S.S. Nomadic Refurbishment
Notorious shipping company Harland & Wolff has found its
100-year link with its famous vessel, the Titanic. The Shipbuilding Company
recently won a £2 million contract to refurbish the S.S. Nomadic. This vessel
was used to take passengers to the Titanic on her ill-fated maiden voyage.
The S.S. Nomadic is anticipated to be entirely refurbished
by July 2011. This means the vessel will soon be ready in good time for the
opening of the Titanic Belfast building that may open early 2012. The project
has been funded by the European Union peace three program and has provided
several new job openings.
Before the S.S. Nomadic, White Star Line had a paddle
steamer called the S.S. Gallic. Unfortunately, the S.S. Gallic was too small to
transport passengers to the brand new more substantial ships. To remedy this,
White Star Line built the S.S. Nomadic and the S.S. Traffic. The Nomadic would
transport first and second class passengers, and the S.S. traffic would
transport third-class passengers. On April 25, 1911, the Nomadic was first
launched from slip number 1, Queens Island, at Harland Wolff shipyards Belfast.
On 10 April 1912 the nomadic took on board 172 passengers
from Cherbourg to the Titanic. Twenty-four individuals were taken back from the
Titanic to Cherbourg. Obviously, during the time, these 24 individuals could
have unknown just how lucky they were.
The Nomadic has received a significant history since
servicing the Titanic. She survived both the very first and second world wars,
has been owned by three different shipping line owners, and was even once used
as a restaurant on the River Seine in Paris. Unfortunately, the last business
venture failed, and the owner had to put the nomadic up for auction. At the
start of 2006, the Nomadic was bought by the Department of social development
for Northern Ireland. The purchase price paid was €250,000,
which allowed the vessel back to return to her birthplace.
The S.S. nomadic first sailed out of Belfast on the 31st of
May 1911. This was also the same date when the famous RMS Titanic also was
launched from Belfast. Now 100 years on the nomadic preservation Society will
soon be holding an extended weekend of events to celebrate the final of the
White Star Line vessels. These events will rapidly be occurring over the
weekend of the next to the 5th of June 2011. The Nomadic Preservation Society
is opening the facts to the general public and them to be able to see onboard
the refurbished ship.
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