TITANIC & ME my iceberg conscience

Cutting a solitary figure, standing at the very edge of the now decommissioned dock in Belfast where the then-largest movable structure on Earth ever built was launched one-hundred and nine years earlier, and over half a century before I was born, I looked as far out to sea as I possibly could.

- Ian Kirke

 My isolation, aided by the chill in the air and the winter breeze made me confront a question I needed an answer to. Why was there such a tangible connection between me, a ship, and a tragic event of such epic proportions that the utterance of its name still epitomizes great loss? Whilst I was totally overwhelmed by the wonder of human endeavor and ingenuity, I instinctively knew that this alone did not fully capture the hold this moment in history had on me ever since I care to remember. 

The scale of achievement was herculean - 882.75 feet long, 46,000 tons, three massive propellers, the largest two as long as a London bus, able to carry 2,500 passengers and 860 crew. And 16 watertight compartments. Those famous safety mechanisms that led to the claim that the Titanic was unsinkable. Why anyone would ever deduce that such a mass of iron, however, constructed, was impervious to the often-cruel nature of the sea only added to my fascination with the story. Shipbuilders Harland and Wolff never made this absurd claim although subsequent reports in the media, especially the Irish News, gave credibility to the enduring myth. Even when the pride of the White Star Line was at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean with 1,157 lives lost company Vice President P.A.S. Franklin announced, on first hearing that the Titanic was in trouble - ”We place absolute confidence in the Titanic. We believe the boat is unsinkable.” The opulence of first-class passengers contrasted the struggles of the third-class ticket holders. Titanic was a microcosm of Great Britain at the turn of the twentieth century.