World should unite to commemorate the Titanic tragedy
Sep 15 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post
WITH time not dispelling the ever- growing worldwide interest in the sinking of the White Star Line’s RMS Titanic, it is reassuring to know that Liverpool is already planning to commemorate the centenary of the tragic loss of this superliner, which was owned and registered in the city.
A special lunch, with a menu replicating that served to first-class passengers on Titanic’s final, fatal night, has already been hosted by Judith Feather, Liverpool Culture Company’s head of events, to bring together the ports associated with the liner.
Now a former engineer, George Connor, with a keen interest in the Titanic, is proposing a cruise in 2012 that would link all the "Titanic ports" – Southampton, Cherbourg, Cobh, Liverpool and Belfast. Some of the leading cruise lines have expressed interest in his idea.
George says: "As 2012 is a date of such importance, an international approach should be organised to mark it. I conceived a mini- cruise in June that started from Southampton, calling at Cherbourg, in France, and Cobh, in Ireland; all three being Titanic’s maiden ports of call.
"Then I realised it would be easy to include Liverpool, where Titanic was owned and registered, and Belfast, where she was built.
"All five ports are awash with genuine Titanic and White Star memorabilia, such as buildings, monuments, docks, piers, slipways and streets to help visitors experience the maritime history through the time-mist of the previous 100 years.
"Such a collective approach should provide for more participation by being affordable to most of those interested in travelling. I urge the authorities of all five ports to explore jointly the feasibility of this exciting opportunity."
In fact, George believes Liverpool is arguably the strongest Titanic claimant. The Titanic story began here in 1867 when Thomas Henry Ismay purchased the name, house-flag and goodwill of the White Star Line, a sailing ship company in bankruptcy. He was greatly aided by the Liverpool-based Hamburg financier Gustav Schwabe and uncle of Gustav Wolff, a partner in Harland & Wolff, Belfast. The deal was agreed at Schwabe’s home, Broughton Hall, West Derby, over a game of billiards. Schwabe would bankroll the new company, providing its ships were built at Harland & Wolff (the hall is now a school).
"As a result, White Star Line became the world leader in the mass transportation of people across the Atlantic, and Harland & Wolff became the largest and most technically advanced shipyard in the world."
George is Titanic spokesman for the Institute of Marine Engineers Science & Technology (IMarEST), and its Guild of Benevolence is the only registered charity with direct Titanic links. This benevolent society was created jointly with the London Daily Chronicle newspaper immediately after Titanic's sinking, to assist the widows and orphans of the brave engineers who remained at their posts and sacrificed their lives so others could survive. Every year since 1912, the Institute pays homage to its dead colleagues by organising Titanic days with lectures and conferences.
George was an engineering apprentice and later a marketing consultant at Harland & Wolff. His Titanic research helped the successful repatriation to Belfast of SS Nomadic, the first-class tender built to serve Titanic at Cherbourg. I repeatedly suggested the Nomadic project for Liverpool and was met with a roar of apathy. Belfast, where Nomadic was built, saw the ship’s value as a massive tourist attraction and thankfully saved her from the scrapyard.
George, from Rugby, says: "Interestingly, several special Southampton – New York cruises aim to pass over the spot where Titanic sank. These will be expensive and bad weather (including icebergs) can force diversions from the location. The Titanic coastal cruise will be far more interesting."
Liverpool’s first gesture must be to properly restore the Pier Head’s Titanic obelisk (aka Memorial to the Heroes of the Marine Engine room) by removing the sprouting vegetation, regilding its fine sculpture by Goscombe John and erecting interpretation panels. It is a disgrace that £19m was spent on the new cruise liner landing stage, but that nothing was given to refurbish this revered landmark, now viewed by thousands of visiting passengers.
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