It´s been 20 years since Rose didn´t make some space for Jack on that door – and yes it would have been wide enough – to celebrate that anniversary of a movie I once saw so often, I made my way back to Queen´s Island (now called Titanic Quarter) after my boat tour.
The regeneration of the waterfront and the area started in 1995, the largest development was the Titanic Belfast visitor attraction.
The SS Nomadic was launched in 1911 in Belfast and is a former tender of the White Star Line. She was used t0 transfer passengers, their baggage, mail and ship’s supplies from and to the RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic lying offshore, she is the last existing vessel from the White Star Line.
The Nomadic tendered until 1934 when the White Star Lines merged with Cunard Line.
During World War II, Nomadic again saw service; on 18 June 1940 she took part in the evacuation of Cherbourg. She was subsequently requisitioned by the Royal Navy and based in Portsmouth harbour, she operated as a troop ship, coastal patrol vessel and minelayer for the remainder of the war.
During the war, Cherbourg port was heavily damaged, so large ocean liners could no longer dock there. Nomadic was saved from the shipbreakers and again returned to tendering duties for the SCSR from Cherbourg. She served the ocean liners of the day, such as Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. She finally retired from these duties on 4 November 1968. (SS Nomadic)
After some years she was bought, renovated and converted into a restaurant on the Seine in Paris in 1974. After the death of the owner, she was towed out of Paris to Le Havre by the French authorities who were looking for a buyer. Private Irish and French maritime societies started campaigns to raise money to buy the Nomadic but failed. In the end, it was the Northern Ireland government who bought the vessel at the auction and brought her back to Belfast in 2006. Restauration works were finished in 2012 and now she lays in the historic Hamilton Dock.
The entrance and inside the Titanic Experience. Be prepared for a lot of people and to have to wait for an assigned timeslot. I used this time to walk to the end of Queen´s Island along the Titanic Studios and the HMS Caroline to the Pump Station and the Titanic´s Dock.
View over the historic slipways where Titanic and Olympic were built and from where they were first launched into the water.
Walk down the very slipway where Titanic was constructed and explore a life size plan of Titanic’s Promenade Deck which is inlaid in white stone.
Discover the positions of the liner’s lifeboats and funnels and have a seat at one of the benches positioned exactly as they would have been on board the deck of Titanic. (Titanic Belfast)
The Thompson Dry Dock, where Titanic sat on dry land for the last time.
Tour through the harbour of Belfast, this “flying part” was probably one of my favourites from the Experience.
The plaza seen from above. Titanic STudios to the left.
First Class
Second Class
Third Class
