Titanic Heritage
Content
Belfast’s
T I TA NIC
Heritage
When RMS Titanic sailed away on her maiden voyage on April 10th, 1912, she was hailed as ‘the new wonder of the world’. A remarkable feat of engineering, she was the largest and most luxuriously appointed ship ever seen and, despite her tragic sinking five days later, she remains a source of enduring pride in the City where she was built – Belfast.
Harland AND wolff
THE WORLD’S G R E AT E S T S H I P B U I L D E R S
HARLAND & WOLFF
The names ‘Titanic’ and ‘Harland & Wolff’ symbolise the great era of Belfast shipbuilding. Behind that remarkable success story is a fascinating history that takes us back to the earliest days of Belfast.
This guide will take you back to the source of the legend, the history of shipbuilding in Belfast, and in particular, the story of the firm which built Titanic, Harland and Wolff. You can learn about Titanic itself, from the visionaries who conceived her, to the men who designed and built her, to her ill-fated maiden voyage. Finally, we will take you around the many locations in Belfast associated with the world’s most famous ship from the magnificent Belfast City Hall to the impressive cranes – Samson and Goliath. So come back in time with us and relive the enthralling Titanic story in the City of her birth.
Titanic departing Belfast, April 1912
Edward Harland
Gustav Wolff
Lord Pirrie
By this time, Queen’s Island had been linked to east Belfast, making access easier for the increasing numbers of workers at the firm. As the yard expanded it became like a small city, with thousands of men employed in the many different roles, from riveter to master craftsman, it now took to build the great liners. Working conditions were arduous and injuries were not uncommon but generations of workers, acknowledged widely for their skill and dedication, took a fierce pride in their work.
William James Pirrie
Crucial to the success of Harland and Wolff was the man who became a partner in 1874, William James Pirrie. Charismatic and charming, Pirrie was a visionary whose growing influence on the firm was crucial to its expansion. Following the death of Edward Harland in 1895, Pirrie, who had joined the firm as a 15-year-old ‘gentleman’s apprentice’, was his natural successor as Chairman. By this time, Harland and Wolff was recognised as the world’s greatest shipbuilders, responsible for the magnificent flagships of the White Star Line, such as the Teutonic and Majestic, delivered in 1889 and 1890 respectively. The growing emphasis on the scale of the liners being built around the world led to a huge expansion of the facilities at Harland and Wolff, including the construction of the gigantic Arrol gantry, 840ft long and 240ft wide. In 1904 work began on the Thompson Graving Dock, the largest in the world. This would be necessary for the building of the most ambitious projects yet undertaken by a shipbuilding firm - the Olympic, Titanic and Britannic, the biggest ships yet built.
In 1909, when work began on the ship that would become the most famous in the world, the RMS Titanic, Belfast was one of the world’s greatest ports and a world leader in many industries, including shipbuilding.
Queen’s Island
The City’s first major shipbuilding company was established in 1791, with the arrival of William Ritchie from Scotland. His first ship, the Hibernia, was launched in 1792; thus beginning a flourishing shipbuilding empire. Attractively laid out with tree-lined walkways, Queen’s Island’s first claim to fame was as a popular pleasure park, with a modest 112ft long glass, iron and wood building inspired by London’s Crystal Palace being constructed there in 1851. The island hosted a number of fetes and became a popular attraction for the public. A zoo, aquarium and aviary were added later before the building was destroyed by fire in 1864. By then, the island was already becoming known for another reason - the growth of a Belfast shipbuilding firm capable of challenging the pre-eminence of its major UK competitors. That story begins in 1854, with the arrival in Belfast of Edward Harland, a young English engineer, to manage the Queen’s Island shipbuilding yard. Ambitious, dynamic and a strict disciplinarian, Harland’s talent in engineering design would be complemented by the salesmanship of the man he took on as his personal assistant in 1857, the German-born Gustav Wolff. A year later Harland bought his employer out for £5,000 and started his own shipyard. In 1861 Wolff became his partner and, in 1862, the new company officially became known as Harland and Wolff.
HARLAND & WOLFF
White Star Line
Harland and Wolff built the first White Star vessel, the Oceanic, which was launched in 1870. Striking in its size and speed, it was considered remarkable too for its luxurious accommodation. Over the next few decades, Harland and Wolff would build over 70 ships for White Star, the most famous being Titanic.
Queen’s Road , May 1911
The tragic sinking of Titanic in 1912 had a profound effect on Belfast, but it was by no means the end of Harland and Wolff’s success. William (now Viscount) Pirrie continued his plans for the expansion of the firm until his death in 1924. The Second World War, during which the yard suffered terrible damage from bombing raids, saw a dramatic but short-lived rise in production. But the growing popularity of aircraft travel triggered a sharp drop in demand for passenger ships, the last built by Harland and Wolff being the RMS Canberra in 1960. Today Harland and Wolff are world leaders in ship repair, design and structural engineering.
Titanic
The Future
During the period Titanic was built Harland and Wolff typified the enterprise, innovation and ambition that made Belfast a world leader in many industries. A century later, as modern Belfast’s remarkable renaissance gathers pace, it is fitting that one of the most spectacular new waterfront developments in Europe should be sited on 185 acres of the old Harland and Wolff shipyard. The first phase of the £1 billion Titanic Quarter development, the Northern Ireland Science Park, a world-class centre of excellence for information technology, has already opened. Over the next 15 years, a new urban quarter of bars, shops, restaurants, marinas, homes and offices will emerge. At the heart of the new development will be a magnificent multi-million pound Titanic visitor attraction based around the former Harland and Wolff Headquarters Building and Drawing Offices, one of the largest listed buildings in Northern Ireland.
ABERCORN BASIN
Titanic
BIRTH OF A LEGEND
TITANIC SLIPWAY OLYMPIC SLIPWAY
With her unprecedented size and luxury combined with the tragedy of her sinking, no ship since has gripped the world’s imagination like RMS Titanic. Her remarkable story begins in Belfast.
ODYSSEY COMPLEX
HAMILTON DOCK
H&W DRAWING OFFICES
Titanic Quarter Planned Development
Thompson Graving Dock
Their names reflected their awesome size . . . .
When RMS Titanic set out on her maiden voyage on April 10th 1912, she was the largest and most lavishly appointed ship ever seen, a truly remarkable feat of shipbuilding. Despite the deeply felt impact of her tragic sinking just five days later Titanic remains the subject of enduring pride in Belfast - the City where the world’s most famous ship was designed, built and launched. Titanic was conceived in 1907, following a discussion between Joseph Bruce Ismay, Chairman of the White Star Line and William Pirrie, Chairman of Harland and Wolff. The previous year White Star’s great rivals on the lucrative North Atlantic route, Cunard, had launched the Lusitania and the Mauretania, whose size, speed and elegance heralded a new age in ocean liners. How could White Star restore their pre-eminence? The solution arrived at by the two men would transform the world of shipping forever. On July 31st, 1908 the two companies agreed to the construction of two new ships, Olympic and Titanic (the Britannic, originally named the Gigantic, would be ordered in 1911). Their names reflected their awesome size – Titanic and Olympic would be over 880ft long with a 46,328 gross tonnage. The largest moveable man-made objects on earth, their length comfortably exceeded the height of the tallest buildings of the time.
This was no simple task. Everything about Titanic was gigantic, from the vast steam engines and propellers to its two 15-ton anchors, which needed teams of 20 horses to deliver. Hundreds of skilled craftsmen now made their contribution building and decorating the cabins and rooms. Pirrie even employed leading artists to reproduce great works of art around the ship. After successful sea trials on April 2nd, 1912, thousands lined Belfast Lough to proudly watch ‘the new wonder of the world’ set off for Southampton, where she arrived on April 4th.
