#TITANIC'S TENDER - While all the attention is focused on the R.M.S. Titanic and the newly opened Titanic Belfast visitor experience, the White Star Line passenger tender SS Nomadic is only a stone's throw away from the venue, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Like the liner she was built by Harland & Wolff and her launch took place in 1911. She was commissioned by White Star Line as a 1st and 2nd class passenger tender for Titanic and sister Olympic.

The Nomadic carried out her duties based in Cherbourg, where she transferred passengers to the Titanic on her only call to the Normandy port. As such the vessel which is registered in the French port, is the last surviving White Star Line vessel in the world and the only remaining authentic link to the ill-fated liner.

Decades later, the Nomadic became a floating restaurant on the River Seine in Paris close to the Eiffel Tower, where the venture which started in 1977 remained formore than twenty years.

The ageing vessel faced new safety regulations threatening her fate which ultimately led to her being seized in 2002. She was then offered for sale and then followed a court action for her to be scrapped but a campaign was raised to save the historic vessel which succeeded in her securement.

At 95 years old she was towed by barge back to her builder's birthplace in Belfast in 2006. Now that she is over a century old the vessel is currently undergoing restoration by the SS Nomadic Charitable Trust. She is dry-docked in the Hamilton Dock which adjoins the new iconic landmark of the Titanic Belfast building within the developing Titanic Quarter.

Yesterday 'hard-hat' tours began of the preserved liner tender and it is essential to note that tickets are to be 'pre-booked' with the last tour on 15th April. Daily tours are at 10.30, 12 noon, 2pm and the last tour is 3.30pm. To ensure availability visit: www.nomadicbelfast.com/book-a-tour

For further information about the various visitor attractions and events click the following headings, to be directed to the relevant websites.

The history of the S.S. Nomadic

Go to Belfast

Titanic Belfast Festival (31 March -22 April)

Titanic Belfast Visitor Experience

Following yesterday's inaugural cruise call to Belfast this year of Balmoral as previously reported the Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines vessel was making a cruise in memory of the liner. To see the list of the other cruiseships calling  to the city, click HERE.

#TITANIC – The cruiseship Balmoral not only is the first caller to Belfast for 2012 as previously reported, but her arrival this morning marked more importantly as a cruise in the memory of the R.M.S. Titanic, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Cruise passengers embarked on the Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines ship last Tuesday in Southampton for a mini-cruise which included a call to Liverpool yesterday.

Today passengers where to visit the builders of the White Star Line liner launched a century ago at Harland & Wolff shipyard at Queens Island on the banks of the Lagan.

Adjoining the complex is the Titanic Quarter where the recently opened Titanic Belfast Visitor Experience is making an impression through the iconic landmark, for further details click HERE.

#LECTURE – The Old Dublin Society and the RDS are joint organisers of the lecture  'Fr Brown: From Titanic to Kangaroobie' which is to be held at the Ballsbridge venue in Dublin next Wednesday (11th April).

David Davison will be the guest speaker for the lecture that starts at 6pm in the Minerva Suite. Those intending to visit should book by calling (01) 2407 254 or email: [email protected]

The Old Dublin Society which hosts a winter and spring lecture programme is normally hosted in the Dublin City Library and Archive on Pearse Street.

For further information on all lectures visit: www.olddublinsociety.ie

#TITANIC – The Maritime Institute of Ireland is to host a musical tribute and illustrated talk to mark the centenary of the Titanic shipping disaster. The evening event (starting at 8pm) is to be held on Thursday 12th April in the Maritime Museum, Dun Laoghaire.

The musical tribute will be led by uillinn piper Eamon Galdubh – similar music to that played in the 2nd and 3rd class compartments on the Titanic. The illustrated talk will be presented by well-known deep sea diver Rory Golden, the first Irishman to see the wreck of the Titanic. He was also the first person to touch the ship's wheel since the ship's Captain did in 1912.

Tickets for the event are available at €10 each (concessions €5) from Costello Jewellers, 1 Northumberland Avenue, Dun Laoghaire. In addition tickets can be purchased from the museum which is to reopen to the public next week on Tuesday 3rd April. For more visit www.mariner.ie

#LECTURES- The Old Dublin Society is to host a lecture 'R.M.S. Titanic – The True Story' which is to be presented by Ed Coghlan next  Wednesday (14th March) in Dublin City Library on Pearse Street.

