TITANIC

The TITANIC : the Maiden Voyage

The Titanic was the largest ship in the world. She was 270 metres long and over 50 metres tall. This huge luxury liner was built in Belfast for White Star Lines.

One of the people saved by a lifeboat was the chairman of White Star Lines, Englishman J. Bruce Ismay. When he entered his lifeboat, there were still women and children on the ship - and Ismay became a social outcast for the British and American press.

The discovery of the wreck of the Titanic in 1985 was a sensation.

Most of the recovered bodies are buried at beautiful Fairview cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Visitors leave toys on the grave of the Unknown Child, and red roses on the grave of J. Dawson. This young Irishman inspired the character of Jack Dawson played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1997 film Titanic.

Over 1500 people died: celebrities and millionnaires from the First Class and poor people from the Third. Most of the poor passengers from the lower decks died. (Third class passengers on deck)

A lot of controversy was about the LIFEBOATS. The Titanic only had 20 lifeboats, with a capacity for 1,178 people - but she carried over 2,200. Because the lifeboats ruined the view, they were removed and substituted by luxury equipment.

The Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic 600 km southeast of Nova Scotia and sank on April 15th, 1912.

The Titanic was built in Belfast. After leaving Southampton, passengers got on in Cherbourg in France. Her final stop was Queenstown on the coast of County Cork in Ireland. Today, Queenstown is called Cobh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pywFRpEcZA

The main place to go Titanic sightseeing is Belfast. Here, you can look down into the enormous dry dock where the ship was built. The Titanic Quarter is being regenerated into a tourism site. There are restaurants and bars, apartments, Titanic walks, and a very big new Titanic Museum - which, bizarrely, resembles an iceberg!

Titanic’s final destination was to be New York, Pier 59, which was owned by the White Star Lines. Instead, the Titanic survivors arrived in New York on the CARPATHIA, a Cunard Line ship. After a brief stop at Pier 59 to drop off the lifeboats from Titanic, the Carpathia travelled to dock at the Cunard pier, Pier 54. Thousands of people awaited the arrival of the Carpathia and the news of loved ones.