Remarkable moment Titanic was first launched into Belfast Lough in stunning unseen photographs of ship
The family photograph album contains never before seen images of the Titanic during her launch
The family photograph album contains never before seen images of the Titanic during her launch and departure from Belfast. The album allows unparalleled access to previously unseen images of the Titanic and Olympic. It is now on display in the TITANICa exhibition at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum. ©private collection on loan to National Museums Northern Ireland
The family photograph album contains never before seen images of the Titanic during her launch and departure from Belfast. The album allows unparalleled access to previously unseen images of the Titanic and Olympic. It is now on display in the TITANICa exhibition at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum. ©private collection on loan to National Museums Northern Ireland
Lord Pirrie, the Harland and Wolff chairman
Survivors of the Titanic disaster in a crowded lifeboat.
Survivors of the Titanic disaster are greeted by their relatives upon their safe return to Southampton.
Florette Guggenheim (nee Seligman 1870 - 1937, right) and her brother James de Witt Seligman at the offices of the White Star shipping line in New York, April 1912. The pair are waiting to enquire about the welfare of Guggenheim's husband, American businessman Benjamin Guggenheim, who was a passenger on board the Titanic when she sank on 15th April. Benjamin Guggenheim was not among the surviviors.
Index cards from The Associated Press Corporate Archive in New York listing stories written by the wire service about the Titanic.
A diver accompanies a 17-ton portion of the hull of the Titanic as it is lifted to the surface in the Atlantic Ocean.
Front page of The Owensboro Daily Messenger headlining news that the Titanic had sunk.
In this 1912 photo made available by the Library of Congress, Harold Bride, surviving wireless operator of the Titanic, with feet bandaged, is carried up the ramp of a ship.
Crowds gather around the bulletin board of the New York American newspaper in New York, where the names of people rescued from the sinking Titanic are displayed.
How the sinking was reported
The employment record for Captain John Edward Smith.
Karl Behr and Richard Williams, who were world-class tennis players who survived the sinking of the Titanic and and went on to win numerous major tennischampionships on both sides of the Atlantic.
Merchant Navy Seamen Charles Rice, who was a Fireman on the Titanic and survived.
An original Titanic menu from April 10th 1912
This composite image, released by RMS Titanic Inc., and made from sonar and more than 100,000 photos taken in 2010 from by unmanned, underwater robots, shows a small portion of a comprehensive map of the 3-by-5-mile debris field surrounding the stern of the Titanic on the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Belfast Telegraph:Page One/Titanic. 16/4/1912
This is an undated photo showing the bow of the Titanic at rest on the bottom of the North Atlantic, about 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland. The first tourists to see the bow up close viewed it from the portholes of a tiny submersible in early September. (AP Photo/Ralph White)
Launch of the Titanic, published in the Belfast Telegraph 31/5/1911
This composite image, released by RMS Titanic Inc., and made from sonar and more than 100,000 photos taken in 2010 from by unmanned, underwater robots, shows a small portion of a comprehensive map of the 3-by-5-mile debris field surrounding the stern of the Titanic on the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.
This composite image, released by RMS Titanic Inc., and made from sonar and more than 100,000 photos taken in 2010 from by unmanned, underwater robots, shows a small portion of a comprehensive map of the 3-by-5-mile debris field surrounding the stern of the Titanic on the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Titanic, built by Harland and Wolff, was driven by two gigantic wing propellers measuring over 23 feet in diameter and a center propeller spanning more than 16 feet.
A shipyard worker's ticket to the launch of the RMS Titanic. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Lord Pirrie, chairman of H&W (left) and Bruce Ismay, chairman of White Star, make a final tour of inspection of Titanic before her launch. 31/5/1911. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Titanic first class suite bedroom 'b58'. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Titanic at fitting-out wharf with three out of four funnels fitted. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Titanic. Hydraulic launch rams below port bow. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Titanic, double bottom and initial plating of tank top of Olympic, with keel of Titanic laid on No.3 slip. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Titanic, port near profile during outfitting at Thompson deepwarter wharf. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Titanic, upper part of stern frame in position. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
A page of the document written by Laura Francatelli, which is her eyewitness account of the sinking of the Titanic
A woman examines a leather boot in an exhibition of artefacts recovered from the wreck of the Titanic on November 3, 2010 in London, England
A photo of the Titanic's giant propellers and rudder. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
The detailed drawing of the RMS Titanic used at Lord Mersey's inquiry into the 1912 disaster.
