Despite its short life-span, the RMS Titanic and the story of its creation, maiden voyage and tragic sinking has held a grip on the popular imagination of the whole world for more than a century.
For Belfast and Northern Ireland the story of the Titanic goes back further than its launch in 1912, back in fact to the late 18th Century when Belfast’s first major shipbuilding company was founded in Belfast by a young Scotsman.
From there sprung the Harland & Wolff shipyard which would go on to become not just Belfast’s but the world’s biggest shipbuilding company, and the shipyard that would build the world’s most famous ship, RMS Titanic.
This timeline marks the major milestones in this remarkable story of a city, a shipyard and the legendary ship it gave birth to.