Titanic - The Memory

 When you think of The Titanic....you think of Southampton, Icebergs, Disaster....DiCaprio....right? It seems that none of us really thought about The Titanic being built in Belfast and this was a nice surprise on our trip.

This post has photos but a little history as well...simply because it was stuff that I did not know.

We saw these huge cranes when we first came into Belfast. Terry told us that they were the cranes used for Titanic....really? Our ears perked up. THE Titanic?

This view, from the interstate highway, does not look so impressive and nothing tells us that we are looking at a shipyard.
The H & M stands for Harland & Wolff Shipyard - This shipyard built almost every ship owned by the White Star Line (Owner of Titanic) and was the biggest shipyard in the world at the turn of the 20th Century...1900 and onward.
They employed all kinds of craftsmen because they built some of the most luxurious ships in the world.
The shipyard is still in business today, but they repair ships at this time. 

We returned to Belfast Harbour and learned a bit more about The Titanic and its history. The shipyard is actually on Queen's Island (which is reclaimed land from a river straightening scheme back in the 1840's.)  The Island is in the River Lagen. 

If you want lots and lots of information then check out this link www.titanic-titanic.com

This mural was on the end of the building 

Drydock. Titanic was here, it was flooded and then the ship was floated out into the harbour and out to sea.

Ships being repaired today. 

Navy ship

Kids becoming statues - Ready?

Leap! 

Massive jump rope

Could this be Jack and Rose?

This is the new Titanic Exhibit and the link has a lot of great information including a time lapse video of the building process. This opens March 31, 2012 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the launching of TItanic.

Here is another Explore the Building Video that you might enjoy.

They have definitely taken something that was a huge tragedy and brought it back to life as a memorial, in a very contemporary setting. Needless to say, many lessons were learned about the abilities of man to creat great things....but no matter what man does it is not safe from the forces of nature.

I would say that asking for God's traveling mercies and for His grace during travel times is pretty important. He gave us this amazing planet to enjoy, but we should be doing it for the purposes of His honor and Glory and not for our own selfish desires.

Thanks, Terry, for this nice surprise.