The Titanic Sneezed Here

It’s quite common for areas to exploit the lives of famous people in their tourism industry. Signs are erected wherever these people are known (or thought) to have ate, slept, lived, delivered great speeches, and so forth. I refer to this proliferation of “historical monuments” as the “George Washington sneezed here” phenomenon. While many famous people, such as C.S. Lewis, grew up in Belfast, no one approaches the fame of another Belfast child: the HMS Titanic. The dry dock where the Titanic sat is protected, as is the slip that first lowered her into the water. The pump-house for the dry dock is now a coffee-shop and museum. The offices where the Titanic was designed are the centrepiece of the Titanic Quarter, an ongoing attempt to modernize the old shipyards into economic viability. As much as I mock the historicalization of minor incidents, like the dry dock, I also acknowledge their importance for the area’s economy. Commemorating events like the building of the Titanic could help bring in tourism. And more importantly, it brings to the forefront the need to revitalize failing areas like the out-of-use shipyards. For years, Belfast has been in economic limbo. Unemployment is frighteningly common, as most of the industry which built this city has since moved out. But thanks to a strenghthening peace process, the economy is growing. Maybe soon, this city will be a titanic force again.