Last surviving White Star liner returns to Belfast

S.S. Nomadic, the tender that carried first and second class passengers from the port of Cherbourg, France, to the Titanic, has returned to the place where she was commissioned and built 95 years ago.

Nomadic and her sister tender, Traffic, were built by the White Star Line to ferry passengers to the enormous new Olympic class of liners. Nomadic was completed early in 1912, when she left Belfast Lough for duty in Cherbourg waters.

Today Nomadic is the only White Star liner afloat. For years after her retirement she served as a floating restaurant beside the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Nomadic's future was uncertain for the last few years until the British government established a trust to care for the historic vessel. The ship arrived in Belfast on Saturday, July 15, 2006 after a four-day journey from Le Havre, France.

The cost of fully restoring Nomadic could be as much as £7 million, but Social Development Minister David Hanson said it was too soon to say how much money would be needed.

"If we want the Nomadic back on the lough in Belfast doing trips, it will cost much more than if we simply want to put it in dry dock at the side of the Odyssey," Hanson said.

"But it is not government's job to fund the restoration of the vessel. Government has played its job by buying it and bringing it back and I am giving the trust ample time to make very strong inroads to raise the level of money they need to ensure that we get the best out of Nomadic for the future of Belfast."

David Scott-Beddard of the Nomadic Preservation Society said that while the restoration process would take years, it was tremendous to see the ferry return to its home port.

"It's lovely to see her back here, to see 95 years of history, the last White Star Line vessel afloat, built by Harland and Wolff, back in Belfast - it's a tremendous day," he said.

Nomadic's homecoming ceremony, planned for July 17, was delayed after a man working on the ship suddenly collapsed and died. It had been planned that the boat would be towed up the River Lagan for a ceremony at the Odyssey complex.

"With the fatality having occurred it was not appropriate to have the celebration that we would have had, but we will be meeting again tomorrow to welcome the Nomadic back again," NIO Minister David Hanson said.

John White of the Nomadic Preservation Society travelled to Southampton to await the vessel's arrival there and said he would wait through the delay.

"It's very tragic that this has happened today, and our deepest sympathies go out to his family," White said. "She's been away from Belfast for 75 years - another day sitting up the Lagan won't make any difference," he said.

The plan is that once the boat comes in, it will remain at the Odyssey Centre for a few days before being taken away for restoration.

Members of the Nomadic Preservation Society will decide what restoration should take place and look at ways of raising money to complete the work.

We encourage you to join the Nomadic Preservation Society.