Everyone knows the tragic story of The RMS Titanic.
To commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, Belfast built a $97 million Sterling Pound exhibit that is incredible.
My photo below is the actual picture I shot of the "Titanic Belfast" Exhibition that opened March 31st, 2012. The building from the sky is a 5 point star that represents the 'White Star Line' a cruise line that operated the Titanic, in Belfast in what is now known as the 'Titanic Quarter'.
Over 40,000 people were employed by the shipbuilders Harland and Wolff, at the time of the building of the Titanic, when Belfast ship buiding was at its peak. (There are only 200 people employed there now.)
Titanic left Belfast on April 2nd, 1912 for Southhampton. On our tour today, we were reminded of what the Irish say regarding Titanic......"she was ok when she left here."
Titanic had a crew of over 885 for her maiden voyage. Her Captain was Captain Edward John Smith.
The passengers numbered 1317. Which was under capacity as she could accommodate 2566.
On April 15th, 1912 the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean during her maiden voyage from Southhampton to New York City.
More than 1500 people died that night.
Over 1000 people were still onboard when the Titanic broke apart and disappeared under the water. She is on the Atlantic Ocean floor at 12,500'.
Imagine my surprise that this gentleman, Mr. William McQuillan from Belfast was a fireman onboard the Titanic. His job was to fill the ship's boilers with coal. His wife Margaret worked in a Linen mill in Belfast. They had three children.
Mr. McQuillan volunteered to take the place of a coworker who's wife was about to have a baby.
The Titanic carried a total of 20 lifeboats. Each could accommodate 65 passengers. The 'White Star Line' decided that was sufficient, even though that would only represent less than half of Titanic's passengers on board. That was actually more lifeboats than regulations required for a British vessel that size at the time.
Mr. J. Bruce Ismay, who was on board the Titanic, and was the White Star Line's chairman, got himself into a lifeboat and was saved from the watery grave. However, he spent the rest of his life, ostracized social for his decision to save his own life.
Some of the passengers below.
Even with life jackets, people could not survive longer than 15 minutes in the freezing water. Most would have died in 2 minutes from the shock....which would be fast, a blessing I'm sure.
Only 13 people were rescued from the water by the lifeboats even though there was enough room for 500 more people to fit in the lifeboats that were in the water.
The RMS Carpathia arrived two hours after the Titanic sank and was able to save 705 survivors from the lifeboats. The Captain described the area as an ice field with over 20 large icebergs, some as big as 200 feet high, amongst the debris where the Titanic sank.
Two more passengers from the Titanic below.
The 'Unsinkable' (Margaret) Molly Brown survived the sinking Titanic. Born in America she was an Activist and Socialite. She helped with the evacuation on board the Titanic and had to be convinced to get into the lifeboat. She was in Lifeboat #6 and insisted that they go back and look for survivors after the Titanic went down. It is not clear if they went back.
She died in 1932 and is buried in the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury, New York.
Mr. John Jacob Astor IV was an American business man. He was the richest man on the Titanic, and amongst the riches in the world in 1912. On the night Titanic went down, Mr. Astor put his wife in Lifeboat #4 and asked if he could go with her. He was told that 'men were not to be allowed to board until all the women and children had been loaded first'. His wife, her maid, and nurse survived but unfortunately he perished that night. His body was recovered, #124, was the number given to him until he could be identified. He is buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in New York City.
A sad ending to finding a relation on board the Titanic. Mr. McQuillan died on the Titanic that night. Apparently he made it safely out of the engine room, but he ended up dying in the icy waters of the Atlantic. He was identified by the 'Fireman's Union' membership book that he had in his pocket.
His body was recovered and buried in Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
His gravestone is marked,
"William McQuillan, Died 15 April 1912, 183."
The #183 was the number assigned to him when his body was recovered from the water.
Unfortunately, for his family, because of so many conflicting news reports at that time in 1912, his family was told he was lost at sea. It wasn't until around 2006 that his granddaughter, Marjorie Wilson, saw his gravesite on a BBC Northern Ireland documentary on the television.
On a happy note: She flew to Halifax and was the first family member to visit the grave since she learned where he was. Her words,
"Well Grandpa, we've found you."
The wreck of the Titanic was located in 1985 in the North Atlantic Sea off Newfoundland. It is in two pieces separated by almost 1.5 miles. That is where it will stay. To do anything else seems disrespectful to the memories of the loved ones that perished that night.
But I must add to my blog that Deb and I didn't leave that Exhibit feeling totally sad. They do not dwell on the sadness or sensationalize the death of 1500 souls.
It is a great exhibit and I would highly recommend it.
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