The Golden Age of Travel
It was time for the first passengers, representing a broad range of society, to board. For the wealthy, the maiden voyage to New York on board the world’s most talked about ship offered a pleasant social outing, while many of the poorer passengers had saved up the $36.25 cost of a third class ticket in the hope of finding a better life in America. First class passengers discovered a grand lounge decorated in the style of Versailles; a magnificent staircase beneath a huge glass and wrought iron dome; a Parisian café with French waiters and the novel sight of an onboard swimming pool and gymnasium. The first class staterooms or the parlour suites included two bedrooms, a private bath and their own private promenade. Even the third class passengers enjoyed better rooms, largely on the lower decks, than they would have found in other ships.
Titanic
Titanic and Olympic would be over 88Oft long with a 46,328 gross tonnage
Rivet gang working on the Britannic
If the charismatic Lord Pirrie was the driving force behind Titanic, the detail and vision of its design were in the hands of its chief designer, working in the elegant Drawing Office No.1. The original designer was Alexander Carlisle, Pirrie’s brother-in-law, with Pirrie’s nephew, Thomas Andrews, succeeding him in 1910. It is believed that Pirrie, who had no children of his own, was grooming the talented Andrews, much loved by the Harland and Wolff workforce, to be his successor. Titanic was launched on May 31st, 1911 before a cheering crowd of ten thousand onlookers. Titanic was now towed to the new Thompson Outfitting Wharf and Graving Dock where the virtually empty vessel was transformed into the floating palace of legend. It was now that the great boilers and engines, funnels and superstructure were added.
RMS Olympic, Thompson Graving Dock
20 Lifeboats, 2228 Passengers
White Star had made one fateful decision, dramatically reducing the number of lifeboats proposed by Titanic’s original designer, Alexander Carlisle. While Titanic’s 20 lifeboats actually exceeded Board of Trade requirements, they, and the four collapsible boats, provided space for barely half the crew and passengers aboard. The company put great faith in the ship’s much vaunted series of watertight bulkhead. Titanic departed Southampton on April 10th, dropping anchor at Cherbourg in early evening. Here, ferried by the White Star tenders Traffic and Nomadic (which returned to Belfast in 2006), a further 247 passengers boarded. Ninety minutes later, Titanic departed for Queenstown (Cobh) on the south coast of Ireland from where, at 1.30pm on April 11th, she set out for New York.
Titanic
Titanic and the Arrol Gantry
At 11.30pm on the evening of April 14th an iceberg was spotted
The ship had made over 1,500 miles when the first warning of icebergs, five miles to the south, were received on the evening of April 14th. At 11.30 an iceberg was spotted ahead but, though the steering wheel was spun tight, it could not be avoided. At 11.40pm Titanic struck the iceberg scraping its hull below the waterline, buckling it in several places and opening water channels into six watertight compartments. The ship was fatally damaged. Designer Thomas Andrews had to face the unthinkable, calculating that Titanic was to sink within two hours. Soon after midnight the first wireless messages for help were transmitted. By 12.15am the first confused and terrified passengers were being guided to the lifeboats and 30 minutes later the first lifeboat was lowered into the freezing waters. Though designed for 65 people, there were only 28 on board. As distress rockets lit the air, the loading of the lifeboats became more hectic, with desperate efforts being made to get women and children aboard first. At 2.10am the band stopped playing; it has been claimed that they now sang a final hymn, “Nearer My God to Thee”. As the boat sank faster, people were washed off the forward end of the deck. The lights finally went out and the second and third funnels broke away. At 2.20am Titanic finally began to sink beneath the waves.
Titanic’s gym
Olympic and Titanic
Thomas Andrews
Trail
Titanic Officers’ Quarters
Of the 2228 passengers and crew there were only 705 survivors, picked up by the SS Carpathia, which had been en route to New York when it was diverted.
Belfast was a City in mourning, not only for family and friends who had been lost, but also for the magnificent ship it had produced. William Pirrie had missed the voyage due to ill health. It is said that his hair turned white after the tragedy, while Joseph Bruce Ismay, who was hounded by journalists searching for reasons for the sinking, became a recluse. However, over the years, the tremendous pride felt in Belfast for Titanic has been renewed. Around the world the legend of Titanic, bolstered by books and films, including Roy Ward Baker’s ‘A Night to Remember’ starring Kenneth More and James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, has grown hugely over the decades. Today, there are hundreds of museums and attractions around the world dedicated to Titanic but only in Belfast can you find the true birthplace of the world’s most famous ship.
TITANIC TRAIL
Throughout Belfast there are many buildings and monuments with associations to RMS Titanic, not least in the shipyard where she was designed, built and launched.
Former Harland and Wolff Drawing Office
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Belfast Welcome Centre
Donegall Place
Pirrie was Chairman of Harland and Wolff from 1896 to his death in 1924. The plinth was formerly the headstone of Lord and Lady Pirrie’s grave in Belfast City Cemetery. City Hall is an important venue for the ‘Titanic – Made in Belfast’ festival which is held every year.
A one-stop tourist information centre for Belfast – find information on Belfast accommodation, tours, events, ticket booking, souvenirs and gifts as well as an Internet Café.
Robinson & Cleavers
Donegall Sq. North
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Linen Hall Library
Donegall Sq. North
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Opened in 1888 as Robinson & Cleaver’s Royal Irish Linen Warehouse it was Belfast’s most popular, and grandest, department store at the time Titanic was being built. Thomas Andrews and his wife Helen shopped here as would many of the wealthier Harland and Wolff employees. The memorial erected to Titanic after her sinking was erected in the middle of the road outside the building in 1920. It was moved to the grounds of City Hall in 1959, as it had become a traffic hazard.
The last public subscription library in Ireland, the Linen Hall Library has been a central part of Belfast’s cultural life since it was founded in 1788. It is renowned for its Irish, local studies and Troubles collections. An excellent source for research on Belfast, it holds 90 books on Titanic.
YMCA
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Wellington Place
May St Presbyterian Church
May Street
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Albert George Ervine, the youngest member of the Titanic engine room staff, attended bible classes there. He sailed on Titanic to monitor its performance; Ervine helped keep Titanic’s lights blazing until just moments before she sank.
Built as a vehicle for the fierce and very popular preacher Reverend Henry Cooke in 1859, it was, like many churches in Belfast in 1912, the location of a memorial service for Titanic.
Robinson’s Saloon
Great Victoria Street
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Belfast City Hall
Donegall Sq. North
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Opened in 1906 the magnificent Classical Renaissance City Hall, designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas, reflected the great ambition and optimism of Belfast at that time. In fact the Lord Mayor when City Hall was opened, Sir Daniel Dixon, credited William Pirrie, the man who created Titanic, as having ‘the big ideas’ for City Hall. Pirrie, Lord Mayor in 1896/7, is said to have referred to it as ‘the stone Titanic’. Its connections with Titanic are many. In its grounds, the Titanic Memorial, sculpted by Thomas Brock, pays tribute to 22 men who lost their lives on the ship. Another statue by Brock depicts Sir Edward Harland, ship’s plan in hand, who was Lord Mayor in 1885/6. Thanks to Pirrie’s influence, the Lord Mayor’s Suite is also known as ‘the Titanic Rooms’ as craftsmen who worked on them went on to work on the famous liner. Portraits of Lord and Lady Pirrie hang in the Reception Room. On May 31st, 2006, on the 150th anniversary of his birth (and the 95th anniversary of Titanic’s launch), a special plinth was erected to William Pirrie in the grounds of City Hall. Described as ‘the greatest shipbuilder the world has ever known’,
Robinson’s Saloon holds Titanic memorabilia. Each unique item has its own story to tell, adding greatly to the human side of the disaster. The brass nameplate of Lifeboat No 12 brings to mind those who were saved in it. There are letters and postcards, written on board the ship and posted at her last port of call, Queenstown, now Cobh, in Co Cork. One very poignant item is ‘Philomena’. This doll was recovered from the wreck site, in the weeks following the sinking.
