LAST MEETING

14 November 2011

'Titanica - an exhibition'

William Blair

Ulster Folk and Transport Museum

While only working in the Museum for the last couple of years William Blair showed his in depth knowledge of the Titanic subject area... illustrating his talk with images from the exhibition currently showing at the Museum's Ulster Folk and Transport site at Cultra. He described his input into the mounting of the Exhibition as very challenging in that the aim was to show the story of Titanic but related to the wider story of ship building and the story of Belfast
- its industry, its people and the story of migration!
William told how the Exhibition endeavours to tell the story of the sister ships with the Museum filling in gaps in its collection on Olympic and Britannic and indeed Nomadic (including almost uniquely for a historic exhibition, the story of Titanic in popular culture).
Key plates from the Museum's vast photographic collection are used throughout the Titanica exhibition, not just the ones we all know and associate with Titanic, but also others less well known.  Key items are on display including the stained glass window from the drawing offices (from above Lord Pirrie's office fireplace).  One of William's key points was that while the story of Titanic is romanticised somewhat nowadays, the birth of the idea for this class of ships and their building was purely business related - profit! Size was the key issue for the lucrative north Atlantic run and luxury was to some extent a side issue - lots of Third Class passengers but First Class for extra profit.  The north Atlantic run was about emigration - Europeans migrating to the United States! The power house of Belfast ship building - Harland and Wolff - was described as the Cape Carnaveral of the turn of the century!  The confidence of the presiding administration in H&W in its capabilities was demonstrated  by not only the commissioning of the gigantic and luxurious ships but also by the building of the Thompson dry dock, the Arrol Gantry and the largest floating crane in the world!  The also talk was full of smaller tales such as the building of the lifeboats at the yard, the cabinet making, the alteration of the plans (funnel height) and the engine design... the strive for innovation and efficiency!

Stephen Cameron (Belfast Titanic Society Historian) and William Blair (NMNI) at the Societies Monday night meeting on 14th November 2011

William Blair (NMNI) and John Millar, President of Belfast Titanic Society - William was a guest speaker to Belfast Titanic Society and delivered a talk on theUlster nad Folk and Transport Museum's Titanica exhibition.

10 October 2011

'Titanic and her north coast connections'

Sean McMichael
(Society member)

Sean is a Titanic Society member and has been researching the north coast titanic connections for the last couple of years. A short article on the topic will appear in the Society magazine. Born and bred in Ballycastle he is well placed to explore historic connections of migration and shipping!

Sean McMichael pictured with a shipping agent berth plan for prospective third class passengers on the White Star liner Olympic - the material is typical of a working shipping agent at the turn of the century and the time of Titanic

(l-r) Stephen Cameron (Society Historian), Aidan McMichael (Society Secretary)  with Society guests and Sean McMichael (far left - Society Member)

Speaking after the talk Sean said: "...the north coast has plenty of connections to Titanic not least the story of Titanic Fireman James Blaney from Ballycastle.  I just wanted to ensure that he is remembered come the time of the commemorations next year..."

The talk illustrated the key role of a local shipping agent in the story of migration in Ireland.  The story involved the telling of a family tale - a single family, the Blaneys, and how eventually they all migrated to Boston. The story focussed on the life of the family's eldest son James, his employment in the army, navy and the merchant navy as well as his travels across the world.  Crucially, the story tells how James ended up on Titanic and how only recently did the Blaney descendants in Boston realise their great uncle had died on the great ship! In addition to the family story Sean illustrated the connection to Ballycastle of Robert Welch, Titanic's photographer, and Father Browne who both spend time in the local area not least to take photographs.  Marconi was part and parcel of the Titanic story and so too part of the close connection to the north coast - Marconi carried out experiments in radio signals in and around Ballycastle. [A story outlining the talk will be published in the next issuer of CQD]  

12 September 2011

'The Men Who Built Titanic!'

Allison Murphy

Allison is author of 'Titanic Times' and 'When Dublin was the Capital' and is also Editor of CQD, Belfast Titanic Society's Magazine

Allison Murphy pictured before delivering her talk to Belfast Titanic Society members on 12th September 2011

...the people who lived in Belfast at the time of Titanic were industrious - they worked long hours yet they learned new skills in technical colleges after hours.  They were respectable and neighbourly.  They took pride in their appearance and in their work. They attended churches and missions and lived side by side with all religions.  They also enjoyed something their forbearers hadn't - leisure time.  They went to music halls and also watched the advent of moving pictures. They played sports and supported their favourite teams by going to matches in their thousands! Many went on excursions or even on holidays - something hitherto unknown...

The city that built Titanic did not just build big ships.  It was a modern prosperous busy city whose respectable inhabitants were well educated for the time and who, because of the prosperity, enjoyed a quality of life hitherto unknown. It was a city of fine buildings, theatres, cinemas, international sporting events, brightly decorated Italian ice cream parlours pubs and famous fish and chip shops...

                                               14th February 2011

On Monday night we had a very successful evening when Alf McCreary came and spoke to us about his new book

'Titanic Port'. We also heard more about an event that is happening at Queens Film Theatre later this month and for those of you who couldn't attend, I don't want you to miss out.

From Fri 25th Feb to Thursday 3rd Mar, there will be a series of films/documentaries all about shipbuilding here in Belfast, Scotland and Tyneside. There are some great gems in there. There will also be a showing of a 'Night to Remember'. Check out the programme by clinking on the link below. Scroll down to " This Working Life. Tales from the Shipyard" and you can see the full programme. Clink on the one you find interesting and you get more details and booking arrangements. I intend to be there on Fri 25th and Tues 1st at least. Hope to see you there. I have been advised to book early

http://www.queensfilmtheatre.com/films/specialevents/

A.G.M.

