around 35,000 people. However, many of the vessels built during this era were commissioned right at the end of World War II, as Harland and Wolff were focused on ship repair during the first three years of the war. The yard on Queen's Island was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe in April and May 1941 causing considerable damage to the shipbuilding facilities and destroying the aircraft factory. [ edit ] Post-war period and decline With the rise of the jet powered airliner in the late 1950s, the demand for ocean liners declined. This, coupled with competition from Japan , led to difficulties for the British shipbuilding industry.

The last liner that the company built was the SS Canberra in 1960. In the 1960s, notable achievements for the yard included the tanker Myrina which was the first supertanker built in the UK, and the largest vessel ever launched down a slipway (September 1967). In the same period the yard also built the semisubmersible drilling rig Sea Quest which, due to its three-legged design, was launched down three parallel slipways. This was a first and only time this was ever done. In the mid-1960s, the British government started advancing loans and subsidies to British shipyards to preserve jobs. Some of this money was used to finance the modernisation of the yard, allowing it to build the much larger post-war merchant ships including one of 333,000 tonnes. However continuing problems led to the company's nationalisation as part of British Shipbuilders in 1977. The company was bought from the British government in 1989 in a management/employee buy-out in partnership with the Norwegian shipping magnate Fred Olsen ; leading to a new company called Harland and Wolff Holdings Plc.

By this time, the number of people employed by the company had fallen to around 3000. For the next few years, Harland and Wolff specialised in building standard Suezmax oil tankers , and has continued to concentrate on vessels for the offshore oil and gas industry. It has made some forays outside of this market. The company bid unsuccessfully tendered against Chantiers de l'Atlantique for the construction of Cunard line 's new Queen Mary 2 [1] . With the shipyard being situated in the mainly Protestant area of east Belfast, for most of its history the workers at Harland and Wolff were almost exclusively Protestant. At certain times, Catholics working in the shipyard did report discrimination and occasionally violent and threatening behaviour.

While there is little concrete proof of this (except in the case of Maurice O'Kane who was shot by the Ulster Volunteer Force), some Catholic workers insist on its accuracy.[ citation needed ] The O'Kane case, while occurring within the shipyard, was not carried out by any of Mr O'Kane's co-workers, and indeed a number of workers from both sides of the divide have claimed that the mainly working class status of the yard's workers united them, regardless of political and religious affiliation. In the late 1990s, the yard was part of the then British Aerospace 's team for the Royal Navy 's Future Carrier (CVF) programme. It was envisaged that the ship would be constructed in Belfast. However in 1999 BAe merged with Marconi Electronic Systems . The new company, BAE Systems Marine , now own the former Marconi shipyards at Barrow and on the Clyde and will likely construct the ships at one of these. [ edit ] Restructuring The Samson and Goliath gantry cranes have become city landmarks.

Faced with competitive pressures (especially as regards shipbuilding), Harland and Wolff sought to shift and broaden their portfolio, focusing less on shipbuilding and more on design and structural engineering, as well as ship repair, offshore construction projects and competing for other projects to do with metal engineering and construction. This led to Harland and Wolff constructing a series of bridges in Britain and also in the Republic of Ireland , building on the success of its first foray into the civil engineering sector with the construction of the Foyle Bridge and others such as the restoration of Dublin 's Ha'penny Bridge . Harland and Wolff's last shipbuilding project (to date) was the MV Anvil Point, one of 6 near identical Point class sealift ships built for use by the Ministry of Defence . The ship, built under sub-contract from German shipbuilders Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft , was launched in 2003. Belfast's skyline is still dominated today by Harland and Wolff's famous twin Gantry cranes , Samson and Goliath , built in 1974 and 1969 respectively.

There is also speculation about a resurgence in the prosperity of the shipyard thanks to the company's diversification into emerging technologies , particularly in renewable energy development , such as offshore wind turbine and tidal power construction, which may provide an opportunity to further improve the company's fortunes in the long term. For example, the United Kingdom planned to build 7,500 new offshore wind turbines between 2008 and 2020, [2] creating great demand for heavy assembly work. Unlike land-based wind turbines, where assembly occurs on site, offshore wind turbines have part of their assembly done in a shipyard, and then construction barges transport the tower sections, rotors, and nacelles to the site for final erection and assembly. In recent years the company has indeed seen its ship-related workload increase slightly. Whilst Harland & Wolff has no involvement in any shipbuilding projects for the foreseeable future, the company is increasingly involved in overhaul, re-fitting and ship repair, as well as the construction and repair of off-shore equipment such as oil platforms .

In late 2007, the 'Goliath' gantry crane was re-commissioned, having been moth-balled in 2003 due to the lack of heavy-lifting work at the yard. In March 2008, the construction of the World's first commercial tidal stream turbine, for Marine Current Turbines , was completed at the Belfast yard. The installation of the 1.2MW SeaGen Tidal System was begun in Strangford Lough on the third of April 2008. [3] . In June 2008, assembly work at the Belfast yard was underway on 60 Vestas V90-3MW wind turbines for the Robin Rigg Wind Farm . [4] This was the second offshore wind farm assembled by the company for Vestas. [ edit ] List of ships built SS Venetian - the first steamer built by Harland & Wolff 1860 - a plaque on the William James Pirrie monument, grounds of Belfast City Hall. Ships built by Harland and Wolff include: [5] This list is incomplete ; you can help by expanding it .

SS Minnehaha , built in 1900, sunk in 1917 The Build Of The Titanic, Who Built It? Where Was It Built? When was it build? The build of the Titanic Building the Titanic. It took just over three years to build and fit out the RMS Titanic, and it took the ship less than three hours to sink beneath the North Atlantic Ocean on April 14-15, 1912. Well before, the White Star Line's "unsinkable" ship set sail on its first and only voyage and launched countless stories, however, high stakes and grand plans went into its design and construction. The Titanic's preceding events leading up to its unfortunate demise will hold audience's interest because of the historical nature and entertaining qualities. Our website provides a plethora of information to help audiences learn about the Titanic's construction and all aspects of its history. The entertaining and informative features will ignite your senses and help you embark upon the momentous journey of the Titanic. h2>Who built the Titanic ? The Titanic was built by Harland and Wolff, shipbuilders for White Star Line. Designing the Titanic. The men who built titanic. Competition spawned the Titanic.

In 1907, the White Star Line's rival, Cunard, launched the two fastest passenger ships then in service, the Mauritania and the Lusitania. That same year, the White Star Line's Chairman, J. Bruce Ismay, wanted to top Cunard, and he decided to do so based, not on speed but on size and luxury. To design and build these new ships, dubbed the Olympic class, the White Star Line, turned to Harland & Wollf, its longtime shipbuilder. Naval architect Thomas Andrews, who later perished when the Titanic sank, headed up the design of the new vessels. Construction started on the first such vessel, dubbed the Olympic, in late 1908. Designed to be the world's largest passenger steamship upon its completion, the Titanic was nearly 883 feet long and 104 feet high. Accommodations for first class passengers included palatial state rooms, some with their own promenades, along with a grand staircase, library, smoking room, squash court, sumptuous restaurants and other amenities. Second and Third Class accommodations, while far less posh, were still considered better than their counterparts on other ships.

