Titanic...cashing in?
Discussion
Just on a business trip to Belfast and Titanic Fever seems to have gripped the place. They are about to open a new museum at the end of the month, and if done tastefully it could be quite an interesting thing to see and no doubt good for the economy. However, I can't help feeling that the whole thing is just perhaps a bit distasteful. At the end of the day lots of people lost their lives in a particularly unpleasant manner in the biggest maritime FAIL since the Mary Rose due to crap design and shockingly poor safety standards. OK it was a different era and things have moved on, but it was not that long ago, and I genuinely cannot think of any other engineering "disaster" that is celebrated in such a way. I don't remember seeing novelty Challenger/Columbia trinkets at NASA earlier this year...but here's the Titanic tat display at the airport including nice mugs at £14 a pop. And look at this cartoon...what a happy looking little ship she is too!
Is it me or is all that just a little bit wrong?
Is it me or is all that just a little bit wrong?
Edited by Hard-Drive on Tuesday 13th March 16:24
I tend to agree, but once things pass from living memory attitudes change. And whilst I hate the word iconic, it is somewhat iconic.
In the same vein as the Mary Rose is the Wasa - and both of those have museums.
On a lighter note I recall a Billy Connolly programme on the subject where he wore a souvenir T-shirt. The front said something proudly like 'Belfast - Home of the Titanic'. On the back it said 'Well it was OK when it left!'
In the same vein as the Mary Rose is the Wasa - and both of those have museums.
On a lighter note I recall a Billy Connolly programme on the subject where he wore a souvenir T-shirt. The front said something proudly like 'Belfast - Home of the Titanic'. On the back it said 'Well it was OK when it left!'
100 years on.
Hays travel were advertising a re-enactment cruise last year.
http://titanicmemorialcruise.co.uk/hoteldetails.pd...
Hays travel were advertising a re-enactment cruise last year.
http://titanicmemorialcruise.co.uk/hoteldetails.pd...
Hard-Drive said:
At the end of the day lots of people lost their lives in a particularly unpleasant manner in the biggest maritime FAIL since the Mary Rose due to crap design and shockingly poor safety standards.
Not quite the biggest maritime disaster - No6 in terms of loss of life according to Wikipedia and the actual ship design was not that bad, especially compared to some of her contemporarys. In fact the only serious design flaw was her rudder - it was a bit too small for a ship of her size. As for lifeboats the number she was equipped with was far in excess of the Board of Trade requirements in force at the time. What was lacking was any real evacuation plan/preparation/training and a lack of communication.There was actually some sound reasoning behind the Edwardian safety plans, basically "Ship as Lifeboat", you make sure that the ship will float upright as long as possible after damage (in Titanics case 2 hours) and use your lifeboats to evacuate from the damaged vessel to a nearby intact ship. If any of the several nearby ships had been a bit closer or responded quicker they might even have got away with it with Titanic.
Simpo Two said:
I tend to agree, but once things pass from living memory attitudes change. And whilst I hate the word iconic, it is somewhat iconic.
In the same vein as the Mary Rose is the Wasa - and both of those have museums.
On a lighter note I recall a Billy Connolly programme on the subject where he wore a souvenir T-shirt. The front said something proudly like 'Belfast - Home of the Titanic'. On the back it said 'Well it was OK when it left!'
The difference is, the Mary Rose is there in person. Any museum to Titanic is simply a macabre cash in.In the same vein as the Mary Rose is the Wasa - and both of those have museums.
On a lighter note I recall a Billy Connolly programme on the subject where he wore a souvenir T-shirt. The front said something proudly like 'Belfast - Home of the Titanic'. On the back it said 'Well it was OK when it left!'
But any chance to get people interested in a bit of history can only be a good thing.
I've been to the Titanic exhibitions in both Vegas and Indianapolis and they are very well done (the Vegas one is especially moving)
If the Belfast one is done in the same way then I think it's a good idea... if it's just an excuse to flog overpriced tat to tourists then it should be stopped.
If the Belfast one is done in the same way then I think it's a good idea... if it's just an excuse to flog overpriced tat to tourists then it should be stopped.
Funnily enough I'm in Dublin at the moment - had a few hours spare on Monday so took a trip up to Belfast to see the H&W yard. It's nice to see them tidying the area up, they had cherry pickers at the old H&W offices cleaning up the building but the new installations they've done do seem to err on the side of tacky theme park, rather than historical facts.
Hard-Drive said:
Just on a business trip to Belfast and Titanic Fever seems to have gripped the place. They are about to open a new museum at the end of the month, and if done tastefully it could be quite an interesting thing to see and no doubt good for the economy. However, I can't help feeling that the whole thing is just perhaps a bit distasteful. At the end of the day lots of people lost their lives in a particularly unpleasant manner in the biggest maritime FAIL since the Mary Rose due to crap design and shockingly poor safety standards. OK it was a different era and things have moved on, but it was not that long ago, and I genuinely cannot think of any other engineering "disaster" that is celebrated in such a way. I don't remember seeing novelty Challenger/Columbia trinkets at NASA earlier this year...but here's the Titanic tat display at the airport including nice mugs at 14 a pop. And look at this cartoon...what a happy looking little ship she is too!
