I used to live in Befast and went back to visit my parents last weekend, we discussed a range of things and one of these was the sad notice of the final new ship to be built at Harland & Wolff, where the Titanic was built. There is a BBCi community forum about H&W.
The two gantry cranes, known as Samson and Goliath locally, are now redundant. They were commissioned as part of a massive shipyard expansion in the late 60s and can lift 840 odd tons each. My Dad deflection tested them to 1000 tons and the gantry dipped 11.5 inches, he also built the huge dry dock for oil tankers, one of the biggest in the world at the time, capable of 1,000,000 tonnes.
The shipyard expansion was one of the measures taken to maintain some semblence of order in Belfast, if the yard had closed and 10,000 unionists had lost their jobs, then chaos would have descended on early 70s Belfast. H&W has declined from a peak of over 30,000 workers to an SME of 135 largely engineers, sad but slow and gradual.
The land around H&W will be sold for apartments and a science park, the yard will continue to refit and repair ships, but there is no need for two cranes that can lift 800 odd tonnes. If they are scrapped the Belfast skyline will change forever, you can see them from all over Belfast, they are 350 foot hight and yellow, so they stand in quite a striking manner. Either taking them down or keeping them repainted will cost a fortune, maybe they'll be protected just as the BT tower in London has been.
Building Social Web Applications by Gavin Bell.
Samson and Goliath are not leaving their home city of Belfast. Harland and Wolff, although they are working on a new business like ship repair, they are holding on to the building dock and Goliath and Samson. Those two cranes are landmarks and they are not leaving Belfast because they are the greatest structures towering over our skyline today.
If Goliath and Samson were taken away from Belfast then people like Sir Edward Harland, Gustav Wolff and Lord Pirrie would be spinning in their graves. Although Goliath and Samson were not there during the reign of all three men at the yard, they are still property of the same company Harland and Wolff which all three guys worked for and loved. In the papers it says that both Towering Cranes are staying where they belong and that is BELFAST CITY. I hope the papers are right.
GOLIATH and SAMSON are two historical monuments now. THEY WON'T BE GOING ANYWHERE BECAUSE THEY NOW BELONG TO THE CITY OF BELFAST.
I'm a member of the editorial team for a BBC site called "A Sense of Place", where people share N. Ireland stories and memories. We'd be very interested in hearing your dad's memories of Harland and Wolff, including the building of the dry dock for oil tankers.
May I just put the record straight with regards to Samson and Goliath?
Samson is in full use and Goliath is under refurbishment and will soon also be back in commission. Also for the record, H&W Heavy Industries is very active in the ship building industry and is designing and engineering a multitude of vessels including off-shore exploration rigs, bulkers, tankers, etc. It is also very active in the ship repair and conversion industry (this summer, both building and repair docks will be full) and the third sphere of activity has taken H&W into civil engineering where the company is now building and installing very big road bridges throughout Ireland and the UK.
Joris Minne
on behalf of Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries, Belfast
I only get to visit my home city of Belfast once every few years, but the most heartwarming sight I see when I arrive in Northern Ireland is the two cranes that I consider my favourite landmarks in all the world. Belfast would never be the same without Samson and Goliath. I hope they remain in their stately position overlooking the great city of Belfast.
My family all come from Northern Ireland. It would be a catastrophe should Samson and Goliath be demolished. Belfast should retain its history; not condem it to the scrapheap. Belfast's history is something to be proud of.