Royal Belfast Academical Institution (Inst.)
College Square East
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Designed by Sir John Soane in 1807, the elegant Royal Belfast Academical Institution was attended by William Pirrie from the age of 11 to 15, when he enrolled as an apprentice at Harland and Wolff. His uncle, John Carlisle, was head of the English Department at the time. Carlisle’s son, Alexander, was the original designer of Titanic. Thomas Andrews, who succeeded Carlisle as designer, was also educated here from the age of 11 to 16, when he too enrolled as an apprentice at Harland and Wolff. Next door, the Municipal Technical Institute, now the Belfast Institute, opened in 1907 to provide suitably trained employees for Belfast’s leading industrial and manufacturing companies, including Harland and Wolff.
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Ulster Reform Club
Royal Avenue
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Lord Pirrie, Thomas Andrews and the head of the White Star Line, Joseph Bruce Ismay, were among a number of people connected to Harland and Wolff who enjoyed the good food and fine wines of this elegant club, which is still running over 120 years after its founding. (No access to public)
interest of seamen frequenting the port of Belfast’. Shipyard workers, dockers and sailors at the time of Titanic would have felt at home in its ship-like interior, with its pulpit shaped as a ship’s prow flanked by navigation lights, ship’s binnacle font and the bell of HMS Hood calling worshippers to service. Open to the public every Wednesday afternoon. 15 Belfast Harbour Commissioners Office
Corporation Square
Castle Junction
Castle Place
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Near the site of Sir Arthur Chichester’s Belfast Castle, which burnt down in the early 18th century, it was the centre of Belfast’s tramway system while Titanic was being built. 10 Rosemary St First Presbyterian Church
Rosemary Street
Thomas Andrew, who attended this delightful church with his wife Helen, must have loved its boat-like interior and beautiful woodwork. Dating from 1781, it is Belfast’s oldest place of worship.
The headquarters of the Harbour Commissioners, responsible for overseeing the development and running of Belfast Port, has on show the magnificent captain’s table and chairs which Gilbert Logan designed for Titanic, but which were delivered just too late (it is said they were subsequently shipped to Southampton, just in time to see Titanic disappear on the horizon). Lord Pirrie, himself a Harbour Commissioner, would have been a frequent, and persuasive, presence in the boardroom. Nearby, are two restored graving docks used by William Ritchie, Belfast’s first major shipbuilder.
Central Library
Royal Avenue
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Lagan Weir
Donegall Quay
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Situated on Royal Avenue, Belfast’s main shopping thoroughfare, this is a good place to research local history, while its extensive newspaper collections contain several contemporary articles on Titanic.
St Anne’s Cathedral
Donegall Street
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The Neo-Romanesque Cathedral, famous for its beautiful stained glass windows, held a memorial service for those who lost their lives on Titanic soon after the sinking. The packed congregation included members of Thomas Andrews’ family.
Situated at the confluence of the Farset (which now runs underground) and Lagan rivers, where Belfast’s shipbuilding history began, the weir was constructed in 1994 to control the tidal nature of the Lagan. In the Titanic era many craft would still dock at the quay here. Boat tours depart from here (see back of guide for information)
Queen’s Bridge
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Many Harland and Wolff workers would have hastened over Queen’s Bridge in the early morning, perhaps rushing to make a dawn start on Titanic or Olympic.
Albert Memorial Clock
Custom House Square
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Until a recent renovation corrected its list, this was Belfast’s answer to Pisa’s leaning tower. Built in Gothic style in honour of Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert, it was tall enough, at 113ft, to offer an excellent vantage point for at least one enterprising sightseer to get a birds-eye view of Titanic’s launch. 14 Sinclair Seamen’s Presbyterian Church
Corporation Square
Odyssey
Queen’s Quay
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Designed in the 1850s by Belfast’s most influential architect, Sir Charles Lanyon, this remarkable church was built to ‘watch over the spiritual
The award-winning Odyssey complex is one of Northern Ireland’s biggest tourist attractions. It hosts a world-class interactive discovery centre – W5, a state-of-the-art bowling alley, a six-storey Imax screen, a cinema complex and a range of restaurants, cafes, bars and nightclubs. Adjacent is the 10,000-seater Odyssey Arena, which stages large-scale entertainments and concerts featuring the world’s major music acts, as well as ice hockey and other indoor sports. Overlooking the old Harland and Wolff shipyard, it comprises the southern border of the £1 billion Titanic Quarter development.
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Abercorn Basin
Queen’s Road
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Even as Harland and Wolff was in its infancy, it was clear the new shipyard would need to expand and, by 1867, two vital new developments were completed. The Abercorn Basin was created out of 12 acres of open water which faced the Harland and Wolff shipbuilding berths, providing a service basin for the new Hamilton Graving Dock. As well as shipbuilding, the basin also served Northern Ireland’s coal trade, with ships unloading their vital cargo through the night. The famous engine works where Titanic’s vast and hugely powerful engines were built and tested was based here until 2000. Abercorn Basin will be the location for the first phase of modern apartments, as well as restaurants, shops and bars, in the forthcoming Titanic Quarter development.
The building was constructed in stages between 1900 and 1919 and it is thought the oldest sections include the two beautiful Drawing Offices on the ground floor (there are several other drawing rooms too, such as the Admiralty Drawing Office). It was in the cathedrallike atmosphere of Drawing Office No. 1, surrounded by teams of expert draughtsmen, that first Alexander Carlisle and then Thomas Andrews supervised the concept, design and detailed construction drawings for Titanic and Olympic. The atmospheric Grade B2 listed headquarters has been used as a location for several films, including Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto, starring local actor Liam Neeson.
Olympic & Titanic Slipways Hamilton Graving Dock
Queen’s Road
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Queen’s Road
Building started on the 450 ft long Hamilton Dock in 1863, following some controversy over its location. Completed in 1867, it was the first graving dock built on the County Down side of the River Lagan, though its site had been bitterly opposed by the Belfast Shipwrights Society. They cited the life-threatening risk to shipyard workers, ‘owing to crossing the river, often in crowded boats, before and after daylight’. Harland and Wolff held firm, insisting trade would be encouraged by building the dock adjacent to their works. The Harbour Commissioners eventually won over the shipwrights by agreeing to build what would become the Dufferin and Spencer Docks on the Co Antrim side of the Lagan. The last remaining vessel with a link to Titanic, and the only White Star ship still afloat, the Nomadic was fitted out in the Hamilton Graving Dock and launched in April 1911, just weeks before Titanic.
It was the most spectacular sight ever seen in the world of shipbuilding - workers clambering high over the Arrol gantry, more than twice the height of St Paul’s Cathedral, to work on the two greatest ships yet known to man, Olympic and Titanic. Beneath the ships, which for a period stood side by side, were the slipways specially constructed to launch the ships into the adjacent waterways in the Victoria Channel. They were still in use until the 1960s and have now been preserved. 23
Steam Cranes
Queen’s Road
Like a series of soldier ants, billowing steam from their funnels, a network of 50 steam cranes, pulling objects far greater in size or weight than themselves, scuttled around Queen’s Island’s dedicated rail network. They were used at all stages of construction, including servicing the outfitting of Titanic at the Thompson Graving Dock.