Where was the Titanic built ? The Titanic was built in Belfast, north Ireland. The Titanic built to be Unsinkable? While Harland & Wolff claimed that it never advertised the Titanic as unsinkable, a White Star Line brochure indeed said that the Titanic was designed not to sink. The media of the day, of course, seized on this idea of an unsinkable ship. The primary design concept meant to make the Titanic unsinkable was a series of sixteen compartments separated by watertight bulkheads in the lower portion of the ship. Rather than, force passengers to use stairs to move between compartments, the ship's designers included doors between them. In case of emergency, those doors could be closed with the flip of a switch, sealing the compartments off from one another and theoretically keeping water confined to the breached compartments. Even if, two middle or four front compartments were breached, the theory ran, the ship would stay afloat. Unfortunately, the iceberg that sank the Titanic breached five compartments. How was the Titanic built ? In the spring of 1909, nearly two years after Ismay hatched his plan to top Cunard, construction began on the Titanic at Harland & Wolff's large shipyard in Belfast, Ireland.

Of Harland & Wolff's 15,000 workers, around 3,000 labored on the Titanic. Records show injuries to nearly 250 workers, with two workers dying in construction accidents in the shipyard and six more dying on board ship during building and fitting. Given the lax worker protection standards at the time, this was actually a good safety record. The Titanic and Olympic, which were built at essentially the same time, were so much larger than previous ships that Harland & Wolff had to dismantle three existing slipway and build two new dry docks to house them. It took two years to complete the actual construction of the Titanic, during which time workers placed 2,000 steel plates to form the hull, held together with more than three million rivets. Many riveters reported developing hearing problems later in life as a result of the noise the accompanied this task. Meanwhile, British forging company N. Hingley & Sons cast Titanic's side and center anchors. The center anchor, over 18 feet long and weighing over 15 tons, was the largest hand-forged anchor ever made at the time. Most links in the anchor chains N.

Hingley & Sons forged were 33 inches long, though the largest links were a full three feet in length. In all, the Titanic received nearly 1,200 feet of chain for its anchors. Once construction was complete, on May 31, 2011, the Titanic moved to a berth for the next year to await fitting out. During that year, workers installed the Titanic's engines and funnels and completed its remarkable interior. By April 2, 1912, the ship was set to begin its sea trials. Twenty-five stories high, weighing 46,000 tons, and the largest moving object ever built at the time, the Titanic was ready to sail. Nevertheless, not all of the Titanic's fixtures were in place when the ship departed Southampton, England on its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. Gilbert Logan, working in Harland & Wolff's cabinet workshops, had designed a table, sideboard and chairs to be placed in the Captain's private quarters on board ship, but these pieces were not finished until a few days after the Titanic set sail. Today, these pieces are on display in Belfast.

✖ Harland And Wolff TITANIC-TITANIC.com | Harland and Wolff, Belfast The shipbuilding company of Harland and Wolff stands on Queen's Island, in Belfast's River Lagan, and was built on land reclaimed from a river-straightening scheme undertaken between the years 1841 - 1846. The company's roots were initially sown in 1853, when Robert Hickson and Company opened a shipbuilding yard on the island, building iron-hulled ships. The following year, Hickson's took-on one Edward James Harland, pictured here on the left, as the shipyard's General Manager. Harland had served his apprenticeship with Robert Stephenson and Company, and was vastly experienced in marine engineering, despite only being the relatively tender age of 23! Four years later, Edward Harland bought the yard from his employer for £5,000, with financial help coming from one G.C. Schwabe of Liverpool.

Schwabe's nephew, Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, pictured here on the left, had been Edward Harland's personal assistant, but in 1861, Wolff 'came on board' as a partner, although it would be a further year before the company would actually trade under the name of ' Harland and Wolff '. In 1870, Harland and Wolff built their first White Star Line -owned vessel, Oceanic, which bore the hull number 73, and over the years, they built more than 70 vessels for them, quite a happy union for both parties. Titanic's chief designer, Thomas Andrews , pictured here on the left, was a managing director at Harland and Wolff , and also head of the draughting department, responsible for producing every drawing for every part of the ship. He would later be on Titanic 's maiden voyage , almost continually writing down notes in a book which he always carried around the ship. These notes were used to provide Harland and Wolff with alterations, suggestions and improvements to Titanic and Olympic , and the yet to be built Britannic .

These notes were not a list of errors and problems as such, but more a list of refinements and tiny bits of detail that would allow Harland and Wolff to ensure that these already amazing superliners really were the last word in complete ocean-going luxury. The ships were built on what is known as a 'cost plus' basis, which basically meant that all of the bills for materials and labour were passed on to the White Star Line , with Harland and Wolff 's profit margin added on. Ships were increasing in size at an incredible rate around the turn of the century, and to ensure that they could accommodate these larger vessels, Harland and Wolff had constructed larger docks together with bigger slipways. The builders of the Forth Rail Bridge near Edinburgh in Scotland, Sir William Arrol and Company Ltd, of Glasgow, were brought in to construct a huge new gantry, the Arrol Gantry, that had been specially designed by the shipyard's own staff. At 840 feet long, by 240 feet wide, it could accommodate two Olympic-class liners side by side, as seen here in the photograph to the right. Titanic and Olympic are pictured here, with Olympic to the right, the hull appearing to be nearing completion.

Harland and Wolff at about this time also built two tenders, Nomadic and Traffic , to be used at the French port of Cherbourg . They would carry passengers and mail to the liners, which, being too large to enter Cherbourg's harbour itself, would be moored a couple of miles off shore. At the time of the great liners' construction, approximately 15,000 people worked at Harland and Wolff 's Belfast yard. They worked a forty-nine hour week, with only half an hour for lunch, receiving about £2 per week. They only had one week's holiday in the summer, plus two days at Christmas, and two at Easter. Despite the tough working conditions, there were only eight fatalities reported during the Titanic's construction, five of which were actually on the Titanic . The photograph, above left, shows the main drawing office, where rows of draughtsmen sit, producing working drawings and plans for the shipyard to use. A scale builders model of an Olympic-class liner is visible at the very rear of the room.

RMS Titanic–the Legacy Lives on in Belfast RMS Titanic–the Legacy Lives on in Belfast Journalist, Travel Writer, Explorer, Maker of Things Menu RMS Titanic–the Legacy Lives on in Belfast R.M.S. Titanic–The legacy lives on By Thomas C. Wilmer When White Star Lines’ R.M.S. Titanic was launched on May 31, 1911 the vessel was hailed as the world’s largest and most expensive ocean liner ever built. Touting every imaginable cutting-edge luxury such as electric elevators, telephones, a heated swimming pool, a Turkish bath, a squash court and two barbershops—the technological marvel was dubbed “unsinkable” by White Star’s vice president. Financed by American industrialist, J.P. Morgan, the ship was outfitted with the finest woodwork, artwork, carpets and fabrics available at any cost. The piece de resistance was the Grand Staircase, clad in oak paneling with gilded balustrades and intricate wrought iron railings illuminated by a glass-dome above.

