My father was there , a life time in the shipyard, he was a joiner , he worked in woodworking, the doors and panelling, he was a first class craftsman , years and he worked on all the big boats, right away up to the time of the Titanic and the sister ships, but the Titanic was the one they talked about so much, they loved so much. I was delighted when my Father told me that some day he`d take me down to see it. Which he did. I used to draw wee boats , and pictures of the Titanic, four big funnels and the smoke coming out, and there I was, actually going down to actually see it, it was just unbelievable.
He said to me, do you know John, have you noticed, the ship is positioned on a slope – its slanted the way its in the slipway and no doubt you`ve smelt the grease, and when they take way those props, the ship will then slide down into the water. And then he pointed to the water – the Belfast Lough. And in my boyish innocence, I said but Dad , how can that big ship stay up in the water ? he said son, That ship will always stay up in the water.
The day that the great ship went away, we were positioned at a place called Greencastle, here in the north side of the city (Belfast), which is the shoreline there, and we got positioned there early in the morning , me mother and me father and , me brother and me sister and we saw the Titanic.
Hundreds of thousands of people were there .It was tugged right away up past Sydenham, Holywood, up to Bangor, and then just as it got near Bangor the sirens started to sound , the smoke belched out of the funnels, and the roars of the propellers – you could hear the water being churned , as the propellers turned round and round and the Titanic sailed out to sea under her own steam and we all sang rule Britannia , Britannia rules the waves and I can remember it as well to this day, we all waved our handkerchiefs goodbye.
I heard a wee boy rushing up the street , wee telegraph newspaper boy and he had these newspapers under his arm and he had a poster in front of him and he was shouting as hard as he could – Titanic sunk , Titanic sunk.
And my Father couldn`t believe it. The Titanic sunk ? Nobody ever thought the Titanic would sink. And do you know, I`d never seen it before in my time, my Father broke down and cried, like a child, I mean he was a big strong, healthy, shipyard man.
The following Sundays after Titanic sank, the churches in Belfast were absolutely packed there was a terrible outpouring of grief that this creation of Belfast was now lost.
If you can shed tears over a beloved creation , you know that it`s more than bricks and mortar or rivets and steel .
The workforce of Harland and Wolff, grown men were seen standing crying in the streets at the news, that all the work that they had put into the ship, was now lying two and a half miles deep in the Atlantic Ocean.
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