Press Release: SS Nomadic soon opened to the public

The Members of the Nomadic Preservation Society, in collaboration with Titanic Conventions, have the pleasure to invite you to the ‘TITANIC & NOMADIC CONVENTION’ to be held in Belfast (Northern Ireland) next 6th, 7th and 8th April 2007.

The Convention will coincide with the 95th anniversary of RMS Titanic’s disaster and the 96th anniversary of .SS Nomadic, the very last White Star Line ship still existing in the World and the former Titanic’s service ship.

Various fascinating visits willl be possible on Titanic’s construction site : Old Harland & Wolff Administrative Buildings (Thomas Andrew’s Office, Drawings Room,), RMS Titanic and RMS Olympic’s slipways, the Thompson Dry-dock (where Titanic was fitted out), Abercorn Basin and Hamilton Dry-Dock (where SS Nomadic was fitted out), Thomas Andrews’ House…..Inaugurations, exhibitions, lectures, Gala Dinner, … will …………. !  For the first time for the past 7 years, SS Nomadic will be opened to the public!

You will find the full programme in attachment.

SS Nomadic is the last survivor from the whole White Star Line fleet.  She is also the last direct floating link with RMS Titanic.  She was built in 1910/1911 on Harland & Wolff’s slipway #3.  She has been launched on 25th April 1911 and fitted out in the Abercorn Basin.  She was then delivered to the White Star Line on 27th May 1911.  Nomadic attended the departure of Titanic’s older sister, the Olympic, on 31st May 1911; the same day Titanic was launched!  She ferried Bruce Ismay, Lord Pirrie, J.P. Morgan and other VIP’s. on board RMS Olympic.

The 67 meters long tender was devoted to the transportation of 1st and 2d class passengers in Cherbourg, White Star Line’s port of call.

On 10th April 1912, the SS Nomadic ferried 274 passengers to« The Ship of Dreams » calling in Cherbourg.  Well-known millionaires John Jacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, Molly Brown …

Later, during World War I, SS Nomadic was used as a troopship ferrying thousands of US soldiers landing in France.  In June 1940 she participated in the evacuation soldiers and citizens from Cherbourg before being returned to Britain when France was occupied.  There she acted as a troopship for apprentice soldiers from Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.

After WWII when the White Star Line was absorbed by Cunard, Nomadic (by then renamed Ingenieur Minard) returned to Cherbourg, in 1945, and continued to carry passengers to the Cunard liners – including the two great Queens: Elizabeth and Mary.  After serving the Queen Elizabeth in November 1968, Nomadic was sent to the breakers yard.  However, she escaped an inglorious end when she was acquired and converted into a floating restaurant on the river Seine, near the Eiffel Tower.  She had a 30 years second career in Paris.

Threatened with the scrap yard, Nomadic Preservation Society founders launched the SaveNomadic.com campaign late 2005, in collaboration with Belfast Industrial Heritage Ltd.  The campaign was a tremendous success as we received pledges from the World over for more than £56,000/Eur 84,000.

Arrived safely in Belfast on board the AMT Mariner, a special immersible barge, more than 8,000 people came to Belfast to see that unique relic of transatlantic liners golden age.

The monies raised by public subscription towards Nomadic’s acquisition and restoration was, with DSD’s permission, used to acquire magnificent original paneling and artifacts removed off the vessel during her conversion to a floating restaurant.  These include a considerable quantity of her original paneling, including the wonderfully ornate ‘bulkhead’, with its apertures for clock and etched mirror, from behind the first class buffet, an original door with grills intact, and an original table (complete) and the legs from five others.

We have also purchased her sole surviving lifeboat from the Chantereyne Museum.  Originally Nomadic had two lifeboats; unfortunately, these were left to deteriorate and one was in such a poor state of disrepair that it was burned by the museum.  The surviving one also is in poor condition but, if it is not restorable, it will be preserved for all time and it will act as a template to create replicas.  To our knowledge this is one of, perhaps, only two White Star Line original lifeboats still in existence and it may well now be the only one.

Since her return to Belfast, Nomadic has undergone some repair work by Harland & Wolff Shipyard (the yard that built her) to the hull where holes had been punched through to accommodate pipes for air conditioning etc.

Nomadic has also undergone several surveys in order to determine hull integrity.  We are thankful to report that she is in remarkably good condition.  Her hull has lost little, if any, density and she has now been moved from Harland & Wolff across river to the Barnett Dock which will be her home for the next eighteen months or so while work continues on her...

The Nomadic Charitable Trust has now been set up in order to oversee the restoration of the Nomadic.  The Trust includes representatives from Belfast Industrial Heritage Ltd., Nomadic Preservation Society, Belfast Titanic Society, World Ships Society, Belfast City Council, together with Government and business representatives.  The Nomadic Charitable Trust has agreed on our vision to restore the Nomadic and make her accessible to the people of Northern Ireland so that she can play a key role as a celebration of the Titanic and Northern Ireland’s maritime heritage as well as acting as a catalyst for tourism and social and economic development.

Nomadic Preservation Members are actually engaged in First Aid repairs including providing temporary covers to protect the vessel from any further damage from rainwater ingress whilst the exciting plans for a comprehensive restoration are being developed.  We all look forward to the day the Nomadic takes her rightful place as a major cultural and tourist attraction in her home city....

Contacts:

John White – Operations Director – 0044(0)7947 876837

David Beddard – Head of Funding Nomadic Charitable Trust – 0044(0)7970 593572

Philippe Delaunoy – European Coordinator – 0032(0)494.426296

 
Or visit our new website www.nomadicpreservationsociety.co.uk

 
www.nomadicpreservationssociety.co.uk

www.titanicconvention.com

 
Nomadic Preservation Society

 "Titanic's 'Little Sister '- Last of the once-mighty White Star Line"