Titanic's Grand Staircase Some people presume that the Titanic was built in England, as she was a British-flagged vessel and “Liverpool” was the hailing port emblazoned on her stern. Others think the ship was a Southampton lady as that’s where she sailed from on her maiden voyage. But the legendary vessel will forever remain as a proud part of Belfast’s history–in spite of its disastrous maiden voyage. Built at Harland and Wolff Shipyards on the River Lagan one hundred years ago–the ship builder, at the time the world’s largest, employed close to 15,000 Belfast workers. According to Belfast Titanic historian and founder of the Belfast Titanic Schools Project, Terry Madill, says, “The H&W workforce was rotated on ships of this size and it’s likely more than 12,000 worked on the ship.” RMS Titanic shipyard workers heading home Madill also noted that skilled craftsmen from all over Europe, including Italian stonemasons and Portuguese draftsmen, were directly involved in constructing the nine-deck high, four-city-block-long ship. Stood on end the Titanic would be as tall as the Empire State Building.

No quarter of Belfast, a city of 390,000 at the time, was untouched by the behemoth vessel’s construction. Cabinetmakers, tile setters, steamfitters, riveters, riggers, millwrights, and subcontractors including suppliers of English cutlery and crockery, Belfast linen makers and provisioners were all abuzz with the business of catering to the R.M.S. Titanic. Her sister ship, the R.M.S. Olympic (launched October 20th 1910), and other vessels were also under construction at the shipyards. The web of industry at Harland and Wolff spun off good times throughout Belfast, at the time the fastest growing industrial city in the world. Barkeeps, milliners, innkeepers, grocers, bakers, hackney drivers, accountants, doctors, lawyers and more savored the boom times. “Teams of riveters, platers and caulkers would have met in the pub every Saturday lunchtime to get their share of the teams’ wages from the charge hand,” says Madill.

Bittles pub, Belfast Photo-Thomas Wilmer When the Titanic was launched, the pride and enthusiasm for the vessel, likened to the space shuttle of the era, attracted more than 100,000 fans to witness the historic occasion. Madill commented, “Belfast was the Cape Canaveral of 1912!” Today in Belfast, when the conversation turns to the Titanic, odds are locals will share stories of her sinking, relatives who lost their lives or were involved in its construction. A poignant Titanic memorial statue in front of Belfast City Hall pays tribute to those who died in modern history’s worst sea disaster. Madill said, “following the sinking, H&W instructed their employees never to mention the ship, and the shame lingered for many years.” The shared tales told by locals will also focus on the good times when the Titanic was under construction. You will also hear prideful stories about a great grandfather employed as a cabinetmaker who worked on the grand staircase, or maybe a great uncle who was a riveter or draftsman. After Titanic was launched down the slipway, Titanic spent ten months afloat in Belfast Harbor fitting-out before commencing sea trials.

She finally departed April 2, 1912 for Southampton, England and her ill-fated maiden voyage that commenced April 10th. One local business, Lagan Boat Tours, humorously sums up Belfast’s optimistic attitude with the tagline, “She was alright when she left here!” RMS Titanic departs Belfast for sea trials and her ill-fated maiden voyage Belfast’s passionate affinity for Titanic’s legacy was palpably evident as I attended the 100th anniversary of Titanic’s launch this past May at Harland and Wolff shipyards. The ceremony, overlooking Titanic’s dry dock and slipway, included descendants of those who built the Titanic, civic dignitaries, and cadres of TV and radio press from around the world. Most touching of all was a battalion of Belfast school children representing the Titanic Schools Project, all dressed in the garb of circa-1911 shipyard workers.

International Media cover Centenary of Titanic Launch at Harland and Wolff Shipyards Photo: Thomas Wilmer Belfast school kids celebrate 100th anniversary of Titanic's Launch: Photo-Debi Lander At the exact instant of Titanic’s launch 100-years previous, horns blared, whoops and cheers from kids and octogenarians alike lit up the air for exactly 62 seconds…the time it took Titanic to travel down the slipway and settle in the bay. Thompson Pump house for Titanic's dry dock Photo: Thomas Wilmer In addition to the vintage 21-million-gallon dry dock and pump house that remain uncannily frozen in time, adjacent is an elegant, Edwardian-era brick building known as the “Drawing Offices” where draftsmen hand-inked the blueprints. Plans are in process to repurpose the historic structure as a boutique hotel. The 220-foot-long S.S. Nomadic, constructed concurrently with the Titanic, presently rests a few steps from Titanic’s dry dock.

Dubbed “Titanic’s Little Sister” Nomadic was purpose-built (launched April 25th, 1911) as a “tender” to shuttle first and second-class passengers between shore and ship in Cherbourg, France. Her companion, “Traffic”, transferred third-class passengers. Currently completing a major renovation, the Nomadic was outfitted with identical materials used on the Titanic such as the intricate rosettes around the lights, door hardware, portholes and detailed millwork. Once the refit is finished Nomadic will open as a historic tourist attraction offering visitors a living vestige of her “big sister”. The New Titanic-Belfast Speaking of attractions, the largest tourist project ever undertaken in Northern Ireland, Titanic-Belfast opened March 31st, 2012. The new interpretive center is an architecturally stunning, head-turning work of art. It is a massive building that defies proper description.

Titanic-Belfast interpretive center under construction Photo: Thomas Wilmer Imagine if you will, four nine-story-tall ship’s bows (the same height as Titanic’s) thrusting outward at 90-degrees from one another and you’ll have a glimmer of the new Titanic-Belfast’s grandeur and dynamic visual symbolism. Titanic-Belfast is a one-stop showcase of anything and everything relative to R.M.S. Titanic—from keel laying to her sinking and aftermath. Appropriately situated steps away from Titanic’s dry dock, nine distinctive galleries tell the tale through state-of-the-art interactive displays, computer simulations and full-scale recreations. Visitors climb aboard cars that sail through space and zoom through a virtual Titanic under construction. An array of interactive computer-generated imagery brings to life the ship’s interior, staterooms, dining rooms, engine room and more.

Individual galleries situated on six levels focus on aspects such as The Maiden Voyage, The Sinking, The Aftermath, and a most vivid experience—Titanic Beneath offers a stunning virtual journey to the Titanic as it lies on the North Atlantic seabed 2.5 miles below the surface.Titanic-Belfast is a multi-faceted facility with restaurants, cafes and shops, an exhibition gallery along with conference and banquet facilities.It will also function as a year-round learning center for students, highlighted by the Ocean Exploration Center. Operated in partnership with various local and international universities and research facilities, the OEC offers engaging programs in marine archeology, marine biology and more. Busy Belfast Harbor Titanic Quarter condominiums Photo: Thomas Wilmer Titanic Quarter's commercial development Photo: Thomas Wilmer Titanic-Belfast anchors the City’s repurposed 185-acre shipyard area, now affectionately dubbed “Titanic Quarter”. The urban renewal project, Europe’s largest, consists of new hotels, more than 7,500 apartment units, high-tech R&D facilities and an array of trendy eateries, pubs and shops spanning a linear-mile of waterfront.