The Titanic's two main engines near completion in engine works erecting shop. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Duff Gordon, Titanic survivor
Titanic. Port bow 3/4 profile afloat immediately after launch. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Launch of the Titanic, published in the Belfast Telegraph 31/5/1911
Titanic first class cafe parisienne. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Titanic. The Great gantry, Queen's Island, Belfast. This photograph shows the enormous scale of the ship, together with the complex structure of the enfolding steel gantry, from which she will soon be free. The photograph also reflects old and new maritime technologies, with the traditional wooden schooner in the foreground contrasting eith the modernity ot Titanic. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Titanic. In this photograph of the cabinet shop, taken in 1899, a small army of cabinet-makers are at work. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Titanic workers
Workmen prepare the Titanic slipway. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Millvina Dean the last living survivor of the Titanic disaster was today Thursday April 11, 2002, due to open a rejuvenated exhibition to mark the 90th anniversary of the disaster. Ms Dean, 90, was only nine weeks old when the ship hit an iceberg in the Atlantic on her maiden voyage and sank on April 15 1912, claiming the lives of 1,500 people. The survivor will open Titanic Voices the 90th Anniversary Exhibition at the Maritime Museum in Bugle Street, Southampton. The permanent exhibition has been upgraded with new exhibits, including images from the interior of Titanic's sister ship RMS Olympic
Dorothy Gibson, Titanic survivor
Patrick Dillon, Titanic survivor
Titanic leaving Belfast. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
The wedding ring and locket property of Carl Asplund and the wedding ring of Selma Asplund are seen at Henry Aldridge and Son auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, England Thursday, April 3, 2008. The locket and one of the rings were recovered from the body of Carl Asplund who drowned on the Titanic, they are all part of the Lillian Asplund collection of Titanic related items.
A heavily water stained leather bound journal bearing notes figures relating to the Asplund family, the property of Carl Asplund, is seen at Henry Aldridge and Son auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, England Thursday, April 3, 2008. The locket and one of the rings were recovered from the body of Carl Asplund who drowned on the Titanic, they are all part of the Lillian Asplund collection of Titanic related items.
A unique emigrant inland forwarding order to the White Star office in New York, is seen at Henry Aldridge and Son auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, England Thursday, April 3, 2008. The locket and one of the rings were recovered from the body of Carl Asplund who drowned on the Titanic, they are all part of the Lillian Asplund collection of Titanic related items.
Photographs of (from left) Felix Asplund, Selma and Carl Asplund and Lillian Asplund, are seen at Henry Aldridge and Son auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, England Thursday, April 3, 2008. The locket and one of the rings were recovered from the body of Carl Asplund who drowned on the Titanic, they are all part of the Lillian Asplund collection of Titanic related items.
A gold plated Waltham American pocket watch, the property of Carl Asplund, is seen in front of a modern water colour painting of the Titanic by CJ Ashford at Henry Aldridge and Son auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, England Thursday, April 3, 2008. The locket and one of the rings were recovered from the body of Carl Asplund who drowned on the Titanic, they are all part of the Lillian Asplund collection of Titanic related items.
An emigration contract/ticket, purchased by the Asplund family for passage from Southampton to New York, and used on the Titanic, is seen at the Henry Aldridge and Son auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, England Thursday, April 3, 2008. The locket and one of the rings were recovered from the body of Carl Asplund who drowned on the Titanic, they are all part of the Lillian Asplund collection of Titanic related items.
The crew of the RMS Titanic, pictured just before her maiden voyage. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
The hull of the S.S. Titanic. under construction in dry dock. The tragic sinking of the Titanic nearly a century ago can be blamed on low grade rivets that the ship's builders used on some parts of the ill-fated liner, two experts on metals conclude in a new book. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
This photo provided by Christie's auction house shows a life preserver from the ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic found during the initial search for survivors and owned by the same family for 90 years. Going on the auction block in June, it is the first Titanic life jacket to be offered at auction in the United States, and is one of about six believed to have survived to this day, Christie's said Thursday, May 29, 2008.
The Dutch Suite aboard the RMS Titanic. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Roberta Maioni, a survivor of the Titanic disaster.
Roberta Maioni, a survivor of the Titanic disaster.
The White Star Line badge that was given to Roberta Maioni, a survivor of the Titanic disaster, by a man she was said to have fallen in love with during the boat's maiden voyage.
Sheet music for "Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey" from the Broadway production "Madame Sherry," (1910) is shown as part of the artifacts collection at a warehouse in Atlanta, Friday, Aug 15, 2008. The 5,500-piece collection contains almost everything recovered from the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which has sat 2.5 miles below the surface of the Atlantic ocean since the boat sank on April 15, 1912.
