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Displaying items by tag: Samson and Goliath

15th November 2018

Milestone for Belfast Cranes Samson and Goliath

Half a century ago construction began on Goliath, then the largest crane in the world which formed the first of the giant shipbuilding cranes in Belfast at the Harland & Wolff yard. The second crane Samson soon followed to become iconic symbols of the city's industrial pride and heritage known throughout the world.

#BelfastLough - This month 50 years ago, November 1968 the landscape of Belfast was forever changed when a giant yellow crane known as Goliath rose from the Harland and Wolff shipyard.

As BBC News NI recalls, it would be joined soon afterwards by Samson, and the pair formed a key part of the city's skyline.

Their role, however, was more than aesthetic; they were the workhorses that helped develop the city's industrial reputation, facilitating the employment many thousands within Belfast and beyond.

To view historic footage of the iconic crane, click here to a link.

Could the cranes as Afloat previously covered become tourist attractions? click here

Published in Belfast Lough

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago