The Titanic And Ireland
The Titanic was built at the Harland and Wolff Shipyards in Belfast
in Northern Ireland in 1912. It was 882 feet long and had a gross
tonnage of 45,000 ton. It was the worlds biggest boat.
Owned by The
White Star Line who intended employing the ship (as well as the Olympic
- the sister boat) for transatlantic traffic between Europe and America.
The White Star Line, owners of the Titanic, and also the builders,
Harland and Wolff, never publicly stated that the Titanic was unsinkable.
Despite
carrying a maximum capacity of over 3200 passengers and crew the ship
was only equipped with 16 lifeboats and a handful of life rafts. In
total only one third of all those aboard could have fitted into the
life saving measures.
Passage cost anywhere between 870 and 2 pounds,
with the majority of passengers third class) opting for the cheaper
fare.
Splendour abounded on board the magnificent vessel with some
of the rooms even having fireplaces that burned coal in the siting
room, and gigantic beds in the bedroom. Huge 500 feet promenades demonstrated
the sheer scale of the boat.
Captain at the maiden voyage was E.J.
Smith who had sailed over two million miles for The White Star Line
who had complete confidence in him. The Titanic was to have been his
last voyage before retirement.
Some 63 males and 60 females boarded
the giant ship at Cobh at the very South of Ireland. The people of
Cobh erected a memorial to the Irish victims of the voyage. The memorial
was unveiled in 1998 by Liam Birke, T.D., who was the nephew of one
of the deceased passengers, Jeremiah Burke. The monument features
the Rice family, all six of whom perished, along with 70 other passengers
who boarded at the Cork port.
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