Third-class tea cup china used by passengers and the crew, is shown as part of the artifacts collection at a warehouse in Atlanta, Friday, Aug 15, 2008. The 5,500-piece collection contains almost everything recovered from the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which has sat 2.5 miles below the surface of the Atlantic ocean since the boat sank on April 15, 1912.
Currency, part of the artifacts collection of the Titanic, is shown as part of the artifacts collection at a warehouse in Atlanta, Friday, Aug 15, 2008. The 5,500-piece collection contains almost everything recovered from the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which has sat 2.5 miles below the surface of the Atlantic ocean since the boat sank on April 15, 1912.
The work shirt of W. Allen, a 3rd class passenger on the Titanic, is shown as part of the artifacts collection at a warehouse in Atlanta, Friday, Aug 15, 2008. The 5,500-piece collection contains almost everything recovered from the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which has sat 2.5 miles below the surface of the Atlantic ocean since the boat sank on April 15, 1912.
A seven of clubs card is shown as part of the artifacts collection at a warehouse in Atlanta, Friday, Aug 15, 2008. The 5,500-piece collection contains almost everything recovered from the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which has sat 2.5 miles below the surface of the Atlantic ocean since the boat sank on April 15, 1912.
The pearl penknife, recovered from the body of Edmund Stone, victim of the Titanic disaster
The Service ForD "E" deck key, belonging to First Class Steward, Edmund Stone, victim of the Titanic disaster
A compensation letter sent to Millvina Dean's mother from the Titanic Relief Fund.
A 100-year-old suitcase belonging to Millvina Dean, the last remaining survivor of the Titanic
Harland & Wolff drawing room. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Jack Thayer, Titanic survivor
The Thermos flask used to feed Titanic survivor baby, Barbara Dainton-West
The "unsinkable" four-funnelled ship the SS Titanic. Part of the White Star Line, Titanic sank off Newfoundland on her maiden voyage to the USA after striking an iceberg (14-15/4/1912). Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
The Titanic being built in Belfast. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
One of the three Titanic propellers -- the stern section landed upside-down.Photographed by Leonard Evans on 2 September 2000 from submersible MIR 1 -- 2.38 miles below surface of Atlantic Ocean.
Bow of Titanic - Photographed by Leonard Evans on 2 September 2000 from submersible Mir-1 -- 2.35 miles below surface of Atlantic Ocean.
Titanic stoker William McQuillan was feared lost at sea, but his grave was subsequently discovered in Canada after 93 years... the last resting place of an Ulster-born Titanic victim.
An 18-carat gold pocket watch which is among the rare artefacts connected to the Titanic to be sold by Bonhams and Butterfields in Massachusetts in the US on May 1. The watch, which was damaged when disaster struck mid-Atlantic, belonged to Nora Keane, an Irish immigrant, living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with her brothers and sisters.
A pair of glasses is displayed in the Titanic: Aritifact Exhibition at the Metreon on June 6, 2006 in San Francisco, California.
Binoculars are displayed in the Titanic: Aritifact Exhibition at the Metreon on June 6, 2006 in San Francisco, California.
One of the images on display at the Titanic - Built in Belfast exhibition in Union Station, Washington DC.
Story of the Titanic sinking on the Belfast Telegraph front page
The transporting of the Titanic's anchor. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
The Titanic Report at a book fair in the Wellington Park Hotel. The document, dated July 30, 1912, was the main attraction at the Belfast Antiquarian Book Fair in the Wellington Park Hotel. The report, which was published three months after the tragedy, was presented for sale by Arthur Davidson of Davidson Books at Spa, Ballynahinch
Titanic designer Thomas Andrews. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
A deckchair removed from the Titanic just moments before it set sail from Cork.
Lillian Asplund, the last US survivor from the sinking of the Titanic, has died.
A ticket for the maiden voyage of Titanic.
People look at the 15 ton 13' by 30' portion of the First-Class C-Deck hull, one of the artifacts from the Titanic, at the Metreon on June 6, 2006 in San Francisco, California.
A telegraph wheel from the Titanic is displayed in the Titanic: Artifact Exhibition at the Metreon on June 6, 2006 in San Francisco, California.
Artifacts from the Titanic are displayed in the Titanic: Artifact Exhibition at the Metreon on June 6, 2006 in San Francisco, California.