Is it me or is all that just a little bit wrong?
Quite bemused by this thread actually. You do realise that Titanic is, and will always be, the most famous ship to have existed? She was built in Belfast to extremely high standards and this is something we are justifiably proud of in Northern Ireland. This year is the ship's 100th anniversary so its fitting that this milestone be recognised in the place where she was built. Belfast has seen some horrendous bloodshed and turmoil in the past few decades, with that gone its time to improve the city and yes, take advantage of its unique shipbuilding heritage. Had a visitors centre opened a year or 2 after the sinking then that could be perceived as cashing in on the tragedy, but 100 YEARS and the second highest grossing film of all time later it seems the only parties guilty of 'cashing in' are James Cameron and Hollywood. The new centre has created 200 much needed jobs plus many more in construction and tourism so if you consider the whole thing to be tacky, distasteful and wrong (and of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion) that is a real shame, I hope the thousands of other visitors who make the trip to our wee country can embrace the spirit of the great ship and the great city she was built in Is it me or is all that just a little bit wrong?
Edited by Hard-Drive on Tuesday 13th March 16:24
I don't know much about this but the concept doesn't offend me. If they do it well, it should do very nicely for Belfast.
P.S. I can't recall who it was but I caught a bit of a stand up show on telly last year where the bloke was comparing today's terrorists with ye olde-worlde pirates, as beloved by children everywhere, and suggested that perhaps our great great grandchildren will be going to 'Jihadist' costume-themed birthday parties in the year 2112!
P.S. I can't recall who it was but I caught a bit of a stand up show on telly last year where the bloke was comparing today's terrorists with ye olde-worlde pirates, as beloved by children everywhere, and suggested that perhaps our great great grandchildren will be going to 'Jihadist' costume-themed birthday parties in the year 2112!
Turbodiesel1690 said:
Quite bemused by this thread actually. You do realise that Titanic is, and will always be, the most famous ship to have existed? She was built in Belfast to extremely high standards and this is something we are justifiably proud of in Northern Ireland.
Are you really that much of a gobs
te? How can anyone say that a ship that sank on its maiden voyage was built to extremely high standards? It says a lot about the NI loyalist psyche that you are "justifiably proud" of that.I don't think the Irish workmanship had any bearing on the sinking.
The English bugger who drove it at full tilt into a massive iceberg in the face of umpteen ice warnings, now that might be something to do with it...
The H&W workers can indeed be justifiably proud of building a magnificent ship and building it well. She stayed afloat - and importantly upright - rather longer than a certain Italian cruise liner built to modern standards, that had a much smaller hole put in her.
The English bugger who drove it at full tilt into a massive iceberg in the face of umpteen ice warnings, now that might be something to do with it...
The H&W workers can indeed be justifiably proud of building a magnificent ship and building it well. She stayed afloat - and importantly upright - rather longer than a certain Italian cruise liner built to modern standards, that had a much smaller hole put in her.
Thom987 said:
Turbodiesel1690 said:
Quite bemused by this thread actually. You do realise that Titanic is, and will always be, the most famous ship to have existed? She was built in Belfast to extremely high standards and this is something we are justifiably proud of in Northern Ireland.
How can anyone say that a ship that sank on its maiden voyage was built to extremely high standards? It wasn't like it just "sank" on its own.
I went to a Titanic exhibition at the maritime in Falmouth a few years back and was fascinated. The only slightly macabre piece was that on entry to the museum you got a "boarding pass" with the name of an actual passenger (or crew) on it. When you got to a certain part of the exhibit there was a board where you could check to see if you lived or died! In my group of 5, only one survived.
Thom987 said:
Turbodiesel1690 said:
Quite bemused by this thread actually. You do realise that Titanic is, and will always be, the most famous ship to have existed? She was built in Belfast to extremely high standards and this is something we are justifiably proud of in Northern Ireland.
Are you really that much of a gobste? How can anyone say that a ship that sank on its maiden voyage was built to extremely high standards? It says a lot about the NI loyalist psyche that you are "justifiably proud" of that.
DamienB said:
I don't think the Irish workmanship had any bearing on the sinking.
I really don't think those lovely gentlemen who built the Titanic would see themselves as Irish.dr_gn said:
It did hit something pretty big and immovable though IIRC.
It wasn't like it just "sank" on its own.
It hit an iceberg, they may be big, but they do move. I think the sinking was down to the quality of workmanship and the quality of the steel used. It wasn't like it just "sank" on its own.
It is strange that certain sections of the community seem to celebrate the Titanic while choosing to ignore the fact that it really wasnt very good.
Turbodiesel1690 said:
Spoken like a true County Louth man
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