Actor’s call to discover more about our unique maritime past

It happened after holding a disposable coffee cup that had been outside a submersible viewing-chamber alongside the wreck of the Titanic.

The enormous pressure of the almost 2½ mile-depth of Atlantic Ocean had compressed the cardboard cup to the size of a thimble.

In awe of the wreck’s remarkable discovery - a triumph as great as her construction in Belfast - I solemnly abstained from handwashing for the rest of the day!

On board the Titanic research vessel, early on Tuesday 1st September 35 years ago, camera-operator Stu Harris watched TV pictures from a remote controlled camera-probe deep under the Atlantic.

“There’s something!” he observed, pointing to the screen.

“Wreckage!” suggested Bill Lange excitedly, an accomplished deep-water camera scientist.

Stu switched to a close-up and urged “it’s coming in!” Seconds later he exclaimed “Bingo!”

“And sure enough,” recounted research team co-leader Robert Ballard, “there on the video screen were the unmistakable images of things man-made.”

After confirming that they showed one of Titanic’s boilers “the control room erupted into cheering and hollering,” Dr Ballard recalled in his book The Discovery of the Titanic, adding “the Titanic had been found.”

Dr Ballard, French diving engineer Jean-Louis Michel and their team had finally found the final resting place of the world’s most famous ship.

The historic discovery was marked during last Tuesday’s 35th anniversary celebrations in Titanic Belfast by local actor, director and playwright Dan Gordon.

Apart from his portrayal of Red Hand Luke in the Give My Head Peace TV sitcom, Dan wrote and starred in the highly acclaimed and widely-travelled play - The Boat Factory - about the Harland and Wolff Shipyard where his ancestors worked.

His grandfather, George Gordon, was a labourer in H&W’s Govan yard on the Clyde before relocating to the Belfast yard and marrying Belfast girl Edith White.

They had six sons and two daughters.

“All of the boys went into the yard,” Dan told me, including “my real Uncle Andy who worked there for 50 years!”

Bobby and Billy were painters and George-junior cut short his apprenticeship to join the Merchant Navy.

“My father David, known as Davy, was a joiner who served his time here and did the full whack,” Dan recounted, “and Frank was the eldest, though we’re not completely sure if he worked in the yard, because he emigrated to Canada.”

Dan’s two aunts each tied a nautical knot!

“My Aunt Edith was known as Edie same as my granny. Her husband Dougie was a crane driver in the East Yard,” Dan continued, “and my Aunt Margaret’s husband Tommy worked in the yard and they lived in Sydenham.”

I suggested that there were a lot of Gordon-family connections with Harland and Wolff.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s extraordinary isn’t it?” said Dan, whose father Davy started in the aptly named ‘Boat Factory’ as an apprentice Joiner in July 1945 “just as WWII was coming to an end,” Dan explained, “his mother paid £5 and he was indentured for five years to be trained in his chosen trade of woodworking.”

Part of Davy’s shipyard story, narrated by son Dan, is here today with more coming next week.

Davy married Irene in 1958 and had three children, two boys and a girl, who he talked to regularly about the yard, “about the people and the characters he worked with,” said Dan.

“He was very proud of the shipyard, very proud of the skills.

This is what gave me my love for this place,” Dan continued “my love for the Titanic and for the 1,700 ships that they built. My dad’s mantra was ‘Don’t stand and wonder how to do it. Do it, and wonder how you did it!’ which I think is a great kind of mantra in life. He was very capable with his hands. He would make things. Everything was stored, tools were looked after. I still have my dad’s tool box!”

Dan also has his dad’s bit and brace and the ‘canvas roll’ for the bits.

“The apprentices often made their own toolboxes” Dan explained, “they had to buy their own tools so they would often make them instead. Even chisels.”

Marking the 35th anniversary of the wreck’s discovery, Titanic Belfast is offering free entry for children to the iconic visitor attraction and to the SS Nomadic tender vessel.

Dan wants as many people as possible to have a closer look at Titanic’s remarkable history.

“We all think we know the story and there is nothing new to discover,” he explained, “but her history is ingrained here and it’s our duty to keep the story alive for future generations.”

He is encouraging local folk “to look closer, go deeper and be surprised by what they don’t know.”

So the museum is sharing many lesser-known ‘Titanafacts’ on social media during September, with a ‘Kids Go Free’ offer throughout September and October.

Visitors can also create Titanic Memories along the Maritime Mile Treasure Trail for families, or visit the free exhibition - Out of Stores - in Titanic Belfast’s Andrews Gallery.

Customers must book online in advance of their visit to Titanic Belfast.

Full information is available at titanicbelfast.com or maritime-mile.com.