Titanic Quarter positions Belfast as a world-class tourist destination, and serves as a metaphor for today’s Belfast, a friendly, peaceful and seductively charming city that grew up around the River Lagan.By the way, Harland and Wolff now produces and exports wind turbines rather than ocean going vessels. A “Culinary Taste” of the Titanic If you visit historic Belfast and the new Titanic Interpretive center, your journey will not be complete without an overnight at the historic circa-1886 eleven-bedroom Ryanne House guesthouse in nearby Holywood (five miles from Belfast City Center). Personally, I will forever cherish my visit to Ryanne House, as they put on a Titanic dinner affair that’s the stuff of memories. Ryanne House upstairs guest suite--Room with a View Photo: Thomas Wilmer 1st Class Titanic Dinner at Ryanne House Photo: Thomas Wilmer You see, chef and proprietor, Conor McClelland and his wife, Bernie, did some painstaking historical research and created an enchanting nine-course dinner that is an exact, course-by-course recreation of the final meal (April 14, 1912) served to the first-class passengers aboard Titanic.

Conor noted that Titanic’s first class passengers might well have actually been served 11 or 12 courses throughout their leisurely three or four hour meal. Each place-setting is graced with a perfect-reproduction Titanic boarding pass. Elegant, candlelit touches such as fine crystal, period china and shot-glasses emblazoned with the White Star Line logo propels the evening affair to a dreamy trip back in time. An added touch is a ribbon-tied menu booklet detailing each course along with accompanying wines served aboard ship as well as Titanic factoids and culinary anecdotes. 1st Class Titanic dinner place setting at Ryanne House Photo: Thomas Wilmer Here’s a menu sampler: a cream of Barley Soup finished with Bushmills Whiskey and Cream; and a Filet Mignon topped with foie gras and truffle served with French buttered potatoes Anna, creamed carrots and zucchini Farci—of course accompanied by a robust-red Bordeaux—some things never change! Titanic Dinners at Ryanne House are offered throughout the year, so be sure to check the dates if you decide to come for a stay.

A visit to Belfast is an opportunity to savor the legacy of the Titanic along with the vibrant culture of modern Belfast with its cutting edge food scene, a hopping nightlife, welcoming and charming locals, and rich culture, history and period architecture at every turn. IF YOU GO TO BELFAST: Belfast-Titanic interpretive center: Want to visit the real Titanic? $40,000(us) will get you a ride on the MIR submersible for a journey 2.5 miles underwater for an up-close visit to the R.M.S. Titanic. Titanic Lives on in America If you can’t make it “over-the-pond” for a Belfast visit, you can still experience the Titanic not too far from home. Titanic Attractions, located in Branson Missouri & Pigeon Forge, Tennessee operates Titanic museums with full recreations of first class staterooms, the Grand Staircase, hundreds of artifacts along with tour guides dressed as first class maids and ship’s officers. A visit to either museum is highly recommended.

or call 1-800-381-7670 Titanic Memorials around the world: Belfast 832 passenger deaths (1 child from 1st class, 49 from 3rd class) 685 crew deaths 724 crewmembers lived in Southampton (including the illustrious eight members of the band), 175 survived. In one Southampton school fifty percent of the kids were left fatherless. The passenger manifest included some of the world’s richest tycoons—John Jacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, Macy’s owner Isador Staus, and the legendary “Unsinkable” Molly Brown” Survivors reached NYC April 18 1912 aboard the rescue vessel S.S. Carpathia What If’s Titanic’s fate was sealed on a moonless and wind free night with dead-flat seas that made visibility minimal. Two days later with a new moon and choppy seas, would lookouts have seen the berg in time? Some analysts speculate that if the ship had not changed course and struck the iceberg bow first, she would have suffered extensive damage, but survived the impact.

Some question whether the Titanic’s rudder was undersized and thus prohibited the ship from changing course in time. Did Captain Smith ignore iceberg warnings and continue at cruising speed to ensure an early landfall in New York Harbor? While preparing to depart Southampton, Titanic’s props started to suck in the adjacent SS New York. The ships missed each other by mere feet. William Blair, head of History with National Museums of Northern Ireland notes that Titanic’s departure would have been delayed by at least six hours for an inquiry. Blair says, “This is a real what if moment as who knows where the iceberg would be, or if it would now be daylight when the Titanic intercepted the North Atlantic ice fields.” Archeotechnology: The iceberg did not “gash” a hole in the hull but rather buckled the steel plates and popped rivets that opened a large discontinuous seem approximately 300 feet long. Recent metallurgical analysis has revealed that Titanic’s steel plates and rivets became brittle at low temperatures.

The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society JOM Magazine article: RMS Titanic – Travel guide at Wikivoyage The RMS Titanic itinerary crosses the North Atlantic Ocean from Europe to North America , covering multiple sites in the United Kingdom , France , Ireland , the Dominion of Newfoundland , the Dominion of Canada and the United States of America . Ports of call for the ship, built in Belfast , Northern Ireland , include the primary April 1912 departure point in Southampton , England ; additional passengers boarded at Cherbourg , France and Queenstown ( Cobh ), Ireland to travel to New York City . Other Titanic landmarks include Cape Race, a Marconi station in Newfoundland as the first point of radio contact in the New World for the inbound luxury liner , marine museums devoting permanent exhibits to this famous ship and various memorials to Titanic passengers and crew. Like the path of the ship itself, this itinerary runs from east to west. Understand[ edit ] RMS Titanic is, as of the time of its construction, the largest ship ever built, nearly 900 feet long and 25 stories high. The pride of J.

Bruce Ismay and the White Star Line, this elegant 46,000-ton luxury ocean liner was launched in April 1912 with sixteen watertight compartments in the lower section which can be sealed individually with the intention that the mighty ship remain afloat even on collision with another vessel, providing plenty of time to summon assistance with the state-of-the-art five kilowatt Marconi wireless telegraph apparatus. This magnificent steamship , constructed at an estimated cost of £1,564,000 and travelling with an 885-person crew, is equipped with every luxury and built to serve a clientèle which includes many famous millionaires. Titanic's maximum total capacity is 3547 passengers, her port of registry is Liverpool . She carries the sixteen lifeboats required by regulations and an additional four collapsible lifeboats; these twenty boats can carry a combined maximum of 1098 people.

Trans-Atlantic travel is offered in first, second and third-class price ranges, with the first class offering the most extensive amenities: a squash court, gymnasium, Turkish bath, heated salt-water swimming pool, deck games such as ring toss or shuffleboard, a fully stocked library, a variety of cafés and lounges, and dining halls where first class passengers may dine in opulence. Even the facilities in third class are excellent compared to those of other ocean liners of the era. One way fares for the trans-Atlantic crossing (1912 currency) are a not-insubstantial £870 for a First Class parlour suite, £30 for a First Class berth, £12 for Second Class and a somewhat more economical £3 to £8 for Third Class. Constructed by Harland and Wolff in Belfast , the RMS Titanic departs Southampton to speed the well-to-do on their way toward New York . The maiden voyage in April 1912 will have 2,228 people on board including notables such as John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man in the world. Prepare[ edit ] This itinerary spans multiple countries.

