After taking the ferry from Queenstown to Swansea, Wales, we toured a bit of South Wales, stopped at Cardiff and Portsmouth, and arrived at Southampton. The weather was rainy so the pictures are not that great.

Pier 44 was the White Star pier where Titanic loaded on April 10th, 1912. The pier itself is still present.

Above left: The pier seen in the Father Browne collection. Right: The pier today still features the same outer tracks for the cranes and the same bollards are still in use to tie up ships. The White Star building was later replaced with another ocean terminal, which has since also been torn down.

That all the photos above are color attests to the dreary, rainy day, one of only two in two weeks. Above left: A tighter shot of the pier's end with the Southwestern Hotel visible in the background. You can just make it out over the cranes in the Father Browne picture above. Right: The cranes on the pier are similar to the ones seen in the 1912 photo, but are replacements. The railroad tracks that ran inside the crane tracks are largely removed, but sections of switch track seen in the 1912 photo are still there. When Titanic sailed, she went to the end of the pier turned left, and had the encounter with the New York only 200 yards around the corner.

The Southwestern Hotel was the major overnight point for passengers waiting to board liners. It's located on Canute Street, a block up from the White Star Offices. This area has changed little and was remarkably spared by heavy WW II bombing raids.

Above left: Canute Street as seen from the doorstep of the White Star offices. The Southwestern still faces the docks and much of the private rail terminal (lower right) is intact. The building acted as the offices for the Cunard line, which have been moved to a new terminal located where the New York was tied up in 1912. Today the QE II uses the same birth. Above right: The buildings across from the WSL office have changed little. Remove the cars and compare the photo to vintage photos and you find there are signs atop two of the buildings. The rest matches nicely.