Titanic Memorial, City Hall - Belfast
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SMacB
N 54° 35.800 W 005° 55.750
30U E 310777 N 6053853
An information board and map beside the Titanic Memorial Garden at City Hall, Belfast.
Waymark Code: WMV30F
Location: Ulster, Ireland
Date Posted: 02/14/2017
Views: 7
An information board and map beside the Titanic Memorial Garden at City Hall, Belfast.
"Titanic Memorial Garden is a permanent tribute to over 1,500 passengers and crew who died after the ship struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic during its maiden voyage in April 1912.
When RMS Titanic departed Southampton on 10 April 1912, she was the largest and most luxurious ship ever built. She dropped anchor at Cherbourg in early evening to collect more passengers. Ninety minutes later, Titanic departed for Queenstown (Cobh) on the south coast of Ireland from where, at 1:30pm on April 11, she set out for New York.
The ship had made over 1,500 miles when the first warning of icebergs, five miles to the south, was received on the evening of 14 April. At 11:39pm an iceberg was spotted ahead but could not be avoided. At 11:40pm, the iceberg scraped Titanic's hull below the waterline, buckling it in several places so that water flowed into the first six compartments. The ship was fatally damaged.
Though the watertight doors were quickly closed, the ship's designer, Thomas Andrews, calculated that Titanic could sink within two hours. Captain Smith ordered the lowering of the lifeboats. Soon after midnight, the first wireless messages for help were transmitted. By 12:25am passengers were being guided to the lifeboats and 30 minutes later the first lifeboat was lowered into the freezing waters.
Distress rockets lit the air and the loading of the lifeboats became more hectic, with desperate efforts being made to get women and children aboard first. Around 2am the band stopped playing. A survivor, William Murdoch, was quite certain that he heard the band play a final hymn, 'Nearer My God To Thee' as the bow slipped below the water. By 2:20am Titanic had sunk beneath the waves.
On the Sunday following the disaster, thousands attended commemorative services in the local churches. At St Anne's Cathedral, the hymn 'Nearer My God To Thee' was sung while a collection was taken for widows and orphans of the tragedy. At the Unitarian Church in Comber, home town of the much respected Thomas Andrews, Harland & Wolff's chief designer who perished in the disaster, the Rev. Dunkerly took as his text 'Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends' (John 15:13)"
SOURCE - info board
Type of Historic Marker: Information board
Historical Marker Issuing Authority: Belfast City Council
Related Website: [Web Link]
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