Former Harland & Wolff Headquarters Building and Drawing Offices
Queen’s Road
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Alexandra Graving Dock
Queen’s Road
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The ‘jewel in the crown’ of the Titanic Quarter development, this three-storey sandstone and brick building was the hub of the world’s greatest shipbuilders and the birthplace of RMS Titanic. The building was not just the shipyard’s centre of administration, looking after a workforce, but also housed the offices of the senior figures in the shipyard, such as Lord Pirrie, Alexander Carlisle and Thomas Andrews. The autocratic Pirrie, who kept a hawkish eye on the yard, often beginning his inspections at 7am, retained an apartment here.
The expansion of Harland and Wolff in the last quarter of the 19th century increased constant pressure to update facilities. As a result the company petitioned the Harbour Commissioners for additional fitting out facilities in 1881. A site at the north end of Queen’s Island was chosen and in 1885, Princess Alexandra, after whom the new dock was named, cut the first sod. The dock opened four years later. However, even it would soon prove too small for the huge scale of ship that William Pirrie envisaged for the future.
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Thompson Pump House
Queen’s Road
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HMS Caroline
Queen’s Road
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Today, Alexandra Dock is occupied by HMS Caroline, built in Birkenhead in 1914. She was the lead ship of a class of six light cruisers and is believed to be the only survivor of the infamous Battle of Jutland in 1916. She came to Belfast in 1924 to serve as the headquarters of what is now the Royal Navy Reserve, and was converted at Harland and Wolff for this purpose. Still retaining many of her original features, she is now on the National Historic Ships Register. At approximately half the length of Titanic, HMS Caroline gives a clear illustration of why a new dock was needed for the Olympic-class liners.
The original part of the building was constructed in the 1880s to serve the Alexandra Graving Dock. It was extended significantly to cater for the massive new Thompson Graving Dock, which opened in 1911. Long and rectangular, designed in late Victorian eclectic style, the building featured the most advanced state-of-the-art engineering of its day. Its hugely powerful pumping engines, housed deep in the building, could drain a full dock of 23 millions gallons of water in 110 minutes. A series of underground tunnels leading from near the pumps, could take workers beneath both docks. The Pump House, which still operates, is now, like the Thompson Graving Dock, part of the Northern Ireland Science Park.
Thompson Outfitting Wharf & Graving Dock
Queen’s Road
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Without the Arrol gantry and the Thompson Graving Dock, both the biggest in the world when they were constructed, neither Titanic nor her sister ships, Olympic and Britannic could have been built or fitted. The Harbour Commissioners decided to build the new graving dock in 1902, with no little encouragement from their fellow commissioner, William Pirrie, Harland and Wolff’s persuasive Chairman, who had a clear vision of the scale future ships would take. Work began in 1904 on the 880 ft long dock, whose walls were 18.5 ft thick and which had 332 massive keel-blocks of cast iron to support the weight of the great liners it would hold. At the same time a large outfitting wharf was constructed nearby and the surrounding water was dredged to a depth of 32 ft. Despite its size, the dock still had to be extended so its first ship, Olympic, could enter in April 1911. It would be in the Thompson Outfitting Wharf and Graving Dock that the ships’ engines, boilers and superstructure would be added and work completed on their luxurious cabins and rooms. In October 1911, Titanic had to be moved from the dock to the wharf to allow repairs to be completed on Olympic, which had been involved in a collision. The delay pushed back the date of Titanic’s maiden voyage nearly three weeks. Had she sailed on time, it is very doubtful the world’s most famous ship would have encountered the fateful iceberg.
Harland & Wolff Cranes Samson and Goliath
Queen’s Island
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The two great yellow-painted gantry cranes Samson and Goliath have become icons of Belfast, dominating not just Queen’s Island but the entire city skyline. Constructed to service the vast new graving dock at Harland and Wolff, Goliath (the smaller at 315 ft) began work in 1969, the 348 ft Samson five years later. Each of the Krupp-Ardelt designed cranes can lift loads of up to 840 tons. Harland and Wolff were still one of the world’s great shipbuilders at the time and the building of the two cranes, during a difficult period for shipbuilding in Belfast, was seen as a sign of faith in the future. Now much beloved Belfast landmarks, their own future was assured in 2003 when they were scheduled for preservation.
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A one-stop tourist information centre for Belfast, you can find information here on the City’s many links with RMS Titanic, including bus, boat, walking and self-guided Titanic tours, as well as information on the ‘Titanic – Made in Belfast’ festival and other festivals and exhibitions related to Titanic. You will find a range of Titanic memorabilia in the gift shop. Belfast Welcome Centre 47 Donegall Place Belfast BT1 5AD Tel: +44 (0)28 9024 6609 Web: www.gotobelfast.com
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Belfast Welcome Centre
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Belfast Welcome Centre Robinson & Cleavers May St Presbyterian Church Belfast City Hall Linen Hall Library YMCA Robinson’s Saloon Royal Belfast Academical Institution (Inst.) Ulster Reform Club Castle Junction Rosemary St First Presbyterian Church Central Library St Anne’s Cathedral Albert Memorial Clock Sinclair Seamen’s Presbyterian Church Belfast Harbour Commissioners Office Lagan Weir Queen’s Bridge Odyssey Abercorn Basin Hamilton Graving Dock Former Harland & Wolff Headquarters and Drawing Offices Olympic & Titanic Slipways Steam Cranes Alexandra Graving Dock HMS Caroline Thompson Outfitting Wharf & Graving Dock Thompson Dock Pump House Harland & Wolff Cranes Samson and Goliath
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Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
Abercorn Basin
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The Transport Museum, one of the finest in Europe, displays Ireland’s largest and most comprehensive transport collection, which includes the history of shipbuilding. It holds a permanent Titanic exhibition which includes items such as original Titanic material, vintage photographs, newsreels, recordings and music related to the ship. The Transport Museum also holds an image archive – a significant local source of historical images from the 1860’s to the present day. The archive today contains over 300,000 still images representing the way of life of the people of Northern Ireland, aspects of the history of transport and the Harland & Wolff Collection, covering shipbuilding and engineering in the company’s yard in Belfast. Ulster Folk and Transport Museum: Cultra Holywood Co. Down BT18 0EU Tel: +44 (0)28 9042 8428 Web: www.uftm.org.uk
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Europa Bus Centre Great Victoria St Train Station
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Titanic Trail Map
Equal to Ten Minutes Walk
IT WILL TAKE IN EXCESS OF 2½ HOURS TO COMPLETE THE WHOLE OF TITANIC TRAIL ON FOOT
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Tours
The Lagan Boat Company offer guided tours of the Harland and Wolff shipyards from the River. Take a guided Titanic Tour Tel: +44 (0)28 33 0844 Web: www.laganboatcompany.com There are also bus tours of the City which take in Queen’s Island and the Titanic Quarter. For further information contact the Belfast Welcome Centre.
Festival
A Titanic Festival’ is held every year in the City. It includes talks, films, exhibitions and tours to the City every April. For further information contact the Belfast Welcome Centre.
Image Zoo design 028 90 200 420
Titanic Interactive Trail
Produced by
Tourism Development Unit Development Department Belfast City Council 4-10 Linenhall Street Belfast BT2 8BP Tel: +44 (0)28 9032 0202 www.belfastcity.gov.uk
Another way to explore Belfast’s Titanic Story is through the self guided ‘Titanic Interactive Trail’. This state of the art handheld digital device will take you on an interactive multi-media tour of the key Titanic sites and transport you back in time to walk alongside the shipyard workers and gaze in awe as the vision of the Titanic rises up before your very eyes. The console is available to hire from the Belfast Welcome Centre.
