RMS Titanic was a passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City.

The sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of 1,517 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 over 2,200 people – 1,316 passengers and about 900 crew.  Yes that is the story in a nutshell but of course there are many personal stories to be told concerning this tragedy.

 

Fifty years ago the people of Ulster did not mention the word “Titanic” with much pride. I vaguely remember (Well, I was very young at the time!) a conversation when the word was used with a strange, mysterious tone.

Where and when did the story begin? A good starting point might be as far back as 1791 when William Ritchie of Scotland founded Belfast’s city first major shipbuilding company. His first ship “The Hibernia” was launched shortly after this and thus paved the way for a successful shipbuilding empire.

In 1854 Edward Harland, a young English engineer arrived in Belfast to manage the Queen’s Island shipbuilding yard. A few years later, he bought out his employer and subsequently joined forces with Wolff thus forming the famous company.  They were soon to buy the White Star Line and over the next few decades they built over seventy ships.

In 1908, it was agreed to build two new ships; “The Olympic” and “The Titanic”. The names of the ships were to reflect their remarkable size. Over 264 metres long (880 feet for all of you who still use the old system) with a tonnage of 46,328. They were to be the largest man-made moveable objects on earth.

In 1909 work began on RMS TITANIC making Belfast one of the world’s greatest ports and a world leader in shipbuilding.   The OLYMPIC was successfully launched in 1910 and on the 31^st May 1911 the TITANIC was launched before a cheering crowd of 10 000 onlookers.

The great empty vessel was then towed to the new Thompson Outfitting Warf and Gray’s Dock to have the boilers and engines, funnels and superstructure added.  

On the 2^nd of April 1912, thousands of people lined Belfast Lough to proudly watch the new wonder of the world set off for Southampton. A week later, complete with around 1 300 passengers, she departed for Cherbourg in France and Cobh (then called Queenstown) in Co. Cork, Ireland.   At 1:30 precisely, on the 11^th April, she set off for New York. There are some great tales about the nine or so passengers who disembarked at Cobh as was well reported in the last edition of THE IRISH SCENE. 

At approximately 22.50 with some 1,500 miles of ocean behind them the Californian sent a wireless message directly to the Titanic telling them that they were stopped and surrounded by ice.  At 23:30 an iceberg was spotted but with its huge mass and the great speed it was moving at, it proved impossible to manoeuvre the ship away from the iceberg. Titanic struck the iceberg at 23:40 and the impact opened up six watertight compartments below the waterline. It took Thomas Andrews, the ship’s designer approximately fifteen minutes to calculate that the great ship would go down within two hours and so it was not until shortly after midnight that the first wireless messages for help were transmitted. Another ship was seen to approach at this time but mysteriously disappeared. Until this day no satisfactory explanation has been given which fit the known facts.

At Quarter past midnight the first lifeboat was lowered into the freezing waters. Though designed for 65 people, devastatingly there were only 28 on board. For the next hour and a half confusion reigned when it became clear there was insufficient room for all the passengers on board.

At two o’clock the lights went out and the second and third funnel broke away. At this stage people were being washed off the forward end of the deck. The band now played a find hymn (“Nearer my God to Thee”) and at 2:20, with a great deal of churning water, it was suddenly quiet; the great ship had disappeared to the bottom of the ocean.

Two hours later the “Carpathia” arrived at the scene where she managed to pick up 705 survivors before sailing on to New York.

When they heard the devastating news, the people of Ulster were shocked, shamed and embarrassed. Only a few weeks earlier, they had all been so terribly proud. No one spoke much about the incident and if they did, it was with the strange mysterious tone I spoke of at the beginning of this article.

A recent investigation proved how unlucky the ship had been to sink so rapidly. IF the Titanic had struck the iceberg full-on she may have survived. IF the lookout had been able to use field glasses she may have survived.  IF the designer had been allowed to use his original plan she may have survived. IF stronger rivets had been used on the hull she may have survived. IF the designer had been allowed to provide 48 life boats many more people would have survived. If the California’s radio officer had not turned off his radio and gone to bed, many more would have survived. IF the captain had received ALL the messages which other ships had sent, she would have survived. IF the huge iceberg had not drifted so unexpectedly far south, she would have survived.    FINALLY IF any one of the above events had not happened as they did she would most definitely have survived.

Yeah, I realise a lot of IFs here but to the best of my knowledge ALL TRUE. 

A few years ago, in true Ulster fashion, it was realised that the rest of the world was fascinated by the event and that they were really missing out on sharing some of the amazing stories arising from it. They had some great stories to share and who better to tell the stories than Susie Millar; the great-granddaughter of Thomas Millar, who had been a deck engineer on the ship. Before he left Belfast, Thomas then aged 33 gave both his sons two new pennies, telling them: "Don't spend those until I see you again."

He never came back. His younger son kept those pennies and the family passed them on to his granddaughter, Susie Millar, who was present at a ceremony to mark the centenary of the launch of the luxury liner into the river Lagan in Belfast, where the ship had been built.

The name of the most famous ship to sink in modern history is now being used to re-launch a neglected area of Belfast. Up to £7bn has been invested in Titanic Quarter and an interactive Visitor Centre which should have been well and truly opened by the time you are reading this article; the opening was on April 15^th to coincide with the sinking 100 years ago.
 (Have you really gotten this far?  Well Done!)

The main building, shaped like four ship hulls, overlooks the site where the ship was built.

 It is clad in metal shards and when the light plays on them it looks like the movement of water. From above, the building resembles a white star, the symbol of Titanic’s operators. Housed in an iconic, 6-floor building, this state-of-the-art visitor experience tells the story of the Titanic from the start. The adventure begins the moment you walk through the door and into the building's giant atrium surrounded by the four high ‘hull’ shaped sections I mentioned earlier which house the experience. As you wander up through Titanic Belfast, you will experience a thrilling ride through the re-construction of the shipyards and the Titanic under construction. The stories of passengers, crew and the heroes of the day will be told in an exciting, captivating way. At the conclusion, you can visit the wreck at her resting place on the floor of the North Atlantic.!

The last time I flew into Belfast, I got the shock of my life when the airline welcomed me to “George Best Airport”. But the next time I go, it will have changed yet again as the airport is almost adjacent to the old shipyard. I can’t wait to go and maybe I will see some of you there. If you get there before me; let Fred or me know.  Apparently our host and guide will be none other than Susie Millar herself! 

You might like to watch a YOUTUBE clip of a new song composed by Ian Lily and myself.

You will need to copy the following into your browser.     http://youtu.be/rxDpZBPRxQ0

 David MacConnell