Titanic’s launch remembered

It has always struck me as odd that Titanic has been responsible for attracting thousands of passengers to the glamour of cruising – never more so than the day I spent in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where many of the victims are buried, with Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet’s love affair playing on a ship’s outdoor cinema screen.
But there is no denying the lasting appeal of the ship and the story of its doomed maiden voyage. And it remains true that many cruise ships still strive to recreate the grandeur of its bygone era.
RMS Titanic was launched down Slipway No 3 at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast 100 years ago today and a memorial service was held there at 12.13 pm, with the Rev Chris Bennett leading 62 seconds of cheers to mark the length of time it took the ship to slide into the River Lagan.
As we all know, less than 12 months after the 880-foot hull hit the water for the first time, the ship struck an iceberg in the Atlantic and sank. Now its memory has prompted a £7 billion investment to re-launch a run-down part of Belfast as The Titanic Quarter, creating 7,500 new homes and 25,000 jobs.
A new Titanic exhibition opens today at the Ulster Folk Museum and runs until August 31. Next year an interactive visitor centre will open on the waterfront and a neighbouring Harland & Wolff office building is being converted into a hotel.
Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons says: “No ship has gripped the world’s imagination like RMS Titanic. Her remarkable story begins at her birthplace in Belfast.”