95th anniversary convention takes us to Titanic's birthplace

Titanic students will get a chance to see many notable sites up-close during the Titanic and Nomadic Convention taking place April 6-8 in Belfast. Convention attendees will be among the first people to tour the Nomadic since her arrival in Belfast last year.

Nomadic is the only surviving White Star vessel. She was one of two tenders who carried passengers to White Star vessels at anchor off Cherbourg Harbor in France. After many years of service she became a floating restaurant along the Seine River in Paris. In recent years she was falling apart and in desperate need of restoration. Thankfully, she's now getting the attention she needs at the place where she was built nearly 100 years ago.

Convention goers will also tour the birthplace of Nomadic and Titanic - the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast. Tours will be taking attendees through the old Harland & Wolff Administrative Buildings, Titanic Chief Designer Thomas Andrew's Office, the slipways where Olympic, Titanic and Britannic were built and launched, the Thompson Dry-dock where Titanic was fitted out, the Abercorn Basin and Hamilton Dry-Dock where SS Nomadic was fitted out and, finally, the home of Titanic victim Thomas Andrews.

The Nomadic Preservation Society is hosting the convention. The Society's founders launched the SaveNomadic.com campaign in late 2005 in collaboration with Belfast Industrial Heritage Ltd. The campaign was a tremendous success and has received pledges of more than 56,000 pounds.

100 years ago, the idea for Titanic was born

It was at a dinner party 100 years ago that the idea of building Titanic was born. It was at a dinner party at Downshire House (pictured) in Belgravia, London that shipping magnate Lord Pirrie and White Star Line President J. Bruce Ismay discussed creating three massive steamers that would dwarf rival Cunard's Lusitania and Mauretania.

That night, the men agreed to build three steamers, each four-funneled, that would compete for the lucrative North Atlantic passenger route. From this discussion Olympic, Titanic and Britannic would come to life.

2007 will mark another Titanic milestone - the 95th anniversary of her maiden voyage and disastrous sinking.

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