Harland and Wolff - Shipbuilding and Engineering Works

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(Reference: TY-0138)

Left Spud Murphy, Right Geordie Short - 1959 Kings Works - photo courtesy of Alistair McCartney

Timeline

Venetian
Ship No.1 The first ship to be built at the yard, she was launched on 30th July 1859 and delivered to J. Bibby & Sons on 14th August 1859.

Powered by a 2 cylinder engine she also had a lifting steel screw so that she could use her sails to the best advantage.

In July 1894 she was wrecked on the coast of Chile after sailing from Valparaiso.

Titanic
Ship No. 401

Built in 1912 with a tonnage of 46329grt, a length of 883ft, a beam of 92ft 6in and a service speed of 21 knots.

On 3rd April 1912 the largest ship in the world was handed over and on 10th April she commenced her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York with calls at Cherbourg and Queenstown(Cobh).

HMS Belfast
Ship No. 1000 she was launched March 1938 by Mrs Neville Chamberlain

The cruiser HMS Belfast is Europe's largest surviving Second World War warship, now permanently moored in the River Thames, close to London Bridge. Now part of the Imperial War Museum, HMS Belfast is the first warship since HMS Victory to be preserved for the nation.

Canberra Ship No. 1621 she was launched by Dame Pattie Menzies. Delivered in 1961, was the largest passenger liner to be built in the UK since the Queen Elizabeth.

She adopted a new turbo-electric propulsion system with distinctive Twin funnels. To reduce topside weight, her superstructure was made from 1000 tons of aluminium which also improved stability and permitted a greater volume of public rooms to be available 'up top'.

Broken up at Alang 1998.

Sea Quest
The largest oil rig launched in in the UK. The first structure of this nature and size in the world to enter the water in one peice. Built for BP at a cost of 3.5 million pounds and launched on 8 January 1966. The entire structure was 320 feet (98 m) high and weighed 150,000 tons, including three legs each 35 feet (11 m) in diameter and 160 feet (49 m) long. Owing to its great size the rig occupied three slips of the Musgrave yard.

Samson and Goliath
Goliath being completed in 1969 and Samson, in 1974. Goliath stands 96 metres (315 ft) tall, while Samson is taller at 106 metres (348 ft). Goliath, the smaller of the two sits slightly further inland closer to Belfast City. Both cranes are still in operation.

Glomar C.R. Luigs and Glomar Jack Ryan, two new ultra deepwater drillships. Both vessels delivered early 2000 were designed for an ultimate drilling capability of a 35,000 foot well in water depths up to 12,000 feet.

Anvil Point
The last ship to be built at Harland and Wolff set sail from Queen's Island on Saturday the 22nd March 2003 at approx 5:30pm , ending almost 150 years of shipbuilding at the famous yard.

COASTAL CORPUS CHRISTI
Built in 1977 she was largest ship to be built at the Belfast yard, a Crude oil tanker she was to be originally named Coastal Texas.

An overall length of 1205Ft(367M) she was powered by a H&W Stal-Laval single turbine 36,000 SHP

In 2002 she was sold to Indian shipbreakers and arrived at Alang 13 January 2002 for demolition.

The Musgrave (East) Yard Within Harland & Wolff there were four quite separate shipyards; Queens with 3 slips, the Abercorn and the Victoria with 4 slips each and the Musgrave (also known as East Yard) which had 6 slips. With shipbuilders being as superstitious as seafarers no slip was ever given the number 13 and no ship would ever have been launched on a Friday the 13th!

Factoids

No. 24 - William Pirrie 1924 Lord William Pirrie died on 7th June.

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