Acknowledgements
The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Titanic Quarter Ltd. Una Reilly. NOAA, Institute for Exploration, University of Rhode Island
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TRAIL MAP
www.goto belfast.com
T I TA NIC
Heritage
When RMS Titanic sailed away on her maiden voyage on April 10th, 1912, she was hailed as ‘the new wonder of the world’. A remarkable feat of engineering, she was the largest and most luxuriously appointed ship ever seen and, despite her tragic sinking five days later, she remains a source of enduring pride in the City where she was built – Belfast.
Harland AND wolff
THE WORLD’S G R E AT E S T S H I P B U I L D E R S
HARLAND & WOLFF
The names ‘Titanic’ and ‘Harland & Wolff’ symbolise the great era of Belfast shipbuilding. Behind that remarkable success story is a fascinating history that takes us back to the earliest days of Belfast.
This guide will take you back to the source of the legend, the history of shipbuilding in Belfast, and in particular, the story of the firm which built Titanic, Harland and Wolff. You can learn about Titanic itself, from the visionaries who conceived her, to the men who designed and built her, to her ill-fated maiden voyage. Finally, we will take you around the many locations in Belfast associated with the world’s most famous ship from the magnificent Belfast City Hall to the impressive cranes – Samson and Goliath. So come back in time with us and relive the enthralling Titanic story in the City of her birth.
Titanic departing Belfast, April 1912
Edward Harland
Gustav Wolff
Lord Pirrie
By this time, Queen’s Island had been linked to east Belfast, making access easier for the increasing numbers of workers at the firm. As the yard expanded it became like a small city, with thousands of men employed in the many different roles, from riveter to master craftsman, it now took to build the great liners. Working conditions were arduous and injuries were not uncommon but generations of workers, acknowledged widely for their skill and dedication, took a fierce pride in their work.
William James Pirrie
Crucial to the success of Harland and Wolff was the man who became a partner in 1874, William James Pirrie. Charismatic and charming, Pirrie was a visionary whose growing influence on the firm was crucial to its expansion. Following the death of Edward Harland in 1895, Pirrie, who had joined the firm as a 15-year-old ‘gentleman’s apprentice’, was his natural successor as Chairman. By this time, Harland and Wolff was recognised as the world’s greatest shipbuilders, responsible for the magnificent flagships of the White Star Line, such as the Teutonic and Majestic, delivered in 1889 and 1890 respectively. The growing emphasis on the scale of the liners being built around the world led to a huge expansion of the facilities at Harland and Wolff, including the construction of the gigantic Arrol gantry, 840ft long and 240ft wide. In 1904 work began on the Thompson Graving Dock, the largest in the world. This would be necessary for the building of the most ambitious projects yet undertaken by a shipbuilding firm - the Olympic, Titanic and Britannic, the biggest ships yet built.
In 1909, when work began on the ship that would become the most famous in the world, the RMS Titanic, Belfast was one of the world’s greatest ports and a world leader in many industries, including shipbuilding.
Queen’s Island
The City’s first major shipbuilding company was established in 1791, with the arrival of William Ritchie from Scotland. His first ship, the Hibernia, was launched in 1792; thus beginning a flourishing shipbuilding empire. Attractively laid out with tree-lined walkways, Queen’s Island’s first claim to fame was as a popular pleasure park, with a modest 112ft long glass, iron and wood building inspired by London’s Crystal Palace being constructed there in 1851. The island hosted a number of fetes and became a popular attraction for the public. A zoo, aquarium and aviary were added later before the building was destroyed by fire in 1864. By then, the island was already becoming known for another reason - the growth of a Belfast shipbuilding firm capable of challenging the pre-eminence of its major UK competitors. That story begins in 1854, with the arrival in Belfast of Edward Harland, a young English engineer, to manage the Queen’s Island shipbuilding yard. Ambitious, dynamic and a strict disciplinarian, Harland’s talent in engineering design would be complemented by the salesmanship of the man he took on as his personal assistant in 1857, the German-born Gustav Wolff. A year later Harland bought his employer out for £5,000 and started his own shipyard. In 1861 Wolff became his partner and, in 1862, the new company officially became known as Harland and Wolff.
HARLAND & WOLFF
White Star Line
Harland and Wolff built the first White Star vessel, the Oceanic, which was launched in 1870. Striking in its size and speed, it was considered remarkable too for its luxurious accommodation. Over the next few decades, Harland and Wolff would build over 70 ships for White Star, the most famous being Titanic.
Queen’s Road , May 1911
The tragic sinking of Titanic in 1912 had a profound effect on Belfast, but it was by no means the end of Harland and Wolff’s success. William (now Viscount) Pirrie continued his plans for the expansion of the firm until his death in 1924. The Second World War, during which the yard suffered terrible damage from bombing raids, saw a dramatic but short-lived rise in production. But the growing popularity of aircraft travel triggered a sharp drop in demand for passenger ships, the last built by Harland and Wolff being the RMS Canberra in 1960. Today Harland and Wolff are world leaders in ship repair, design and structural engineering.
Titanic
The Future
During the period Titanic was built Harland and Wolff typified the enterprise, innovation and ambition that made Belfast a world leader in many industries. A century later, as modern Belfast’s remarkable renaissance gathers pace, it is fitting that one of the most spectacular new waterfront developments in Europe should be sited on 185 acres of the old Harland and Wolff shipyard. The first phase of the £1 billion Titanic Quarter development, the Northern Ireland Science Park, a world-class centre of excellence for information technology, has already opened. Over the next 15 years, a new urban quarter of bars, shops, restaurants, marinas, homes and offices will emerge. At the heart of the new development will be a magnificent multi-million pound Titanic visitor attraction based around the former Harland and Wolff Headquarters Building and Drawing Offices, one of the largest listed buildings in Northern Ireland.
ABERCORN BASIN
Titanic
BIRTH OF A LEGEND
TITANIC SLIPWAY OLYMPIC SLIPWAY
With her unprecedented size and luxury combined with the tragedy of her sinking, no ship since has gripped the world’s imagination like RMS Titanic. Her remarkable story begins in Belfast.
ODYSSEY COMPLEX
HAMILTON DOCK
H&W DRAWING OFFICES
Titanic Quarter Planned Development
Thompson Graving Dock
Their names reflected their awesome size . . . .
When RMS Titanic set out on her maiden voyage on April 10th 1912, she was the largest and most lavishly appointed ship ever seen, a truly remarkable feat of shipbuilding. Despite the deeply felt impact of her tragic sinking just five days later Titanic remains the subject of enduring pride in Belfast - the City where the world’s most famous ship was designed, built and launched. Titanic was conceived in 1907, following a discussion between Joseph Bruce Ismay, Chairman of the White Star Line and William Pirrie, Chairman of Harland and Wolff. The previous year White Star’s great rivals on the lucrative North Atlantic route, Cunard, had launched the Lusitania and the Mauretania, whose size, speed and elegance heralded a new age in ocean liners. How could White Star restore their pre-eminence? The solution arrived at by the two men would transform the world of shipping forever. On July 31st, 1908 the two companies agreed to the construction of two new ships, Olympic and Titanic (the Britannic, originally named the Gigantic, would be ordered in 1911). Their names reflected their awesome size – Titanic and Olympic would be over 880ft long with a 46,328 gross tonnage. The largest moveable man-made objects on earth, their length comfortably exceeded the height of the tallest buildings of the time.
This was no simple task. Everything about Titanic was gigantic, from the vast steam engines and propellers to its two 15-ton anchors, which needed teams of 20 horses to deliver. Hundreds of skilled craftsmen now made their contribution building and decorating the cabins and rooms. Pirrie even employed leading artists to reproduce great works of art around the ship. After successful sea trials on April 2nd, 1912, thousands lined Belfast Lough to proudly watch ‘the new wonder of the world’ set off for Southampton, where she arrived on April 4th.
