Sunday/Rātapu
We drove from Portrush to Belfast early, in time for our usual newspaper read and morning coffee in a nice cafe there. Then to the Titanic Belfast exhibition.
(From Wikipedia) "Titanic Belfast is a visitor attraction opened in 2012, a monument to Belfast's maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city's Titanic Quarter where the RMS Titanic was built. It tells the stories of the ill-fated Titanic, which hit an iceberg and sank during her maiden voyage in 1912, and her sister ships RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic. The building contains more than 12,000 square metres (130,000 sq ft) of floor space . . . "
This museum was voted the World's Best Tourist Attraction (I don't know by who), and we are not surprised. It was a pity we were on a Sunday. It was packed, but so wonderful.
You get the whole world of the building of the Titanic. It was built on this site in Belfast, then on it’s maiden voyage sailed to Southampton in England to be commissioned, then Cherbourg in France to pick up passengers, and then it was heading to New York.
Belfast company Harland and Wolff built the Titanic. Belfast was a major shipbuilding centre through last century.
Launched in 1911, Titanic, at 882 feet in length, was the largest moving man made object in the world. It had 29 boilers that held 159 furnaces. The ship’s full capacity was 2,453 passengers and around 900 crew.
You can see different types of people that chose to take the trip, or in this case, attend the launch.
These were the workers.
The crockery.
The passenger classes.
The ice warning.
The sinking. The Titanic struck an iceberg, opening a 300-foot hole in the hull, and sank on April 14 after remaining afloat around three hours. The ship carried 16 lifeboats and four collapsible boats that accommodated only around half the people onboard. When the Cunard ship, Carpathia, arrived to rescue survivors, only 705 persons in lifeboats had survived the sinking. The disaster was responsible for improvements in maritime safety regulations.
The stories.
The facts.
Where the titanic was found. Explorer Robert Ballard discovered the remains of Titanic in 1985 lying at a depth of 12,415 feet. The museum had many artifacts recovered from the ship.
I learnt about shipbuilding, the desire to build a luxury liner, what peoples' lives were like at that time, and how life can throw a disaster at you.
Then it was time to go to our Belfast accommodation, the Culloden . . .
. . . , and to watch the second All Ireland hurling semifinal - between Tipperary and Wexford. It was another thriller. And the underdogs won again - Tipperary 31, Wexford 29.
"Fourteen-man Tipperary pulled off a heroic victory over Wexford to set up yet another All-Ireland final with Kilkenny next month. They traiied by five points shortly after John McGrath’s red card 11 minutes into the second half. Tipperary seemed to have a real desire to win and everything came together for them while Wexford, lost their way badly in the last quarter. They won for much of the first half, at the end of which they led by two points, with Tipperary only really finding a rhythm in the closing minutes of the half."