See the individual country-level articles for the United Kingdom and European Union , Canada and the United States for specific passport and visa requirements. Get in[ edit ] The RMS Titanic, built by Harland and Wolff, departing Southampton in 1912 The most common means to get in during the Titanic era would be to go to London and board passenger rail from there to one of the departure points of the original ship. The most common embarkation point for Titanic passengers is Southampton , which is 100km (60 miles) south of London and is currently served by hourly rail service. Belfast has good road and rail connections and is easily reachable from major cities in Europe ; trans-Atlantic passenger service from Belfast to New York City still exists in the modern era, but is direct via aeroplane. Go[ edit ] Belfast and Northern Ireland[ edit ] The Titanic journey begins at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast , birthplace of Titanic and many other luxury ocean liners of the White Star Line. This district is served by the Titanic Quarter railway station on the Northern Ireland Railways line from Belfast-Bangor. Titanic Memorial, Belfast , Donegall Square, central Belfast (on grounds of Belfast City Hall).

Titanic Belfast , Queen's Road, Queen's Island Belfast BT3 9EP, ☎ +44 28 9076 6386 . Part of a larger historic district, the Titanic Quarter, built around the site of the original shipyards. A series of nine galleries describe the history of the ship, including details of its construction. £13.50/person. Ulster Folk & Transport Museum , Cultra, Holywood BT18 0EU, ☎ +44 28-9042-8428 . Two permanent exhibitions, TITANICa: The Exhibition at the Transport Museum and The People's Story at the Folk Museum, recount the history of the ship's construction and of the people who travelled aboard her. Belfast is accessible by road, rail and sea; it is currently served by Belfast International Airport ( IATA : BFS) and Belfast City Airport ( IATA : BHD) with connections to much of Europe and is 160 km (100 mi) north of Dublin . Aeroplanes and buses run from Belfast to London, from which onward connections can be obtained to Southampton.

The old shipyard area has largely been converted to other uses a century later, though some of the old buildings still stand. One, officially Paint Hall Studio but also called Titanic Studio, is where much of the Game of Thrones TV series is shot. Liverpool[ edit ] Liverpool is not on the RMS Titanic's itinerary but is the ship's port of registry as James Street, Liverpool was the White Star Line's head office site. This English city is a seaport located midway between Belfast and Southampton; it carried much of White Star Line's trans-Atlantic traffic before 1907. Southampton's proximity and rail links to London made it a more favoured choice for subsequent large luxury ocean liners. Merseyside Maritime Museum , Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4AQ (on the Liverpool waterfront), ☎ +44 151 478-4499 . 10am-5pm daily. Museum with permanent gallery devoted to the Titanic, Lusitania and Forgotten Empress. free. Memorial to the Engine Room Heroes of the Titanic , St. Nicholas Place, Pier Head, Liverpool.

A 14.6 metre tall granite monument dedicated in 1916 to ship's engineers on Titanic or lost during the Great War . Southampton[ edit ] Southampton , a seaport easily accessible by rail from London in the Titanic era, is this luxurious vessel's home base and home to many of the crew. This city is the primary point of departure for the vessel's trans-Atlantic journey. There are various local monuments to Titanic and her crew. SeaCity Museum , Havelock Road, Southampton, Hampshire, SO14 7FY, ☎ +44 23 8083-3007 . last admission 4pm, closes 5pm, allow 2-3 hours to tour museum. History of Southampton as the Gateway City, a seaport for travellers from the Roman era onward. Permanent exhibition on Southampton's Titanic story. £8.50/person. 50.91018 -1.40469 1 Titanic Engineers' Memorial , East (Andrews) Park, Southampton.

Memorial with bronze statue of Nike, Greek Winged Goddess of Victory, placed in 1914 to represent the engineer officers who remained at their shipboard posts throughout. Titanic Musicians' Memorial . Constructed in 1913 at the Southampton Library; both the memorial and the library were destroyed by World War 2 bombing in 1940 but a monument was rebuilt in the 1990s to honour the band which played on to the end. The ashes of Millvina Dean (2 February 1912 – 31 May 2009), the last (and youngest) of the passengers from the 1912 maiden voyage, would be buried at sea at pier 44, Titanic's original departure point, ninety-seven years later. Twenty miles (32km) to the southeast of Southampton is Portsmouth and the English Channel; Cherbourg is directly across the Channel.

Cherbourg[ edit ] In France, 281 passengers boarded Titanic on the afternoon of April 10, 1912 in Cherbourg , a seaport 180km (110 miles, 98 nautical miles) due south from Southampton across the English Channel. Cité de la Mer , Gare Maritime Transatlantique, 50100 Cherbourg. Marine museum in 1933 art-deco Transatlantic Terminal building. A “Titanic 2012” centennial exhibition was staged in conjunction with the “Titanic Cities Network” of maritime and local museums in Belfast, Liverpool, Southampton, Cobh, Halifax and New York. The museum also describes the lives and history of emigrants departed by sea from France to the New World. It remains possible to make this crossing by ship; the modern ferry crossing [1] runs from Portsmouth and takes three hours. Fares for a car with two passengers are about £120 each way, so it may be less expensive to board without a motorcar.

The stop in Cherbourg, as made by the Titanic journey, involves crossing the English Channel from UK to France and then back across the channel to reach what is now the Irish Republic. Two options from Cherbourg to Cork/Cobh/Queenstown: A ferry crossing directly from France to Cork, Ireland [2] departs Roscoff — a 400km journey overland from Cherbourg. It may be slightly quicker to return to Southhampton and backtrack through England and Wales to reach a ferry from Pembroke UK-Rosslare, Ireland. Eurolines provides bus service from London to Cork, Ireland using this ferry crossing. [3] Once in Cork , the Passage West Ferry joins Cork to Queenstown (Cobh). Queenstown[ edit ] Memorial in Cobh Cobh (then Queenstown) in County Cork, Ireland is the final port of call for the outbound trans-Atlantic journey. Cobh Museum , ☎ +353 21 4814240 . Museum exhibits provide view of 1912 everyday life in Queenstown.

Pilots’ Log Book shows Titanic's exact time of arrival and departure from Cork Harbour on 11th April 1912. Titanic Experience Cobh , 20 Casement Square, Cobh, Co Cork, Ireland, ☎ +353 21 4814412 . 9am-6pm daily, last entry at 5pm. Exhibition with audiovisual displays and reconstructions of two cabins, at the original offices of the White Star Line on the pier. The final 123 passengers boarded ship's tenders here to join the Titanic. €7/person. Titanic Trail . Walking tour of Cobh. Monuments in Cobh commemorate both the Titanic and the Lusitania. Among the eight who disembarked from Titanic in Queenstown is Father Francis Browne, a Jesuit whose shipboard photographs would soon become famous. Modern ocean liner service still runs from Southampton to New York City , but does not replicate various intermediate stops made by RMS Titanic. Cunard (which operated the Carpathia in Titanic's era) plies this route aboard the Queen Mary 2, taking about seven days for a trans-Atlantic crossing by ship.

There is a direct flight from New York City to St. John's , from which Cape Race would be reachable by motorcar. There is no rail network on the island of Newfoundland in the modern era. Another, less expensive option in the modern era is air travel from Cork to London , to catch a flight from Heathrow directly to St. John's ( IATA : YYT) or Halifax ( IATA : YHZ). Alternately, one could go Cobh-Cork and Cork to Dublin by rail; a flight from Dublin (or Shannon ) reaches Toronto or New York City , which would offer onward connections for St. John's. Cape Race[ edit ] Cape Race, on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, is the site of Marconi's wireless telegraph station (MCE) which serves as the first point of radio contact with the New World for arriving ships. As soon as this station comes into range on April 14, 1912, the ship's two wireless operators spring to life, busily delivering messages from rich and famous passengers who paid for telegrams relayed onward through this station to New York heralding their imminent arrival.