The lecture starts at 6.30pm and will be held in the libraries Archive Conference Room. All are welcome to attend the lecture which is admission free. For further information about the society visit www.olddublinsociety.ie/ in addition the library by clicking HERE.

#PHOTO EXHIBITION -'The Pier' a collection of images created by French photographer Charlie Jouvet was launched this evening at Alliance Francaise, Dublin and continues into next month, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The images portrayed capture a meditative journey from the centre of the island of Cobh to the sea and features the town's former White Star Line pier. It is from this pier that liner tenders took the last passengers to board the R.M.S. Titanic which was anchored offshore.

Jouvet created the images while in residency with the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh where there have been calls to preserve the historic 19th century pier also known locally as the 'Heartbreak' Pier as many emigrants departed Ireland for the last time and to seek new lives abroad.

Constructed of timber, the pier is in a perilous condition and according to experts could collapse unless urgent funding is found, as previously reported on Afloat.ie

The Berlin-based photographer has exhibited in his native France and also in Cambodia, Germany, Poland and Switzerland. His most recent work was at the PhotoPhnomPenh Festival which was held last November.

The Dublin exhibition continues to 21st April and is open to the public (free of charge) at Alliance Française, 1 Kildare Street, Dublin 2. For further information Tel: (01) 676 1732 and opening hours visit www.alliance-francaise.ie/gallery/

#TITANIC- In the centenary year of commemorating the R.M.S. Titanic, the pier from where her last passengers boarded at Cobh (Queenstown) is in danger of collapsing unless funding is made available to carry out immediate preservation reports The Irish Times.

The 19th century pier constructed of timber is one of the most tangible links between the town and the liner which anchored offshore and where passengers boarded by tenders.

In addition many emigrants also trundled the pier's planks to depart Irish shores for the final time on ocean-going journeys to the four corners of the world in an effort to start new lives.

To read more about the story click HERE.

#TITANIC- In this centenary year of the R.M.S.Titantic's sinking, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines Balmoral is to include a port of call to Belfast Harbour, where passengers are to visit the Harland & Wolff shipyard, during an Easter mini cruise in early April, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Balmoral will be the first cruiseship to berth in Belfast this year and her passengers are to visit the world famous shipyard on Queens Island where the liner was built for the White Star Line.

In addition there will be opportunities to call to the Botanical Gardens,  Ulster Museum and Belfast Castle. The three-night mini-cruise starts in Southampton and is to include an en-route call to Liverpool, a former City of Culture.

For further information on other cruise calls to Belfast as previously reported on Afloat.ie click this HERE. In addition to the Titanic Walking Festival (31 March-22 April) as also reported click HERE

#TITANIC-The Maritime Institute of Ireland is to hold a 'Titanic Centenary' event in their maritime museum, Dun Laoghaire on Thursday 12th April (starting at 8pm) noting doors open from 7.30pm.

The first Irish diver to see the wreck from a Russian MIR submersible, Rory Golden will provide an illustrated talk on the latest revelations through an audio-visual presentation. Golden's first Titanic experience was on an expedition in 2000, which yielded hundreds of artefacts.

To ensure a place of the ticketed event, bookings can be made from Linda from the maritime museum's shop Tel: 01 214 3964 (on the top floor of the Dun Laoghaire Shopping Centre) as the museum itself is not due to re-open until early April as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Alternatively tickets can be booked at Costello Jewellers, 1 Northumberland Avenue, Dun Laoghaire Tel: 01 230 2311 (messages) and Barney Yourell, Lectures Officer of the institute by calling Mob: 087 900 7466. Tickets cost €10 each and concessions for senior citizens and unwaged etc are priced at €5. For further information contact Mob: 086 074 5402 and by visiting www.mariner.ie

Relics from the Titanic will get their first public airing at an exhibition in Co Down this month.

The Newsletter reports that the new display at Cultra's Folk and Transport Museum - which will be opened on 31 May - comprises 35 items from the doomed ship, including part of the hull, silver and glassware and a number of personal items.

"Nothing tells the story of Titanic more poignantly and dramatically than these artifacts," said Alexandra Klingelhofer of RMS Titanic Ltd, which has loaned the items to the museum.

The new exhibition marks 100 years since the launch of the Titanic from the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast.