CLICK TO ENLARGE
SS Nomadic is looking very well indeed today, 4th March, 2012.
The superstructure appears to be complete and the ship has been painted recently.
This is the last White Star Line vessel afloat in the world and is directly linked to RMS Titanic. Built alongside Olympic and Titanic in Belfast, during 1910/11 at Harland & Wolff, she was designed with one purpose in mind: to carry 1st and 2nd class passengers out to the three 'Olympic' class liners, RMS Olympic, Titanic and Britannic.
These huge vessels were too large to moor alongside the dock in Cherbourg, so they laid anchor out in the harbour and passengers were taken out by Nomadic and her smaller sister 'Traffic'. More importantly, some of her interior fixtures and fittings are identical as those on the famous liners and were made and installed by the same craftsmen.
Nomadic served in both World Wars, then returned to her original duties and continued in service until November 1968 when she ferried passengers out to Cunard's Queen Elizabeth for the last time. Bought by a French businessman, she was converted into a floating restaurant and moored just opposite the Eiffel Tower, Paris from the early 1970s until 1999 when she was forced to close due to legislation change by the Paris port authorities.
In January 2006, Nomadic was purchased at auction by the Northern Ireland Department for Social Development, who returned her to Belfast.
At the beginning of August 2009 Nomadic returned to her birthplace at the Hamilton Dock to undergo restoration.
She is looking amazing - makes you feel really proud.
ReplyDeleteI took a few photos of the new Titanic building today - it is so impressive, see my link below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54307433@N07/6951971617/
Keep up the good work Belmont!
What a waste of money, when they are closing schools hospitals and reducing the number of places at university, the same goes for the titanic centre, it will require 250.000 visitors a year to be financially viable dream on
ReplyDeleteWell done on this article. The ship i slooking greata nd will be a great asset to Belfast and the Titanic Quarter in particular. I think the Hamilton Dock is to be restored as well and part of that will include the huge, orginal gate that sits beside the ship.
ReplyDeleteAs to the one that wishes to be 'anonymous', Northern Ireland has to thrive on the tourist trade and Titanic Quarter is going to be the main attraction for many years to come. We wil the largest and greatest themed buiding in the world. All that tourist money will help in replenishing the coffers in NI to enable money to be used for other major areas as he describes.