Our first stop was the H&W shipyard where Titanic was built. Our host was Andy Roddis from H&W Tech Services and our group had a chance to chat with David Livingstone, a Managing Director at H&W and a man who made two dives on Titanic during the 1996 expedition.

Above left: A view of the yard from the late 60's: the Arrol gantry stands over slips 2 & 3. Titanic was built on slip 3 and Olympic and Britannic were built in Slip 2 alongside. The gantry was torn down in the early 70's. Above right: The upper half of slip 3 remains today and the narrow gage rail tracks that ran along the sides are still there. The lower half of the slip has been filled in and paved over for parking and storage.

Left: The lower end of slip 3 has been filled in. This was where Titanic slid into the river Lagan on May 31, 1911. Right: A view from the slips of the corporate offices. Outwardly they seem little changed, but have not been in use for many years so the interiors are quite dilapidated.

Left: The forward end of the Thompson Graving (dry) Dock. All of the pictures of Titanic and here sisters in dry dock were taken here. The door is at right and the holes in the wall are for shoring to hold the ship upright. The keel support blocks are in the center of the floor. Right: Aside from being dingier, nothing has changed. The building at upper right is the pump house. Compare these photos to any photo of an Olympic class ship that shows a propeller/rudder shot. Yep, right here. The repair of Olympic after the Hawk collision was done here too. The dry dock is 37' deep and 900 feet long.

Above are two views from the bottom of the Thompson Graving dock. At right, Dave O'Leary, president of the Irish THS, stands by the keel blocks. They appear to be the same ones seen in 1912 photos.