The Golden Age of Travel
It was time for the first passengers, representing a broad range of society, to board. For the wealthy, the maiden voyage to New York on board the world’s most talked about ship offered a pleasant social outing, while many of the poorer passengers had saved up the $36.25 cost of a third class ticket in the hope of finding a better life in America. First class passengers discovered a grand lounge decorated in the style of Versailles; a magnificent staircase beneath a huge glass and wrought iron dome; a Parisian café with French waiters and the novel sight of an onboard swimming pool and gymnasium. The first class staterooms or the parlour suites included two bedrooms, a private bath and their own private promenade. Even the third class passengers enjoyed better rooms, largely on the lower decks, than they would have found in other ships.
Titanic
Titanic and Olympic would be over 88Oft long with a 46,328 gross tonnage
Rivet gang working on the Britannic
If the charismatic Lord Pirrie was the driving force behind Titanic, the detail and vision of its design were in the hands of its chief designer, working in the elegant Drawing Office No.1. The original designer was Alexander Carlisle, Pirrie’s brother-in-law, with Pirrie’s nephew, Thomas Andrews, succeeding him in 1910. It is believed that Pirrie, who had no children of his own, was grooming the talented Andrews, much loved by the Harland and Wolff workforce, to be his successor. Titanic was launched on May 31st, 1911 before a cheering crowd of ten thousand onlookers. Titanic was now towed to the new Thompson Outfitting Wharf and Graving Dock where the virtually empty vessel was transformed into the floating palace of legend. It was now that the great boilers and engines, funnels and superstructure were added.
RMS Olympic, Thompson Graving Dock
20 Lifeboats, 2228 Passengers
White Star had made one fateful decision, dramatically reducing the number of lifeboats proposed by Titanic’s original designer, Alexander Carlisle. While Titanic’s 20 lifeboats actually exceeded Board of Trade requirements, they, and the four collapsible boats, provided space for barely half the crew and passengers aboard. The company put great faith in the ship’s much vaunted series of watertight bulkhead. Titanic departed Southampton on April 10th, dropping anchor at Cherbourg in early evening. Here, ferried by the White Star tenders Traffic and Nomadic (which returned to Belfast in 2006), a further 247 passengers boarded. Ninety minutes later, Titanic departed for Queenstown (Cobh) on the south coast of Ireland from where, at 1.30pm on April 11th, she set out for New York.
Titanic
Titanic and the Arrol Gantry
At 11.30pm on the evening of April 14th an iceberg was spotted
The ship had made over 1,500 miles when the first warning of icebergs, five miles to the south, were received on the evening of April 14th. At 11.30 an iceberg was spotted ahead but, though the steering wheel was spun tight, it could not be avoided. At 11.40pm Titanic struck the iceberg scraping its hull below the waterline, buckling it in several places and opening water channels into six watertight compartments. The ship was fatally damaged. Designer Thomas Andrews had to face the unthinkable, calculating that Titanic was to sink within two hours. Soon after midnight the first wireless messages for help were transmitted. By 12.15am the first confused and terrified passengers were being guided to the lifeboats and 30 minutes later the first lifeboat was lowered into the freezing waters. Though designed for 65 people, there were only 28 on board. As distress rockets lit the air, the loading of the lifeboats became more hectic, with desperate efforts being made to get women and children aboard first. At 2.10am the band stopped playing; it has been claimed that they now sang a final hymn, “Nearer My God to Thee”. As the boat sank faster, people were washed off the forward end of the deck. The lights finally went out and the second and third funnels broke away. At 2.20am Titanic finally began to sink beneath the waves.
Titanic’s gym
Olympic and Titanic
Thomas Andrews
Trail
Titanic Officers’ Quarters
Of the 2228 passengers and crew there were only 705 survivors, picked up by the SS Carpathia, which had been en route to New York when it was diverted.
Belfast was a City in mourning, not only for family and friends who had been lost, but also for the magnificent ship it had produced. William Pirrie had missed the voyage due to ill health. It is said that his hair turned white after the tragedy, while Joseph Bruce Ismay, who was hounded by journalists searching for reasons for the sinking, became a recluse. However, over the years, the tremendous pride felt in Belfast for Titanic has been renewed. Around the world the legend of Titanic, bolstered by books and films, including Roy Ward Baker’s ‘A Night to Remember’ starring Kenneth More and James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, has grown hugely over the decades. Today, there are hundreds of museums and attractions around the world dedicated to Titanic but only in Belfast can you find the true birthplace of the world’s most famous ship.
TITANIC TRAIL
Throughout Belfast there are many buildings and monuments with associations to RMS Titanic, not least in the shipyard where she was designed, built and launched.
Former Harland and Wolff Drawing Office
Trail
Belfast Welcome Centre
Donegall Place
Pirrie was Chairman of Harland and Wolff from 1896 to his death in 1924. The plinth was formerly the headstone of Lord and Lady Pirrie’s grave in Belfast City Cemetery. City Hall is an important venue for the ‘Titanic – Made in Belfast’ festival which is held every year.
A one-stop tourist information centre for Belfast – find information on Belfast accommodation, tours, events, ticket booking, souvenirs and gifts as well as an Internet Café.
Robinson & Cleavers
Donegall Sq. North
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Linen Hall Library
Donegall Sq. North
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Opened in 1888 as Robinson & Cleaver’s Royal Irish Linen Warehouse it was Belfast’s most popular, and grandest, department store at the time Titanic was being built. Thomas Andrews and his wife Helen shopped here as would many of the wealthier Harland and Wolff employees. The memorial erected to Titanic after her sinking was erected in the middle of the road outside the building in 1920. It was moved to the grounds of City Hall in 1959, as it had become a traffic hazard.
The last public subscription library in Ireland, the Linen Hall Library has been a central part of Belfast’s cultural life since it was founded in 1788. It is renowned for its Irish, local studies and Troubles collections. An excellent source for research on Belfast, it holds 90 books on Titanic.
YMCA
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Wellington Place
May St Presbyterian Church
May Street
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Albert George Ervine, the youngest member of the Titanic engine room staff, attended bible classes there. He sailed on Titanic to monitor its performance; Ervine helped keep Titanic’s lights blazing until just moments before she sank.
Built as a vehicle for the fierce and very popular preacher Reverend Henry Cooke in 1859, it was, like many churches in Belfast in 1912, the location of a memorial service for Titanic.
Robinson’s Saloon
Great Victoria Street
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Belfast City Hall
Donegall Sq. North
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Opened in 1906 the magnificent Classical Renaissance City Hall, designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas, reflected the great ambition and optimism of Belfast at that time. In fact the Lord Mayor when City Hall was opened, Sir Daniel Dixon, credited William Pirrie, the man who created Titanic, as having ‘the big ideas’ for City Hall. Pirrie, Lord Mayor in 1896/7, is said to have referred to it as ‘the stone Titanic’. Its connections with Titanic are many. In its grounds, the Titanic Memorial, sculpted by Thomas Brock, pays tribute to 22 men who lost their lives on the ship. Another statue by Brock depicts Sir Edward Harland, ship’s plan in hand, who was Lord Mayor in 1885/6. Thanks to Pirrie’s influence, the Lord Mayor’s Suite is also known as ‘the Titanic Rooms’ as craftsmen who worked on them went on to work on the famous liner. Portraits of Lord and Lady Pirrie hang in the Reception Room. On May 31st, 2006, on the 150th anniversary of his birth (and the 95th anniversary of Titanic’s launch), a special plinth was erected to William Pirrie in the grounds of City Hall. Described as ‘the greatest shipbuilder the world has ever known’,
Robinson’s Saloon holds Titanic memorabilia. Each unique item has its own story to tell, adding greatly to the human side of the disaster. The brass nameplate of Lifeboat No 12 brings to mind those who were saved in it. There are letters and postcards, written on board the ship and posted at her last port of call, Queenstown, now Cobh, in Co Cork. One very poignant item is ‘Philomena’. This doll was recovered from the wreck site, in the weeks following the sinking.
