The famous Harland and Wolff shipyard cranes of Samson and Goliath in Belfast were insured for £9 million in 1976 — the equivalent of £60 million today.

A company memo in February that year revealed the insurance policy, at an annual premium of £56,000, had been taken out as a condition of a Shipbuilding Industry Board loan.

But in the letter from Douglas Cooper, the Assistant Managing Director, to the Department of Commerce, he said they intended to cancel it after the loan terms had been scrapped.

For more the Sunday Life reports.