THE TITANIC AND IRELAND
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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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