A bowler hat is displayed in the Titanic: Aritifact Exhibition at the Metreon on June 6, 2006 in San Francisco, California. The exhibition opens on June 10, 2006 and will feature more than 300 authentic artifacts that have been recovered from Titanic's debris field. (Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images)
Olympic and Titanic. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum
Shipyard worker William Parr (background) pictured in the Titanic gym along with instructor T W McCawley
Giant starboard anchor of the Titanic is raised for the last time. 1.55pm 11th April 1912 in a picture taken by Father Browne.
1st class dining room on RMS Titanic taken by Father Browne.
Marconi Room on RMS Titanic showing Harold Bride in a picture taken by Father Browne.
White Star Wharf, Queenstown (Cobh) showing crowds waiting to embark on the tenders in a picture taken by Father Browne.
These are the astonishing pictures of RMS Titanic as she touched the waters of Belfast Lough for the first time - from a never-before-seen collection.
The series of amazing sepia images were captured by a Harland and Wolff employee as the 'unsinkable' ship moved slowly down the slipway and into the sea on May 31, 1911.
Although snapped more than 103 years ago, the photographs have a remarkable quality and have never been seen in public, until now.
Eerily, the words 'Going', 'going', 'gone' were written as captions beneath the sequence of pictures which ended up in a family photograph album.
The album contains 116 black and white images taken by John W Kempster when he was a director and senior engineer at Harland and Wolff at the time of the construction of Titanic and her sister ship the Olympic. They include the unpublished pictures of Titanic and the Olympic during their launch and departure from Belfast and have now gone on display at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.
The album contains 13 photographs from Titanic's launch on May 31, 1911 when her prow kissed sea water for the first time.
They include Lord Pirrie, the Harland and Wolff chairman, returning from inspecting the hydraulic rams and the doomed liner descending the slipway into the water, pursued by thousands of excited spectators. The sequence captures the unique high spirits of the occasion.
Press Release Image Tuesday 14th October 2014 Photographer Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. ALBUM FEATURING NEVER SEEN BEFORE TITANIC PHOTOGRAPHS GOES ON DISPLAY IN TRANSPORT MUSEUM Karen Logan, Curatorial Assistant at National Museums Northern Ireland, admires the album now on display in the TITANICa exhibition at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum. The family photograph album contains never before seen images of Titanic during her launch and departure from Belfast and stunning photographs of the Olympic. This exceptional photograph album belonged to John W. Kempster who was a Director and the Master of Ceremonies at Harland & Wolff at the time of Titanic and Olympic. It includes pictures from the launch of the Titanic, including Lord Pirrie returning from his inspection of the hydraulic rams, and the famous liner going down the slipway. Photographs in the album also feature the Kempster family on-board OlympicÕs maiden voyage and give a wonderful flavour of how passengers spent their days while sailing across the Atlantic Ocean.
Mr Kempster was master of ceremonies on the day of Titanic's launch, hosting a lunch at Belfast's Grand Central Hotel for yard officials and dignitaries.
The departure of Olympic and Titanic from Belfast Lough in 1912 was also photographed by Mr Kempster. Indeed, the Kempster family was on-board the Olympic, then the world's largest liner, for its maiden voyage to the United States in June 1911. Many of the photographs he took give a glimpse of how passengers wiled away the days.
William Blair, head of human history, National Museums Northern Ireland, said: "Part of our fascination with the Titanic is the era – it's like Downton Abbey at sea.
"These photographs are very evocative in that regard because they extend that social context around Titanic to take in the lifestyle of a shipyard director at the time."
This is the most complete album of the Titanic in Belfast in existence, according to Andrew Aldridge of Aldridge Auction House
The album, owned by private collector Steve Raffield, is on loan to the museum until next summer.
The Launch
Thousands of ticket-holding spectators gathered along the shores of Belfast Lough for the launch of Titanic on May 31, 1911. The public jostled for a view wherever they could find one, while dignitaries and Harland & Wolff employees watched from stands in the shipyard. Lord Pirrie made an inspection before giving the signal to launch, shortly after noon. In 62 seconds, Titanic was released down the greased slipway and into the water. Over the next 10 months she received her engines and fittings, transforming her into the ship that would depart Belfast on its maiden voyage.
Titanic was initially the over-shadowed "middle sister" of the three Olympic-class ships commissioned by the White Star Line from Harland & Wolff, according to William Blair, head of human history at National Museums Northern Ireland. Ironically, it was the Olympic that originally had its own commemorative brochure and captured public interest, being eight months ahead of its sibling. When Titanic entered service, she over took the Olympic as the world's largest liner at that time. Of the three ships - including the Britannic - only the Olympic managed to avoid tragedy and was retired after long service. The Britannic was sunk by a underwater mine off a Greek island in November 1916, killing 30 people.
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