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        

Whitewater rafting

This was a hoot twenty four hours after the event. Not to be recommended for those over 50! The seven to eight metre drop was quite horrific. See the YOUTUBE link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a_ggEx6ZUQ

Remember September 2001

Difficult to believe it is 10 years on. I wrote this song then and should really update the recording but here it is if you have not listened to it before.

Click HERE

Contact me if you want a version of the words (updated).

Australian Beaches

My daughter went on a holiday last week and kindly lent my wife her car. We took it up north on a road which had just been opened and arrived at a town called Lancelin. This is a fishing town where they catch crayfish. Not one person was on this very pristine beach. Even in Perth there are some fabulous beaches. The closest one for my family is pictured above but of course they (the kids) do not hang out with me any more. The temperatures this summer have been quite high and for a longer period of time. I heard someone complain the other day about the lack of rain and too much sunshine. "Go to Ireland for a week or two !" I retorted.

A trip to the hospital

I was not going to write about this little/major event. Little that is for the specialist (doctor) and major for the patient...me. I tried a few details on a few friends and judging by their reaction I will spare cyper space the details. A friend of mine wrote a song for me and I have a good tune for it. It goes like this

I'm not too healthy or wealthy or wise I've got a complaint that you might recognise
I'm long in the tooth and my time's getting short But I've got a charity I must support

When you're an old crock ya invest in a doc
Then sponsor a minion a second opinion
Sustain that subtractor the poor chiropractor
Bail out at his urgin' some broke dental surgeon
And if pain persists just add to the list
Until you end up with the psychiatrist !

This reminded me of a time spent in a hospital in the U.S. when I worked there in my youth. I had a pain in the stomach which turned out to be appendicitis. I visited a hospital but was told to come back later if I felt really sick. I returned a few hours later and was on the operating table a few minutes later. I wrote this little piece shortly after. It should be remembered that I was accustomed to the National Health Service!

Where is the pain? Right here Doctor.
Have you got medical insurance? No Nurse.
Does this hurt? A little Doctor.
What does your father do? He's dead nurse.
What about here? That doesn't hurt at all Doctor.
Did he leave you any money? No Nurse.
When did the pain start? Yes Doctor.
Has your mother any money? No Nurse.
Did it come on very suddenly? Yes Doctor.
What do you do for a job? No Nurse.
I think we are going to have to operate. OK? Yes Doctor.
Are you sure you have
No money
No parents
No friends who could help you? No Nurse.
Well we think there is not much wrong
I won't charge you. Yes doctor.
Go and seek a second opinion No nurse.

So what happened this time around? Well the doctor this time tinkered with my prostate which caused a seqence of events which lead me to a G.P. a Physiotherapist, a Podiatrist, a Sports Medecine Specialist, a Nurse in Ireland specialising in prostate problems, and then back to a different G.P. The second opinion in this case was correct and finally a chiropractor who fixed me up in 10 minutes and then insisted I return for a further 4 visits. To be truthful, I am not much better off now than the day the surgeon persuaded me to have the operation but I am told it will settle down ....eventually. Of course I have lots of stories to tell but as I mentioned earlier, perhaps this is not the place. Surfice to say that I was proscribed 50 panedol forte. ( 4 of these tablets constipate one for a week! If I had taken all 50, I would have been constipated for life!) I took 3. Three doses of stong antibiotics that had no effect whatsoever and finally some magic pill which prevents the bladder from having a spasm! Great it is working!!! However there are side effects....naturally I will leave you all to work out your own moral of the story.

Down Under 2011

Australia is having its share now of misfortune with the flooding in the Eastern States. Difficult to believe as some parts were having a real drought.
It is always difficult to understand the situation despite the very good (almost too good) media coverage. Areas the size of Germany and France combined are currently affected and a great deal of land is under water. We can only hope it will recede very soon.

BALI 2010

For some reason I did not really want to go to Bali but when I realised it was cheaper to go there than most places in Australia, I relented. In fact it was just over 3 hours travel AND it is on the same time zone as PERTH. (Sydney is nearly four hours AND a three hours time difference.) As you will see if you watch the video, the roads are narrow and populated heavily both with Cars and small motorbikes.
I found their type of dancing a little boring and the music seemed repetetive. (as per video). We travelled to Tanah Lot which is situated about an hour away from the airport. The difference between our hotel (situated on a golf course) and the local housing was simply huge. We visited the memorial at Kuta as you should see on the video. This was where the two large bombs went off in 2002. The streets are very narrow and I just cannot imagine the panic that night.

I confess we did play golf three times complete with young girl caddies: an experience not to be missed and we










did a fantastic cycle from the top of a mountain to the bottom where we encountered the local culture. We finished the cycle at an elephant park. The locals are 90% Hindu which is a change from the other well known religions. The people are extremely friendly. After 2002 there were very few tourists for four years but the recovery is not well under way. It is designed for young people but even I enjoyed the experience mainly due to the cosmopolitan inhabitants of the hotel.

To view in Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaqYmj0Xdp0