Titanic Places

Though its maiden and only voyage lasted only 5 days and ended in disaster, more than a century later everything Titanic continues to be a big attraction. If you visit England or Ireland expect to find museums large and small related to the Titanic. For example, there is an exhibition that includes a large-scale interactive model of the ship at the Sec City Museum in Southampton, England. Southampton is the port from which the Titanic sailed. Our daughter lived and taught school there in 2008, Unfortunately, we did not go to the museum when we visited. The following is a photo of the Titanic embarking from Southampton (source: Titanic Belfast).

There also is a large Titanic display at the Cobh Heritage Centre in Queenstown, Ireland, that shared space with an exhibition on the Irish Famine. Queenstown was the last place the Titanic picked up passengers before heading out to sea for NYC. Passengers were ferried to the Titanic via a tender.

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Canada includes artifacts that floated to the surface and were collected by those who helped recover bodies after the disaster. One hundred and fifty of the 300 victims pulled from the water are buried in Halifax in three cemeteries – a total of 1,503 died.

The newest and most comprehensive treatment is Titanic Belfast, which was built on the site of the former Harland and Wolff shipyard where the Titanic as built. It opened in 2012, the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's sailing. (Titanic Belfast is the source of the B&W photos.)

The following is a photo of the Titanic during its sea trials (source: Titanic Belfast).

Titanic Belfast is adjacent to River Lagan and in the area of the dry-dock in which the Titanic was built. From every direction the building looks like a bow of the Titanic. The second photo is the view out of the left bow-shaped section of the building onto River Lagan and Belfast. Also in the first photo, notice the deep water oil rig to the far left in the process of being built by Harland and Wolff. It is probably bound for the North Sea.

The wooden boat on display in the dry-dock is especially shaped to serve as a plug to seal the dry-dock. The building to the rights is the Harland and Wolff Drawing Office where the plans for Titanic and her two similar sister ships, Britannic and Olympic, were developed.

This interesting copper wall inside Titanic Belfast that may have been inspired by the multiple plate construction used in the hull of the Titanic and other ships of the day.