RMS Titanic does not stop anywhere in the Dominion of Newfoundland, but does rely on this station as point of first contact to relay messages. Currently, trans-Atlantic passengers may travel from London to St. John's by air. From there, Newfoundland Highway 10 leads 150km/90mi south to Portugal Cove South and Cape Race Road, which follows the southernmost portion of the Avalon peninsula to Cape Race, a remote lighthouse site near the end of a 20km (12 mile) gravel road. 46.6599 -53.0743 2 Myrick Wireless Interpretation Centre , Cape Race - Portugal Cove South Heritage Inc, PO Box 9, Site 13, Trepassey, NL A0A 4B0, ☎ +1 709 438-1100 , fax: +1 709 438-1116. 11am-5:30pm daily Canada Day-Labour Day, reduced hours off-season. Museum of communications and navigation history recalls the April 14, 1912 reception of Titanic’s distress signal.

Building is a replica of the 1904 Cape Race Marconi Station and also houses a radio amateur club, VO1MCE. This distant terrestrial outpost would be among the first to receive the initial frantic SOS from Marconi's station (MGY) on White Star's opulent luxury liner. CQD CQD CQD CQD CQD CQD DE MGY MGY MGY MGY MGY MGY MGY Position 41.44N 50.24W. Come at once we have struck a BERG. We are putting passengers off in small boats. Women and children in boats. Newfoundland is an island, comprised mainly of outports - many small coastal villages which are largely off the beaten path. Onward modern connections to the Canadian mainland are by ship (ferry on the Trans-Canada Highway from Port-aux-Basques NL to Cape Breton NS) or by air (St. John's directly to Halifax). Halifax[ edit ] Two ships carry Titanic passengers onward from (41.46°N, 50.14°W) to North America.

Mackay-Bennett, a cable installation ship, brings deceased to Halifax while the Cunard luxury liner Carpathia brings survivors to New York City . Maritime Museum of the Atlantic , 1675 Lower Water St, Halifax B3J 1S3, ☎ +1 902-424-7490 . 9:30am-5pm. Marine museum with extensive permanent exhibits of Titanic artefacts and history of the Great War (World War I) explosion of a munitions ship in Halifax harbour. C$8.75/person. Fairview Lawn Cemetery . The final resting place for 121 of the 150 passengers and crew of the RMS Titanic which were buried in Halifax. Tens of thousands of tourists come to pay their respects every year. Halifax is the closest large mainland city to the Titanic site and therefore plays a significant role in Titanic's history. Its road and rail connections lead westward through New Brunswick toward Montréal , where onward connections could (and still can) be made to New York.

It is also possible to follow the coast by road from Nova Scotia through New Brunswick and New England to reach New York City (but passenger trains no longer cross northern Maine ). New York and the US[ edit ] Memorial Lighthouse New York City is the endpoint of the original Titanic itinerary, with just over seven hundred Titanic passengers disembarking from the Carpathia amidst much fanfare and newspaper coverage to continue onward by train to various parts of the US. The Titanic was originally to have docked at Pier 59, which now forms part of the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex . Instead, the Carpathia only docked briefly at Pier 59 to offload the Titanic's lifeboats, while the surviving passengers disembarked at Pier 54 instead. There are various US museums and memorials dedicated to Titanic and those aboard, many of them far from the original cities on the Southampton to New York journey. Many artefacts were recovered by an Atlanta-based submarine operation which held salvage rights to the vessel and are housed in that city. The Titanic Historical Society operates a Titanic Museum near Springfield MA and publishes the quarterly magazine, The Titanic Commutator. Injured Titanic survivors were taken to St. Vincent's Hospital (7th Ave.

and West 12th St.), which closed in 2010. The American Seamen's Friend Society (113 Jane St.), a sailors lodging which housed ship's crew in rooms designed to resemble sea cabins, is now the boutique Jane Hotel. The former New York headquarters of White Star Line at 9 Broadway, then surrounded by crowds of people desperate to learn Titanic’s fate, now contains retail stores. Titanic Memorial Arch, Pier 54 , near 11th Avenue and West 13th Street (on Manhattan's Lower West Side). Cunard's former Pier 54. New York disembarkation point for the 705 Titanic passengers aboard RMS Carpathia and point of departure for the Lusitania, is now an event space. The original buildings are gone from the pier, leaving just an arch. Titanic Memorial Lighthouse , South Street Seaport, 12 Fulton St. at Pearl St. (beside South Street Seaport Museum).

Originally unveiled April 15, 1913 at the Seamen's Church Institute (formerly 25 South Street), the 60-foot-high gray lighthouse and memorial plaque were relocated to the 0.15 acre Titanic Park in the 1970s. Isidor and Ida Straus Memorial (Straus Park and Fountain), Broadway and West End Ave. at W. 106th Street, Manhattan. Memorial in small park with inscription, reads "Lovely and pleasant they were in their lives, and in death they were not divided." (2 Samuel 1:23) The late (but inseparable) Isidor and Ida Straus, owners of Macy's department store (West 34th Street at Herald Square), are also memorialised with a plaque at the store and a gravesite and cenotaph at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum , 3720 Broadway (between 153rd and 155th streets in Harlem). Final resting place of John Jacob Astor IV. Wireless Operators’ Memorial, in Battery Park.

Solid white granite cenotaph and memorial, inscribed 'ERECTED IN MEMORY OF WIRELESS OPERATORS LOST AT SEA AT THE POST OF DUTY'. Original list of nine names included Jack Phillips of RMS Titanic (Marconi: MGY). Titanic-related sites outside the New York area include: The Titanic Museum , 208 Main Street, Indian Orchard MA 01151, ☎ +1 413-543-4770 . Collected works of rare Titanic survivor artefacts; typical visit time is one hour. $4/person. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institute , 14th St and Constitution Ave NW, Washington DC 20001, ☎ +1 202-633-1000 . One collection records the Titanic history with artefacts; the remainder of the museum is devoted to other historical topics. A Titanic Memorial in Washington DC , recalling the evacuation of women and children first, stands at Fourth and P Sts SW.

Hearings were conducted at John Jacob Astor's original Waldorf-Astoria in New York as part of the US Senate's enquiry into the fatal 14 April 1912 collision; the Empire State Building now occupies that site. The United Kingdom conducted its own official enquiry; the British Board of Trade estimated 1514 passengers had perished while 710 survived to be picked up by RMS Carpathia. Events surrounding the iceberg collision and the famous ship's demise continue to be romanticised in media, including the feature films A Night to Remember (1958) and Titanic (James Cameron, 1997). For many years, numerous proposals to raise the Titanic were hampered by technical difficulty and lack of knowledge of the location of the wreck, which was not discovered until 1985. Since then, many items have been retrieved and placed on display in various museums. The last survivor of the Titanic, Ms Millvina Dean, was buried at sea in Southampton, UK in 2009. Stay safe[ edit ] The North Atlantic tends to be cold in spring and early summer, as ocean currents carry breaking icebergs from the Arctic southward to the Newfoundland coast.

