Our tour guide's view of the Titanic Tour
Phillip O'Connor Boatmaster and Tour Guide (excerpt taken from the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau Main Guide)
There are over 300 museums around the world dedicated to Titanic, but this is the only tour where people can see where it all began. Titanic still conjures up a sense of romance and adventure and the tour gives people an idea of just how vast the Harland and Wolff shipyard once was and what it meant to Belfast. I’ve always been fascinated by boats and, like all the guides, am a member of the Ulster Titanic Society. I’ve been part of the Lagan Boat Company since it started.
You’ll find us by the Big Fish, down by the Lagan Lookout. It’s a sculpture that represents the return of salmon to the river and, if you’re lucky, you’ll see some on the tour. It was here that Belfast started. You’ll get a real feel of Belfast’s history from the moment we set off, sailing under the Dargan Bridge and past the old docks on the left. You can see Sailortown, which was once crowded with sailors and dockers. Sinclair Seaman’s Church with its pulpit like a ship was the main church for a thriving community. There’s two very atmospheric old pubs down there called Pat’s and the Rotterdam. Just past that is the Ritchie Dry Docks - William Ritchie was the first great shipbuilder in Ireland.
Coming around to Queen’s Island, past the new Odyssey Centre, we come to the beginning of the Harland and Wolff shipyard where Titanic and many other great liners were built. At its height, over 32,000 people worked here, though it’s just a few hundred now. Samson and Goliath are two of the biggest cranes in the world and represent the Belfast skyline for many locals. We pass Hamilton Dry Dock where the tenders for Titanic were built (one of which still survives) and. the site where the old Pleasure Park stood.
You can still see the general office where Lord Pirrie, Chairman of Harland and Wolff when Titanic was built, lived while in Belfast as well as the drawing rooms where Titanic was designed. This area will be preserved as part of the new Titanic Quarter being developed in the shipyards. It took a hundred architects one year to design Titanic in these rooms and it took the most skilled engineers, craftsmen and artists in the world a further year to build it, including 6000 men working on the gantry. It really was a floating palace and was bigger than any building in the world at that time. We pass right by the original slipways from which Titanic was launched and the dry dock specially built for her to be fitted in. Even the original cranes are still there. Titanic had two sister ships, including the Olympic, which was brought back to dry dock to be repaired, holding up the launch of Titanic. If she hadn’t been held up for a month that fateful iceberg would have been a lot smaller and who knows...
The shipyards transformed Belfast and affected every part of city life. Titanic was the greatest ship ever built at that time and the tragedy of her sinking touched the lives of everyone here. But there is great pride still in her creation. 20,000 people saw the launch, 100,000 saw her sail out Belfast Lough. If you’re interested in Titanic, we hope to see you on our tour.