Belfast pulls the Titanic out of its closet
heard of the disaster, few know of the ship’s Belfast origins.
‘‘I wish the movie had mentioned Belfast just once,’’ said Titanic Belfast marketing manager Claire Bradshaw. ‘‘It would make my job a lot easier.’’
The new exhibit aims to correct the record, telling the story of Belfast’s time as an industrial powerhouse, and the thousands of men who worked for three years to build Titanic and its sister ships, Olympic and Britannic.
It features 3-D projections and sleek audiovisual displays, as well as a roller coaster-style indoor ride that swoops visitors around the hull and through the rudder of a replica ship amid the glow of molten rivets and the clang of metal on metal.
It has enough details to satisfy Titanic aficionados, as well as human drama. The stories of several of the ship’s builders, passengers and crew are followed through the displays to their often tragic conclusions.
There’s also a marine exploration centre linked to the work of Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic in 1985.
And managers hope the 1000-seat banqueting suite, complete with White Star Line crockery and a replica of the ship’s iconic staircase, will be a popular spot for parties, corporate events and even weddings – for couples who can overlook the sinking-ship symbolism.
Belfast is competing with other cities around the world for tourists’ Titanic dollars. There’s an exhibition at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, a touring artefact exhibition in the United States, and the new Sea City museum in the English port of Southampton, where Titanic picked up passengers and began its final voyage.
Husbands is confident Titanic Belfast will succeed. He said 80,000 advance tickets have been sold, and predicted 425,000 visitors in the first year.
Belfast authorities are counting on the attraction to spur a wider regeneration of the city, which has been rebuilding since a 1998 peace accord helped end three decades of sectarian strife.
Part of the challenge is to find new industries to replace vanished trades such as shipbuilding. Harland and Wolff, which once employed 36,000 people in Belfast, now has a work force of just a few hundred who repair ships and build wind turbines.
The new attraction sits in a new neighbourhood, the Titanic Quarter, that is redeveloping the derelict old shipyard. The quarter already contains pricey modern apartments and the Odyssey Arena, home to the city’s popular ice hockey team, the Belfast Giants.
Later this year tourists will be able to visit SS Nomadic, the handsome little steamship that ferried passengers – including the richest man aboard, John Jacob Astor — to the Titanic during its stop in Cherbourg, France.
Previously a floating restaurant beside the Eiffel Tower, it has been brought back to Belfast and is being lovingly restored.
For Cobb, who guides Titanic walking tours, all this Titanic fever is a personal vindication.
A 39-year-old former bank worker and wedding singer, he has been fascinated by the ship since childhood, when he would build model Titanics and then sink them in the bath. He began his walking tours in 2008, and business has been growing. He now employs 15 people, and is expecting a boom as the new attraction brings thousands of tourists to the city.
Cobb, who has seen the film Titanic 17 times, thinks he knows why the story appeals.
‘‘You couldn’t make it up,’’ he said. ‘‘You have the world’s biggest ship. It’s supposed to be unsinkable, it has a cross-section of everyone in society.
‘‘And then – the biggest fluke in history – she hits an iceberg. It’s all there. All the ingredients are there.’’