Royal Belfast Academical Institution (Inst.)
College Square East
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Designed by Sir John Soane in 1807, the elegant Royal Belfast Academical Institution was attended by William Pirrie from the age of 11 to 15, when he enrolled as an apprentice at Harland and Wolff. His uncle, John Carlisle, was head of the English Department at the time. Carlisle’s son, Alexander, was the original designer of Titanic. Thomas Andrews, who succeeded Carlisle as designer, was also educated here from the age of 11 to 16, when he too enrolled as an apprentice at Harland and Wolff. Next door, the Municipal Technical Institute, now the Belfast Institute, opened in 1907 to provide suitably trained employees for Belfast’s leading industrial and manufacturing companies, including Harland and Wolff.
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Ulster Reform Club
Royal Avenue
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Lord Pirrie, Thomas Andrews and the head of the White Star Line, Joseph Bruce Ismay, were among a number of people connected to Harland and Wolff who enjoyed the good food and fine wines of this elegant club, which is still running over 120 years after its founding. (No access to public)
interest of seamen frequenting the port of Belfast’. Shipyard workers, dockers and sailors at the time of Titanic would have felt at home in its ship-like interior, with its pulpit shaped as a ship’s prow flanked by navigation lights, ship’s binnacle font and the bell of HMS Hood calling worshippers to service. Open to the public every Wednesday afternoon. 15 Belfast Harbour Commissioners Office
Corporation Square
Castle Junction
Castle Place
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Near the site of Sir Arthur Chichester’s Belfast Castle, which burnt down in the early 18th century, it was the centre of Belfast’s tramway system while Titanic was being built. 10 Rosemary St First Presbyterian Church
Rosemary Street
Thomas Andrew, who attended this delightful church with his wife Helen, must have loved its boat-like interior and beautiful woodwork. Dating from 1781, it is Belfast’s oldest place of worship.
The headquarters of the Harbour Commissioners, responsible for overseeing the development and running of Belfast Port, has on show the magnificent captain’s table and chairs which Gilbert Logan designed for Titanic, but which were delivered just too late (it is said they were subsequently shipped to Southampton, just in time to see Titanic disappear on the horizon). Lord Pirrie, himself a Harbour Commissioner, would have been a frequent, and persuasive, presence in the boardroom. Nearby, are two restored graving docks used by William Ritchie, Belfast’s first major shipbuilder.
Central Library
Royal Avenue
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Lagan Weir
Donegall Quay
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Situated on Royal Avenue, Belfast’s main shopping thoroughfare, this is a good place to research local history, while its extensive newspaper collections contain several contemporary articles on Titanic.
St Anne’s Cathedral
Donegall Street
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The Neo-Romanesque Cathedral, famous for its beautiful stained glass windows, held a memorial service for those who lost their lives on Titanic soon after the sinking. The packed congregation included members of Thomas Andrews’ family.
Situated at the confluence of the Farset (which now runs underground) and Lagan rivers, where Belfast’s shipbuilding history began, the weir was constructed in 1994 to control the tidal nature of the Lagan. In the Titanic era many craft would still dock at the quay here. Boat tours depart from here (see back of guide for information)
Queen’s Bridge
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Many Harland and Wolff workers would have hastened over Queen’s Bridge in the early morning, perhaps rushing to make a dawn start on Titanic or Olympic.
Albert Memorial Clock
Custom House Square
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Until a recent renovation corrected its list, this was Belfast’s answer to Pisa’s leaning tower. Built in Gothic style in honour of Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert, it was tall enough, at 113ft, to offer an excellent vantage point for at least one enterprising sightseer to get a birds-eye view of Titanic’s launch. 14 Sinclair Seamen’s Presbyterian Church
Corporation Square
Odyssey
Queen’s Quay
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Designed in the 1850s by Belfast’s most influential architect, Sir Charles Lanyon, this remarkable church was built to ‘watch over the spiritual
The award-winning Odyssey complex is one of Northern Ireland’s biggest tourist attractions. It hosts a world-class interactive discovery centre – W5, a state-of-the-art bowling alley, a six-storey Imax screen, a cinema complex and a range of restaurants, cafes, bars and nightclubs. Adjacent is the 10,000-seater Odyssey Arena, which stages large-scale entertainments and concerts featuring the world’s major music acts, as well as ice hockey and other indoor sports. Overlooking the old Harland and Wolff shipyard, it comprises the southern border of the £1 billion Titanic Quarter development.
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Abercorn Basin
Queen’s Road
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Even as Harland and Wolff was in its infancy, it was clear the new shipyard would need to expand and, by 1867, two vital new developments were completed. The Abercorn Basin was created out of 12 acres of open water which faced the Harland and Wolff shipbuilding berths, providing a service basin for the new Hamilton Graving Dock. As well as shipbuilding, the basin also served Northern Ireland’s coal trade, with ships unloading their vital cargo through the night. The famous engine works where Titanic’s vast and hugely powerful engines were built and tested was based here until 2000. Abercorn Basin will be the location for the first phase of modern apartments, as well as restaurants, shops and bars, in the forthcoming Titanic Quarter development.
The building was constructed in stages between 1900 and 1919 and it is thought the oldest sections include the two beautiful Drawing Offices on the ground floor (there are several other drawing rooms too, such as the Admiralty Drawing Office). It was in the cathedrallike atmosphere of Drawing Office No. 1, surrounded by teams of expert draughtsmen, that first Alexander Carlisle and then Thomas Andrews supervised the concept, design and detailed construction drawings for Titanic and Olympic. The atmospheric Grade B2 listed headquarters has been used as a location for several films, including Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto, starring local actor Liam Neeson.
Olympic & Titanic Slipways Hamilton Graving Dock
Queen’s Road
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Queen’s Road
Building started on the 450 ft long Hamilton Dock in 1863, following some controversy over its location. Completed in 1867, it was the first graving dock built on the County Down side of the River Lagan, though its site had been bitterly opposed by the Belfast Shipwrights Society. They cited the life-threatening risk to shipyard workers, ‘owing to crossing the river, often in crowded boats, before and after daylight’. Harland and Wolff held firm, insisting trade would be encouraged by building the dock adjacent to their works. The Harbour Commissioners eventually won over the shipwrights by agreeing to build what would become the Dufferin and Spencer Docks on the Co Antrim side of the Lagan. The last remaining vessel with a link to Titanic, and the only White Star ship still afloat, the Nomadic was fitted out in the Hamilton Graving Dock and launched in April 1911, just weeks before Titanic.
It was the most spectacular sight ever seen in the world of shipbuilding - workers clambering high over the Arrol gantry, more than twice the height of St Paul’s Cathedral, to work on the two greatest ships yet known to man, Olympic and Titanic. Beneath the ships, which for a period stood side by side, were the slipways specially constructed to launch the ships into the adjacent waterways in the Victoria Channel. They were still in use until the 1960s and have now been preserved. 23
Steam Cranes
Queen’s Road
Like a series of soldier ants, billowing steam from their funnels, a network of 50 steam cranes, pulling objects far greater in size or weight than themselves, scuttled around Queen’s Island’s dedicated rail network. They were used at all stages of construction, including servicing the outfitting of Titanic at the Thompson Graving Dock.
