Titanic relatives pay tribute to lost on 113th anniversary of sea disaster with moving Belfast ceremony
Relatives of the 1,517 people lost in the sinking of the Titanic have paid tribute to their family members in a sombre ceremony in the heart of Belfast.
Marking the 113th anniversary of the maritime disaster, families who still count the human cost of the most famous sinking ship in history laid white roses on a memorial to the victims at city hall.
The annual event takes place in Belfast’s Titanic Memorial Gardens, which features 15 brass plaques inscribed with the names of every single person who perished in the April 15, 1912 tragedy – the first time a complete list of the dead was brought together in a single monument.
The touching tribute also saw Lord Mayor Micky Murray and the Belfast Titanic Society’s vice chair Maureen McKinney lay wreaths at the plinth of the Titanic Memorial Statue in the grounds of city hall.
Organised each year by the Titanic Society, the moving remembrance ceremony also marks the deep ties between the city and the ship, as not only was the doomed liner built by Harland and Wolff shipyards, but a host of victims were from Ulster.
That includes Marjorie Wilson, whose grandfather William McQuillan, then 26 and from north Belfast, worked in the ship’s boiler room.
“He really shouldn’t have been there, but his mate’s wife was having a baby so my grandfather took his place,” she said.
“He was washed ashore in Nova Scotia, the 183rd body to be brought ashore to Canada.”
As the Titanic Society’s chair, Aidan McMichael, told the News Letter, having the anniversary be a formal event in Belfast’s civic calendar supported by the lord mayor underscores the continuing importance of the Titanic to the story of the city.
“It is an opportunity for families to focus in on the loss,” he said. “For the descendants to be able to come here, look at the name of their relative on a bronze plaque and think back to that time, they all appreciate it.
“It’s beautiful in this space, the Memorial Garden; the flowers are all reminiscent of the April context of the disaster. It’s great place for people to come and have that little bit of remembrance every day of the year.
“Belfast designed, built and launched the Titanic, it’s a unique bit of our story.”