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Belfast's position on the River Lagan and at the head of a lough
open to the sea helped shipbuilding become one of the city's major
industries. Although a whole series of successful ocean liners were built
at the Harland & Wolff shipyard, it is best known for building the Titanic.
At that time the largest liner in the world, she sank in 1912 on her maiden
voyage across the Atlantic. An iceberg tore an underwater gash
in the ship's side 100m long.
The activity in Harland & Wolff's shipyard today shows how our relationship
with the sea has changed. Now oil rigs dominate the skyline.
Belfast, as Ireland's only industrial city, is not just famous for its
shipbuilding, however. For hundreds of years, linen has also been produced
here, first as a 'cottage industry' carried on at home, and then
in factories.
Linen, derived from flax, is one of the oldest materials
known to man. Some linen cloth used in mummification has been identified
as 4,500 years old.
Many of the buildings in central Belfast, especially former warehouses
in Linen Hall Street and Franklin Street, reflect the heyday of
linen manufacture. But it is not a dead industry. Many of the factories
that were out in the countryside to the south have gone, but one of the
oldest, Thomas Ferguson in Banbridge, is still active and successful.
See vocabulary
Exercise - Comprehension
Look at the statements below, according to the text are they true or
false?
 Check
your answers
Links for more information
Ulster
Titanic Society
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