Titanic 114th anniversary: My grandfather helped build it and nearly went on maiden voyage - but his wife refused to let him go
A Co Antrim man has recalled how his grandfather worked as a riveter on the Titanic - and narrowly turned down an invitation to travel on its maiden voyage due to objections from his wife.
Retired Coleraine civil servant George Clarke, aged 90, was speaking to the News Letter on the 114th anniversary of the sinking of the famous Belfast-built vessel.
The Titanic sank on 15 April 1912, after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic on her maiden voyage, killing 1,500 people.
Before the vessel was built George recalled how his grandfather, also George, walked to Belfast from south Londonderry, leaving the family farm to take up work at Harland and Wolff in Belfast, around 1900.
"He was a riveter and had arms like Popeye," George said.
"I can remember him telling me he took five men to put a rivet into the Titanic.
"Two of them had big long tongs and grabbed the white-hot rivet to put it into the hole.
"Another guy with a big, heavy sledgehammer was behind, holding it in while the other two men banged away on it with hammers to knock it in."
His granny, Charlotte, was a church organist and "sat all day in the house playing her piano".
She used to give him sixpence for singing along to her tunes. And on top of her piano was a model of the Titanic.
“When they finished the Titanic they took so many men from each trade with them in case something went wrong.”
His grandfather was to go on behalf of his trade.
"But my granny said no, because it was too near the birth of my father. She didn't want him to go.
"She never discussed her feelings about the fact that he missed the maiden voyage - but I would say she was pretty glad.
"However as far as I recall, my grandfather did indeed sail on the Titanic. I recall him saying they took it on a test run to Cairnryan and back again before the maiden voyage, to test the engines."
His grandfather lived on the Woodvale Road in west Belfast and George remembers the extraordinary sight of "an army" of men pouring out of their homes in the morning to make their way to work in the shipyards in east Belfast.
"They walked it, they had to leave at five in the morning - there were no buses put on for them."
All the men wore "big hobnailed boots".
"As the walked down the Shankill they all joined in. It was a march, and everybody marched in step. You couldn't just dander and down the road. There was a purpose to the march. They were marching as quickly as they could to get to work.
"As they came out of the houses they all joined during the march. It was like an army marching down to North Street, everybody in step marching with the big hobnail boots. I just loved to hear that."
With a life shaped by travel and encounters with people from all walks of life, George draws from a rich tapestry of experiences in his new book, Our Wonderful Fragile Life, which tells his stories through poetry.
The book can be ordered for £7.99 online from https://mauricewyliemedia.com/