Museum ‘launches’ boat that took passengers to Titanic

The SS Nomadic – the last remaining vessel of the White Star Line – opens its doors to the public for the first time this week and is expected to attract more than 44,000 visitors over the next year.

Built by Harland and Wolff shipyard workers in 1911 at the same time and using the same Thomas Andrews designs as its mighty big sister, the Nomadic is Belfast’s latest offering to the lucrative Titanic tourist trail.

The refurbished ship, which was bought at auction in France in 2006 for 250,000 euros, still retains many of the original features.

Denis Rooney, chairman of the Nomadic Charitable Trust which was behind the restoration campaign, said: “Visitors can walk in the footsteps of the passengers who boarded Titanic.

“They can touch the same materials, enjoy exactly the same experience. The only other way you can get this close to the Titanic experience is to go on a submersive expedition and see the wreck. This is the real deal.”

The Nomadic is now a permanent fixture at Hamilton Dock – beside Belfast’s new £90m Titanic museum – from where it made its maiden voyage to France in May 1911. Tourists enter through the first-class lounge, which is decorated with ornate plaster work and detailed wood carvings the same as would have been seen on the Titanic.

The floor covering is an exact replica of the lino laid down more than 100 years ago and was pieced together from a scrap of the original floor covering unearthed below layers of carpet and concrete.

“We are delighted to have been able to find that because there would not have been records of those sorts of coverings,” said Mr Rooney.

The space has been left open for visitors to mill around as they would have done during the short journey from of Cherbourg harbour out to the Titanic, which was moored offshore in deeper sea.