Former Harland & Wolff Headquarters Building and Drawing Offices
Queen’s Road
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Alexandra Graving Dock
Queen’s Road
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The ‘jewel in the crown’ of the Titanic Quarter development, this three-storey sandstone and brick building was the hub of the world’s greatest shipbuilders and the birthplace of RMS Titanic. The building was not just the shipyard’s centre of administration, looking after a workforce, but also housed the offices of the senior figures in the shipyard, such as Lord Pirrie, Alexander Carlisle and Thomas Andrews. The autocratic Pirrie, who kept a hawkish eye on the yard, often beginning his inspections at 7am, retained an apartment here.
The expansion of Harland and Wolff in the last quarter of the 19th century increased constant pressure to update facilities. As a result the company petitioned the Harbour Commissioners for additional fitting out facilities in 1881. A site at the north end of Queen’s Island was chosen and in 1885, Princess Alexandra, after whom the new dock was named, cut the first sod. The dock opened four years later. However, even it would soon prove too small for the huge scale of ship that William Pirrie envisaged for the future.
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Thompson Pump House
Queen’s Road
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HMS Caroline
Queen’s Road
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Today, Alexandra Dock is occupied by HMS Caroline, built in Birkenhead in 1914. She was the lead ship of a class of six light cruisers and is believed to be the only survivor of the infamous Battle of Jutland in 1916. She came to Belfast in 1924 to serve as the headquarters of what is now the Royal Navy Reserve, and was converted at Harland and Wolff for this purpose. Still retaining many of her original features, she is now on the National Historic Ships Register. At approximately half the length of Titanic, HMS Caroline gives a clear illustration of why a new dock was needed for the Olympic-class liners.
The original part of the building was constructed in the 1880s to serve the Alexandra Graving Dock. It was extended significantly to cater for the massive new Thompson Graving Dock, which opened in 1911. Long and rectangular, designed in late Victorian eclectic style, the building featured the most advanced state-of-the-art engineering of its day. Its hugely powerful pumping engines, housed deep in the building, could drain a full dock of 23 millions gallons of water in 110 minutes. A series of underground tunnels leading from near the pumps, could take workers beneath both docks. The Pump House, which still operates, is now, like the Thompson Graving Dock, part of the Northern Ireland Science Park.
Thompson Outfitting Wharf & Graving Dock
Queen’s Road
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Without the Arrol gantry and the Thompson Graving Dock, both the biggest in the world when they were constructed, neither Titanic nor her sister ships, Olympic and Britannic could have been built or fitted. The Harbour Commissioners decided to build the new graving dock in 1902, with no little encouragement from their fellow commissioner, William Pirrie, Harland and Wolff’s persuasive Chairman, who had a clear vision of the scale future ships would take. Work began in 1904 on the 880 ft long dock, whose walls were 18.5 ft thick and which had 332 massive keel-blocks of cast iron to support the weight of the great liners it would hold. At the same time a large outfitting wharf was constructed nearby and the surrounding water was dredged to a depth of 32 ft. Despite its size, the dock still had to be extended so its first ship, Olympic, could enter in April 1911. It would be in the Thompson Outfitting Wharf and Graving Dock that the ships’ engines, boilers and superstructure would be added and work completed on their luxurious cabins and rooms. In October 1911, Titanic had to be moved from the dock to the wharf to allow repairs to be completed on Olympic, which had been involved in a collision. The delay pushed back the date of Titanic’s maiden voyage nearly three weeks. Had she sailed on time, it is very doubtful the world’s most famous ship would have encountered the fateful iceberg.
Harland & Wolff Cranes Samson and Goliath
Queen’s Island
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The two great yellow-painted gantry cranes Samson and Goliath have become icons of Belfast, dominating not just Queen’s Island but the entire city skyline. Constructed to service the vast new graving dock at Harland and Wolff, Goliath (the smaller at 315 ft) began work in 1969, the 348 ft Samson five years later. Each of the Krupp-Ardelt designed cranes can lift loads of up to 840 tons. Harland and Wolff were still one of the world’s great shipbuilders at the time and the building of the two cranes, during a difficult period for shipbuilding in Belfast, was seen as a sign of faith in the future. Now much beloved Belfast landmarks, their own future was assured in 2003 when they were scheduled for preservation.
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A one-stop tourist information centre for Belfast, you can find information here on the City’s many links with RMS Titanic, including bus, boat, walking and self-guided Titanic tours, as well as information on the ‘Titanic – Made in Belfast’ festival and other festivals and exhibitions related to Titanic. You will find a range of Titanic memorabilia in the gift shop. Belfast Welcome Centre 47 Donegall Place Belfast BT1 5AD Tel: +44 (0)28 9024 6609 Web: www.gotobelfast.com
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Belfast Welcome Centre
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Belfast Welcome Centre Robinson & Cleavers May St Presbyterian Church Belfast City Hall Linen Hall Library YMCA Robinson’s Saloon Royal Belfast Academical Institution (Inst.) Ulster Reform Club Castle Junction Rosemary St First Presbyterian Church Central Library St Anne’s Cathedral Albert Memorial Clock Sinclair Seamen’s Presbyterian Church Belfast Harbour Commissioners Office Lagan Weir Queen’s Bridge Odyssey Abercorn Basin Hamilton Graving Dock Former Harland & Wolff Headquarters and Drawing Offices Olympic & Titanic Slipways Steam Cranes Alexandra Graving Dock HMS Caroline Thompson Outfitting Wharf & Graving Dock Thompson Dock Pump House Harland & Wolff Cranes Samson and Goliath
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Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
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The Transport Museum, one of the finest in Europe, displays Ireland’s largest and most comprehensive transport collection, which includes the history of shipbuilding. It holds a permanent Titanic exhibition which includes items such as original Titanic material, vintage photographs, newsreels, recordings and music related to the ship. The Transport Museum also holds an image archive – a significant local source of historical images from the 1860’s to the present day. The archive today contains over 300,000 still images representing the way of life of the people of Northern Ireland, aspects of the history of transport and the Harland & Wolff Collection, covering shipbuilding and engineering in the company’s yard in Belfast. Ulster Folk and Transport Museum: Cultra Holywood Co. Down BT18 0EU Tel: +44 (0)28 9042 8428 Web: www.uftm.org.uk
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QUEEN ELIZABETH BRIDGE MIDDLEPATH STREET
Laganside Bus Centre
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Europa Bus Centre Great Victoria St Train Station
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Titanic Trail Map
Equal to Ten Minutes Walk
IT WILL TAKE IN EXCESS OF 2½ HOURS TO COMPLETE THE WHOLE OF TITANIC TRAIL ON FOOT
Central Station
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Tours
The Lagan Boat Company offer guided tours of the Harland and Wolff shipyards from the River. Take a guided Titanic Tour Tel: +44 (0)28 33 0844 Web: www.laganboatcompany.com There are also bus tours of the City which take in Queen’s Island and the Titanic Quarter. For further information contact the Belfast Welcome Centre.
Festival
A Titanic Festival’ is held every year in the City. It includes talks, films, exhibitions and tours to the City every April. For further information contact the Belfast Welcome Centre.
Image Zoo design 028 90 200 420
Titanic Interactive Trail
Produced by
Tourism Development Unit Development Department Belfast City Council 4-10 Linenhall Street Belfast BT2 8BP Tel: +44 (0)28 9032 0202 www.belfastcity.gov.uk
Another way to explore Belfast’s Titanic Story is through the self guided ‘Titanic Interactive Trail’. This state of the art handheld digital device will take you on an interactive multi-media tour of the key Titanic sites and transport you back in time to walk alongside the shipyard workers and gaze in awe as the vision of the Titanic rises up before your very eyes. The console is available to hire from the Belfast Welcome Centre.
Acknowledgements
The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Titanic Quarter Ltd. Una Reilly. NOAA, Institute for Exploration, University of Rhode Island
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TRAIL MAP
www.goto belfast.com
