Many years ago a traveling exhibit of the Titanic came to the Union Depot in St Paul, Minnesota. They had quite a few artifacts, including a large section of the ship’s hull. I found it to be absolutely fascinating. A few years after, I was out in New York City as part of a tour of the Eastern seaboard of the US. On the USS Intrepid was a small exhibit with some artifacts from the Titanic. Then, when I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I went to the Maritime Museum (I have a couple of ancestors who were ships captains in that area at the time of the American Revolution) and saw a permanent exhibit of several artifacts from the Titanic.
Halifax was the nearest port from where the ship sank. It was where the survivors and many of the bodies were taken. The graveyard contains several of the people who didn’t survive. Most of the markers had names, but some were marked “unknown”, including the grave of a child.
When I had been to Belfast in 2005, the only memorial to the Titanic was a statue in front of City Hall. The Harland and Wolff cranes, Samson and Goliath, were still there and still being used. But there just didn’t seem to be much interest at that time to highlight the fact that the ship had been built there.
The four hour Titanic Belfast Walk excursion in the morning was listed as “demanding”. They weren’t kidding. We spent the first two hours in the Titanic Belfast Exhibition. That wasn’t too bad. It was a very large exhibit, spread over several floors, but there were benches to sit on here and there. I could pace myself quite well. Demanding or not, I didn’t want to miss it.
The exhibit tells the story of the building of the ship, the maiden voyage and sinking, plus the discovery of the wreckage. It contains the following galleries:
- Boomtown Belfast – Belfast at the start of the 20th century. Includes the original Harland and Wolff shipyard gates and an interactive floor with the construction plans for the Titanic.
- The Shipyard – a ride aboard a mini-car up and around a replica of Titanic’s rudder while depicting scenes of the ship being built.
- The Launch – overlooking the actual slipway from which the Titanic was launched, scenes are shown of the launch.
- The Fit-Out – the first, second and third class cabins are depicted. There is a computer-generated 360 degree tour of the ship from the engine room to the dining salons and the bridge.
- The Maiden Voyage – depicts the journey from Belfast to Southampton, and from there to Cherbourg, Cobh and westwards.
- The Sinking – the sound of the Morse code SOS messages and the audio of survivors telling their stories can be heard as the image of the sinking ship is projected against a wall of replicas of the life-jackets.
- The Aftermath – this part of the exhibition is dominated by a full-size replica of one of the lifeboats. The British and American inquiries into the disaster are depicted. There are also interactive screens to see if a relative might have been part of the crew or one of the passengers.
- Myths & Legends – this depicts the movies, plays, books, and poems written about the Titanic and some of the myths and legends perpetuated by them.
- Titanic Beneath – the ship is presented as it is now.
I don’t have any difficulty walking. In fact, I enjoy taking walks when I travel to become acclimated to new areas. I also take almost daily walks around the neighborhood or in nearby parks when at home. While onboard the ship, I also took frequent walks just for the exercise.
Standing in one place for a long period of time is another thing. I had some severe injuries to my back several years ago that put me in a back brace for several years. Plus I had some surgery next to my spine (slightly higher up than my previous injuries) in June of 2021 for some cancer. They got it all. But my back continues to be a bit sensitive about too much standing without any place to sit. The second two hours of the excursion were all over the Titanic Quarter to see the actual locations associated with the ship.
Those two hours required an enormous amount of standing while the fellow leading the group droned on and on. If someone asked a question, that meant what seemed like at least another 15 minutes or so while the question was being answered. There was one point when I thought I would just stretch out on the concrete. We did stop outside of a pub and it became quite apparent that the guy was settling in for an especially long discourse. I wondered if I could sneak in, get myself some refreshment, and slip back out before the group noticed. But I didn’t want to run the risk of being left behind. We were being picked up from a different location from where we had been dropped off. I didn’t want to get lost and need to take a taxi back to the ship.
To be fair, the walk did cover a lot of ground. We began at the slipway where the ship was built and from which it was launched before being fitted out. The Nomadic, which was a tender for the Titanic as well as the Olympic was docked not too far away. Our guide said that she was also involved in the evacuation of Dunkirk in World War II. She is the last surviving White Star ship in the world.
The former Harland and Wolff offices have been turned into a hotel. Behind the hotel, the enormous gantry cranes called “Samson” and “Goliath” can be seen. In the Titanic Quarter there is a film studio where parts of “Game of Thrones” and other TV shows and movies have been filmed. It is called Titanic Studios.
We also viewed an unexploded bomb from World War II and the HMS Caroline, which is one of the longest serving war ships still in existence. Our last stop was the drydock where the Titanic was fitted out. The earlier slipway had been filled in, but this one had not been altered. So we could see it in its original state.
The SSE Arena, with a capacity of 10,800, is also part of the Titanic Quarter. Sports events and concerts are held there. We drove by it on the way back to the ship.
Next time – Belfast: Hillsborough Castle & Gardens, a Royal Residence.