Water temperature can drop to a chilly 28F (-2C). It is therefore advisable to dress warmly as temperatures on the open ocean are substantially below those experienced inland at this time of year. A passenger immersed in these frigid seas with little more than a lifejacket as sole defence would be more likely to die a painful death by hypothermia - possibly in a matter of minutes - rather than perish by drowning. Go next[ edit ] This itinerary to RMS Titanic is a usable article. It explains how to get there and touches on all the major points along the way. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page . BBC - History - Belfast's golden age of shipbuilding Belfast's golden age of shipbuilding Belfast's golden age of shipbuilding Already an established industrial heavyweight of international standing, the Northern Ireland port city of Belfast had acquired a new speciality by the end of the 19th century - shipbuilding. The launch of Titanic in April 1912 was the crowning achievement of a remarkable era of shipbuilding in the city. It was the largest man-made object ever to have taken to the seas.

Photo: Titanic under construction in Harland & Wolff shipyard (NMNI/Ulster Folk & Transport Museum) Features in: Steel Ships and Iron Men Melvyn Bragg examines the hardships that faced workers at the Harland and Wolff shipyard. Melvyn Bragg examines the hardships that faced workers at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast with the help of archive footage and the memories of plater David Fleming. The skills of Titanic's tradesmen Belfast's shipyard workers built the structure of Titanic and the luxuries within it. The diversity of skills among the workforce of Harland and Wolff ensured the Belfast shipyard could make not just the structure of Titanic, but all of the luxuries within it. Belfast becomes a shipping giant How the city of Belfast became home to the biggest shipyard in the world. Douglas Carson from the Titanic Trust tells how Belfast became the home of the biggest shipyard in the world almost by accident. Belfast College of Technology Belfast's College of Technology provided the shipyard with a range of skilled tradesmen. The Belfast College of Technology provided the city’s shipyard with highly skilled workers in a range of trades in the early 20th century.

Belfast shifts from linen to ships How Belfast built on its linen industry to become a major shipbuilding city. Using archive footage, historian Neil Oliver explains how Belfast transferred skills from its thriving linen industry to become a major shipbuilding city during the 19th century. More information about: Belfast's golden age of shipbuilding Belfast, a small town at the mouth of the river Lagan in northern Ireland had, by the early 1800s, become a major port at the beating heart of the region's thriving industry. By the time it had been granted city status in 1888, Belfast had emerged as one of the world's great shipbuilding centres. Belfast had been largely built on the success of the city's linen and cotton industries, but it was the success of its shipyard that was to position it as a global industrial giant. Commercial shipbuilding had been a feature of Belfast since the late 18th century, but it was the establishment of Harland and Wolff at the Queen's Island shipyard in the east of the city in 1861 that saw it really take off.

The manager of Robert Hickson's small Belfast shipyard on Queen's Island, Edward Harland had bought the yard in 1858. Gustav Wolff, whose uncle was extremely well connected in the Hamburg merchant community, had previously been employed as a personal assistant by Hickson. Harland quickly made him a partner in the new firm, and Harland and Wolff was officially formed in 1861. Between them, the two men exploited their wealthy contacts to ensure a steady stream of orders and make the firm a success. The most crucial partnership was established with the White Star Line, whose entire fleet of ocean liners was manufactured by Harland and Wolff. By the early 1900s, Harland and Wolff employed thousands of men in a shipyard covering some 300 acres. Jobs there included welders, riveters, platers, plumbers, painters, carpenters, designers and naval architects. A crucial role in the success of the shipyard was played by the nearby Belfast College of Technology. It provided vocational teaching to the firm's apprentices, producing highly skilled workers and enabling progress for all those who worked in the yard.

As work began on the three 'Olympic Class' liners commissioned by the White Star Line, Harland and Wolff employed 15,000 people. More than 4,000 of them worked on the construction of the first two of these leviathans, Olympic and Titanic, producing not only the design, structure and mechanics of the ships but also their ornate and luxurious fixtures and fittings. The launching of the hull of Titanic from the Queen's Island slipways was a momentous occasion attended by an estimated 100,000 people, reflecting the pride the city of Belfast had in its most celebrated construction to date. Many more impressive vessels would leave the yard in the coming years and decades before the decline of the shipbuilding industry began in the 1950s, but in many ways the building of Titanic marked the zenith of the great shipbuilding era in Belfast. Titanic Belfast | Titanic Database Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit Titanic Belfast seen from the front The building is located on Queen's Island, an area of land at the entrance of Belfast Lough which was reclaimed from the water in the mid-19th century.

It was used for many years by the shipbuilders Harland and Wolff, who built huge slipways and graving docks to accommodate the simultaneous construction of Olympic and Titanic. The decline of shipbuilding in Belfast left much of the area derelict. Most of the disused structures on the island were demolished. A number of heritage features were given listed status , including the Olympic and Titanic slipways and graving docks, as well as the iconic Samson and Goliath cranes . [1] The derelict land was renamed the "Titanic Quarter" in 2001 and was earmarked by Harland & Wolff for redevelopment over a ten-year period. [2] An area of 100 acres was subsequently bought by Fred Olsen at a cost of £46 million, [3] with 23 more acres set aside for a science park. A further 78 acres was sold by Harland & Wolff in 2002 to be used for a new development including houses, hotels and entertainment amenities plus a maritime heritage museum and science centre.

[4] In 2005, plans were announced to build a museum dedicated to Titanic to attract tourists to the area, with the aim of completing it by 2011 to mark the centenary of Titanics launch. [5] A number of ideas were put forward for the attraction. Among ideas considered were reconstructing the massive steel gantry in which Titanic and Olympic were constructed, [5] or building an illuminated wire frame outline of Titanic in the dock in which she was fitted out. [6] In June 2008, details of the £64 million scheme – known then as "Titanic Dock" – were announced. [7] Northern Ireland's Tourism Minister, Arlene Foster, announced that the Northern Ireland Executive would provide 50 per cent of the attraction's funding through the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, with the remaining 50 per cent coming from the private sector, in the shape of Titanic Quarter Ltd and the Belfast Harbour Commissioners. Additional funding was pledged by Belfast City Council. The task of creating the visitor attraction was taken on by the Titanic Foundation, a charity which aims to "educate people on Belfast's social, historical, industrial and maritime heritage through the story of the Titanic".

[8] The building, now known as Titanic Belfast, is expected to attract 400,000 visitors annually, of whom between 130,000–165,000 would come from outside Northern Ireland. It is intended that it will serve a similar function to that of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry, as a focus for the regeneration of the city. [8] It forms part of the Titanic Signature Project to regenerate Titanic–related heritage sites in the Titanic Quarter, including the disused headquarters and drawing offices of Harland & Wolff, the SS Nomadic – the last surviving White Star Line ship – and Hamilton Dock, Titanic's dock and pump house and the Titanic and Olympic slipways. [9] Design and construction Edit Rowan Gillespie's sculpture Titanica in front of Titanic Belfast Eric Kuhne and Associates were commissioned as concept architects, with Todd Architects appointed as lead consultants. The building's design is intended to reflect Belfast's history of shipmaking and the industrial legacy bequeathed by Harland & Wolff.