10th May 2010

February 2010

Our packed Feb 8th meeting heard Mark Chirnside speak on the topic of -

"The Olympic Class Liners - a Business Case"

The 'Olympic' Class Ships: A Business Perspective, a presentation by Mark Chirnside took a brief look at the White Star Line's express ships before the 'Olympic' class ships came into existence, charting their declining passenger numbers and the need for new tonnage; examined the financing of the three sister ships, which, contrary to popular belief, were not financed by J. P. Morgan, rather they were funded primarily by two huge bond issues in October 1908 and July 1914, secured by a mortgage on the company's entire fleet; and demonstrated that not all of these borrowings had been paid off by the time the White Star Line was forced to merge with Cunard.

Particular interest was shown in passenger numbers, which recovered remarkably quickly after the Titanic disaster. Although they plunged in the summer of 1912 for Olympic, after she returned to service passenger numbers recovered steadily in 1913-14. Even the most popular express liners did not sail full all year around. In fact, Mauretania was in service for three years before she carried over 2,000 passengers on a single crossing; and Titanic's passenger list, sometimes believed to have been disappointingly short for April, was actually quite respectable.
      Long believed to have been intended as a replacement for Titanic, the Germanic/Homeric was in fact intended for the Liverpool service as a larger, faster, more luxurious and improved version of Adriatic and the 'Big Four'. Despite the absense of Titanic or an immediate replacement, the Southampton express service continued unabated although, by 1914, only Olympic and the older Oceanic were on the schedule. The White Star Line as a whole saw record profits in 1913.
      Although a blow for the company, Britannic's cost was compensated by the government after her loss in November 1916. Following the war, when Cunard moved their express ships to Southampton, it was possible to compare Olympic with Mauretania, potentially her chief rival when she entered service in 1911. Although there were one or two exceptions, on the whole Olympic proved more popular and had higher passenger numbers, which combined with a greater fuel economy helps to demonstrate the financial soundness of the 'comfort rather than speed' model. Mauretania nevertheless seems to have been profitable - and she certainly was from 1926 to 1930 - and there is little reason to assume that Olympic was not. Cunard's Aquitania, built to better Olympic, proved more popular still.
      By 1930, the depression was setting in as passenger numbers fell, while the decline of third class travel, which had all but vanished after the early 1920s, continued. For the first time in its history, the White Star Line made a loss and operated in the red until the merger with Cunard.
      The membership of the Society enjoyed Mark's presentation and he fielded the many questions which arose. To one question, he couldn't remember the answer but he has kindly forwarded it to us. The Cretic was the only White Star Line ship in 1908 which was not built by H&W.

February 2010

Pictures from the BTTS recent Day-Trip to the Titanic Artefacts Exhibition in Dublin.

42 members, 1 driver and a large yellow bus, joined the Irish Titanic Society and the Addergoole Society for a joint Titanic dinner in the City West Hotel.

The Annual Cricket Match at Comber  8^th June 2009

Members of the Belfast Titanic Society gathered at Comber, where Thomas Andrews played, for the annual cricket game against North Down. The evening was blessed with glorious sunshine but not much heat. Excitement was intense as Society members (and youthful guest players!) chased a very high score from the home team who batted first. Into the last ‘over’, the teams could not have been closer, with a 4 needed from the last ball of the game to achieve victory. Despite the efforts of the final pair of batsmen, the final score was 98 to 97 for North Down, signalling a win for the home team who were then presented with the ‘new’ trophy. This ‘wonderful’ cup had been ‘sourced’ in Barcelona by BTTS team manager Bryan Patterson, ( full story in next issue of CQD). The evening finished off with a well deserved BBQ.

Photographs courtesy Joseph Cohen, Society photographer

11th May 2009

Belfast Titanic Society

AGM

On Monday the 11th May 2009 we held our AGM onboard Nomadic. A good turnout of members ensured a warm and vibrant meeting and the successful election of new office bearers; a list of which will be published soon.   (Pictures courtesy of Joseph Cohen.)

Our President, John Andrews.

Our Chairman, Una Reilly opens the meeting.

The steering committee.

Norman asking a question.

Members on a tour of Nomadic.

9th February 2009

The Works of Rosamond Praeger

Despite a threat of bad weather, there was a very good turn out for the February meeting of the Society, held in Inst.

The evening was about "The Titanic Legacy of Rosamond Praeger", a very apt title as we learnt a great deal about this very prolific artist who produced a 'titanic' amount of work but was not recognized for her true worth in the country of her birth, Ireland. The very entertaining illustrated talk was delivered by Dr Joseph McBrinn who lectures in Visual & Material Culture at the School of Art, the University of Ulster. He very much brought the character of this amazing lady to life.

Sophia Rosamond Praeger was born in Holywood, Co Down, Northern Ireland. She was the younger sister of the internationally renowned naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger and the National Botanical Gardens in Glasnevin Dublin has several pen and ink line drawings of flora by her.
Ms Praeger, who never married, was educated at Sullivan School, the Belfast School of Art and for four years studied at the Slade School of Art in London. She also studied art in Paris.

Though she wrote and illustrated children’s books, she is best known as a sculptress
Amongst her many works are The Philosopher (which was shown at the Royal Academy) and her well-loved Johnny The Jig is to be seen in Holywood, Co. Down, (between the Maypole and the Priory).

Some of her most acclaimed work was commissioned by, amongst others, the Andrews family, including the Andrews Memorial Hall in Comber and the Workman & Clark War Memorial which now is situated on the Pump House at the Thompson Dry Dock. She also produced the memorial to Thomas Andrews in the Ulster Reform Club in Belfast.

It was a very informative meeting, enjoyed by all those who attended