Titanic Museum

Yesterday we spent the entire day at the Titanic Museum.  What a wonderful exhibit! What we really enjoyed about the museum was that it didn’t focus on the tragedy only but began with what life in Belfast was like during the ship building boom, how the main industries and the people who ran them were interconnected, how the ships evolved from wooden, to iron to steel and what was required to build those magnificent ships. They also did a great job telling the story of the tragedy in a way that was dignified and showed the magnitude of the loss of life.

As you walk up to the museum building you are met with four replicas of the Titanic’s 90 foot high hull. Inside is a progression of floors that takes you through a time line leading up to Titanic’s fateful maiden voyage and the aftermath.  The conditions the workers had to endure to build a such a ship was really eye-opening to me.  On one of the floors has a full glass window that looks out to the slips where the Titanic and her sister ship the Olympic were built.  On the slip that held the Olympic they have given a visual to the amount of life lost on board the Titanic.  They laid an area of decking which represents the number of survivors alternating with an area of grass that represents the number of people who died.  The areas were laid out in progression of class on the ship; 1st class, 2nd class, 3rd class; with each  With each drop in class there were fewer survivors and more victims.  The last section of grass represents the number of crew that died on that fateful night.  They also had the only surviving White Star vessel, the Nomadic, which is also a museum and can be toured.  This vessel was a tender ship that transported people and supplies to the Titanic before she set sail for New York City.