Its angular form recalls the shape of ships' prows, with its main "prow" angled down the middle of the Titanic and Olympic slipways towards the River Lagan. [8] (Alternatively, it has been suggested that the building looks like an iceberg, and locals have already nicknamed it "The Iceberg". [10] ) Most of the building's façade is clad in 3,000 individual silver anodized aluminium shards. [9] It stands 126 feet (38 m) high, the same height as Titanics hull. [10] The interior of the eight storey building provides 12,000 square metres (130,000 sq ft) of space. [8] Its centrepiece is a series of interpretive galleries exploring aspects of the building, design, sinking and legacy of Titanic. On the top floor of the museum is Belfast's largest conference and reception space, the Astor Suite, a banqueting facility capable of seating 750 people.

A reproduction of the original staircase on the Titanic ship, made famous by the James Cameron film 'Titanic' in 1997, is located in this conference centre [11] . The location of this staircase has created much controversy with paying visitors as it is not currently part of the exhibition tour. Critics have likened this decision by the Titanic Corporation to be on a par with the class structure that existed on the original voyage in 1912 View Belfast Telegraph article 27 April 2012 . The building also provides education, community, retail and restaurant facilities plus a community resource centre. [12] The construction of the building cost £77 million and involved Ireland's largest-ever concrete pour to create the foundations, with 40,000 cubic metres (1,400,000 cu ft) of concrete delivered by 700 concrete lorries. The Irish developer Harcourt Construction carried out the building phase of the project. [9] It is operated by Harcourt Developments Ltd. [12] In front of the building is Titanica, a sculpture by Rowan Gillespie depicting a diving female figure.

Made of bronze, it is mounted on a brass base, evoking the design of figureheads on ships' prows, and is meant to represent hope and positivity. The figure was dedicated by representatives of the Anglican, Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian churches on 27 March 2012, a few days before the opening of Titanic Belfast. [13] Exhibition View looking down into the atrium of Titanic Belfast Titanic Belfast's exhibition consists of nine interpretative and interactive galleries, covering the following themes: Boomtown Belfast – the city at the start of the 20th century The first gallery recreates scenes from Belfast at the time of Titanics construction in 1909–11. It illustrates the city's major industries before leading through an original set of gates from the Harland and Wolff shipyard into an interactive floor presenting Titanics construction plans, along with original drawings and scale models of the ship. [14] The Shipyard – a ride aboard a mini-car up and around a replica of Titanics rudder The second gallery is dominated by a steel scaffold standing 20 metres (66 ft), which alludes to the Arrol Gantry built to aid the construction of Titanic and Olympic.

A lift carries visitors to the top of the gantry, where scenes of shipbuilding are displayed through audio and images. The visit continues on a six-seater car which takes the visitor on a ride through a recreation of a shipyard which moves through a scale replica of Titanics enormous rudder. [14] The Launch – how Titanic was launched on 31 May 1911 The Launch gallery portrays scenes from the Spring day when Titanic was launched into Belfast Lough, watched by 100,000 people. It overlooks the slipway from which Titanic was launched and a window enables visitors to see the slipways and docks as they appear now. [14] The Fit-Out – the fitting-out of Titanic from her launch through to April 1912 The fourth gallery presents a large-scale model of Titanic to illustrate how the ship appeared to its passengers and crew , depicting all three classes of cabins. A central feature in the gallery presents a 360 degree computer-generated tour around Titanic through all the levels of the vessel, from the engine room to the dining saloons and the bridge.

[14] The Maiden Voyage – the journey from Belfast to Southampton, and from there to Cherbourg, Queenstown ( Cobh ) and westwards The ship's disastrous maiden voyage is depicted in the fifth gallery, which depicts the ship's boat deck. Visitors can walk across the wooden deck, sit on benches or look out at a view across the docks and harbour. The gallery also presents photographs of the ship by the Jesuit photographer Father Francis Browne , who was aboard Titanic for the leg from Southampton to Queenstown (now Cobh ) in southern Ireland. [14] The Sinking – the disaster of 14/15 April 1912 The sixth gallery portrays the sinking of the Titanic with the background sound of Morse code SOS messages being sent to other ships. Images of the sinking are combined with audio of survivors telling their stories and illustrations of the confused press reporting of the disaster. The iceberg is evoked by a wall of 400 replica life-jackets, on which an image of the sinking ship is projected.

[14] The Aftermath – the legacy of the disaster The aftermath of the sinking is documented in the seventh gallery, which is dominated by a full-size replica of one of the lifeboats used to evacuate passengers from the ship. The American and British inquiries into the disaster are portrayed on either side of the lifeboat through videos and information panels. Visitors can use interactive screens to search the passenger and crew lists to find out if one of their relatives was aboard the ship. The gallery also presents information on the subsequent histories of Harland and Wolff and Titanics sister ships. [14] Myths & Legends – the facts behind some of the stories about the Titanic The disaster gave rise to numerous legends and myths , perpetuated through films, plays, books and poems. With Celine Dion 's song My Heart Will Go On playing in the background, visitors are able to explore aspects of the popular culture inspired by Titanic . Interactive screens also enable the visitor to explore myths about the ship. [14] Titanic Beneath – about the wreck of the Titanic and its rediscovery The last gallery presents Titanic as she is now, 12,000 feet (3,700 m) below the surface of the North Atlantic.

Presented in conjunction with the discoverer of the wreck of Titanic , Dr Robert Ballard , the gallery illustrates his expeditions to the ship through footage, audio and images. A fish-eye view of the wreck is set under the glass floor. Below the floor is the Ocean Exploration Centre, Titanic Belfast's principal educational facility, which shows marine biology and exploration in Northern Ireland's coastal waters as well as Ballard's various expeditions around the world. [14] Footnotes RMS Titanic - Wikiquote RMS Titanic Jump to: navigation , search RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City. The sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of 1,514 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. She was the largest ship afloat at the time of her maiden voyage. One of three Olympic class ocean liners operated by the White Star Line, she was built between 1909–11 by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. She carried 2,224 people.

Contents Sourced[ edit ] I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a [large] ship to founder. . . . Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that. The captain of The Titanic. Quoted in The Watchtower magazine, published by Jehovah's Witnesses, April 15, 1988. God himself could not sink this ship . A crew member of that vessel said to a passenger. Quoted in The Watchtower magazine, published by Jehovah's Witnesses, April 15, 1988. The Titanic sank about 2:20 a.m. April 15, 1912, according to the records. I saw it slide down into the ocean to its horrible finish. The moment it sank left a memory of something that haunts me till this day. It was the eerie sound of the people groaning and screaming frantically for help, as they were hurtled into the icy water. Almost all died from the cold water. The sounds lasted for about 45 minutes and then faded away. Louis Garrett, Titanic survivor. Quoted in Awake! magazine, October 22, 1981. In safety, . . .

it was believed, the last word had been uttered in the construction of the ‘Titanic.”’ New York Times, April 16, 1912. During the sinking[ edit ]

Question: The 'RMS Titanic' was built at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard, in which city?
Answer: BELFAST