As dawn broke over the Atlantic, all that was left of the world’s greatest ocean liner were the lifeboats, some flotsam and jetsam, and an oil slick.

The Industrial Revolution passed most of Ireland by, but turned Belfast into a mighty manufacturing base – shirts, fags, napkins, ocean liners.

On May 31, 1911 the world’s largest passenger liner, all 46,000 tons of her, edged down the slipway of the Harland and Wolff Shipyards and settled into the dark waters of Belfast Lough.

There the Titanic was fitted out and scrubbed up before slipping anchor and heading out into the Irish Sea almost a year after her launch.

She first sailed to Southampton, then to Cherbourg, and finally to Cobh (then called Queenstown) before setting course for New York.

The tragedy that befell her 100 years ago on the night of April 15, 1912 could be described as a rigorous application of Sod’s Law. Everything that might have gone wrong did.

Had the helmsman steered straight for the iceberg and hit the iceberg head on it’s more than likely the ship would have survived. As it was a First Officer ordered him to reverse, the worst possible advice. This meant the ship had no way – no forward momentum – and lost all steering. The Titanic twisted in the ocean, and hit the iceberg calamitously side on, gouging a huge hall in the hull.

Previously a message from the steamer Amerika had warned that large icebergs lay in Titanic’s path, but as the wireless radio operators on board the Titanic were employed by Marconi to relay messages to and from the passengers, they were not focused on relaying “non-essential” messages to the bridge. Later that evening, another report of numerous large icebergs, this time from a nearby ship Mesaba, similarly failed to reach the bridge.

Meanwhile Mr Sod carried on his work aboard a nearby ship, The Californian. The lights of the Californian were visible from the Titanic, but alas, the ship’s radio operator went to bed before he could receive the stricken vessel’s distress signals.

When it became obvious that the ship was doomed, once again mayhem and farce ruled, with captain and officers mishandling the evacuation.

As dawn broke over the Atlantic, all that was left of the world’s greatest ocean liner were the lifeboats, some flotsam and jetsam, and an oil slick. The gigantic hull had sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

1,517 people had perished, 706 had survived.

Its fascination continues because the Titanic seemed to encompass a huge proportion of human emotions — hubris, nemesis, heroism, human frailty, luxury, romance, tragedy and disaster.

April 15 marks 100 years since the Belfast ocean liner sank.

In the sixth century AD, Gregory of Tours noted at the beginning of his history of the world: “A great many things keep on happening, some of them good and some of them bad.”

This conclusion by the perceptive Gregory has been backed up with further evidence over the last 1,400 years of things, predictably enough, continuing to happen.

During 2012 the anniversaries of many of these, both good and bad, will be marked.

The 100th anniversary of the death of Bram Stoker is a day to note in your diary. The story of extravagantly-fanged Count Dracula was essentially a fiction from Ireland played out in Whitby, London and Transylvania – probably the first time these places had ever occurred in the same breath.

European folklore provided the supernatural cauldron from which Dracula sprang, with Ireland’s mythology contributing significant influence. Stoker’s mother Charlotte could tell many a ghoulish tale, and would claim she heard banshees calling and spirits keening on the night of her mother’s death.

Your average Irish Ma, in fact.

The Romanian tourist board will surely give maximum respect on April 20 to the modest man from Clontarf who turned their very own Vlad Dracul (of impaling fame) into the horror genre’s major A-lister.

The other big centenary in 2012 concerns maritime Belfast. Early in 1911 the world’s largest liner edged down the Harland and Wolff slipway and settled into the dark waters of Belfast Lough.

After almost a year of fitting out, on April 2, 1912, she slipped anchor and headed out into the Irish Sea. Her last port of call was Cobh before setting course for New York.

The tragedy that befell the Titanic on the night of April 15 was as rigorous an application of Sod’s Law as you might hope to find. Operational errors, disregarded iceberg warnings, and calamitous disorganisation amongst the crew all contributed to the disaster.

Meanwhile, Mr Sod would diligently carry on his work aboard a nearby ship, the Californian. Visible from the Titanic, alas, her radio operator retired early for the night and received none of the stricken vessel’s distress signals.

As dawn broke over the Atlantic, all that was left of the world’s greatest ocean liner were the lifeboats, some flotsam and jetsam, and an oil slick. Some 1,517 people had perished.

Another Belfast institution features in 2012.

On its opening night 150 years ago on May 12, 1862, the Ulster Hall was described by local newspaper The Northern Whig as “a music hall fit for the production of any composition, and for the reception of any artist, however eminent”.

So it was to prove.

The venue, during its long history, has staged readings by Charles Dickens, recitals by Enrico Caruso, sermons from Rev Ian Paisley. It has heard Lord Randolph Churchill and Sir Edward Carson calling for opposition to Home Rule, its walls have resounded to the sound of God Save the Queen as well as Amhrán na bhFiann.

And in 1971 it was the venue for the first ever public performance of Stairway To Heaven – surely as musically a momentous occasion as Handel’s little gig in Fishamble Street.
2012 also marks the 25th anniversary of pianist Liberace’s death.

At the time, the obituarist on London’s Daily Telegraph commented that  “Liberace’s private tastes were steeped in the absence of sobriety.”

A new exhibition on the Titanic has opened at the Melbourne Museum.

The Titanic is almost certainly the world’s most famous ever ship, and it has an even greater resonance for Irish people than most others as it was built in Belfast and picked up passengers in Cobh, Co Cork.

On April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank after colliding with an iceberg, claiming more than 1,500 lives and shaking the world’s confidence in the infallibility of modern technology.

Melbourne Museum is currently commemorating the tragedy in Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition, which showcases more than 280 artefacts retrieved from the Titanic’s debris field, offering visitors a poignant look at the ship, its passengers and crew.

Over the past 19 years, the exhibition has appeared in major museums worldwide and has already been seen by 22 million.

“We are proud to be presenting this remarkable exhibition, that by displaying extraordinary objects removed from the sea bed will bring visitors closer than ever before to the dramatic story of the Titanic,” said Dr J Patrick Greene, CEO, Museum Victoria.

The exhibition has been created with a focus on the Titanic’s human stories, told through the artefacts and exacting re-creations of the ship’s interior.

Delicate bottles of perfume, china bearing the logo of the elite White Star Line, even a piece of the Titanic’s hull, all offer connections to lives abruptly ended or changed forever by one of the world’s greatest maritime disasters.

As they enter the exhibition, each visitor is presented with a replica boarding pass of an actual passenger.

What follows is a journey through the life of the Titanic, from construction to life on board, to its ill-fated voyage, tragic sinking and the amazing efforts to recover artefacts.

Visitors will see a full-size recreation of the ship’s Grand Staircase, learn stories of heroism and humanity and even press their palms against an “iceberg”.

For more details log on to the Melbourne Museum website.

by Pádraig Collins