2. THE TITANIC P.OSHEA

3. IRELAND One of the most famous ships in the last 100 years has a direct connection to Ireland. This was the famous Titanic. She was built in Belfast and had her maiden (first) voyage in April 1912. She was thought of as unsinkable.

4. LUXURY In her time she was one of the most luxurious ships. On the inside she was like a high-class hotel. They wanted to convey an impression that the passengers were in a floating hotel rather than a ship. One said, on entering the ship's interior a passenger would "at once lose the feeling that we are on board ship, and seem instead to be entering some great house.

5. Famous Passengers She had 1,317 passengers on board on her first voyage. There were many famous people on board also. John Jacob Astor( a millionaire), Benjamin Guggenheim (industrialist), the unsinkable Molly Browne (called this because she didnt sink with the ship!) and more.

6. THE VOYAGE She first of all went to Cherbourg, in France. She then returned and picked up passengers in Queenstown (Cobh) At that time of the year icebergs were floating around the North Atlantic. And on the 15 th of April she collided with one of them.

7. ICEBERG There had been warnings about icebergs but the ship didnt reduce its speed. They wanted to beat a record for the quickest crossing. The iceberg made a huge horizontal hole in her hull just below the water line.

8. SINKING Unfortunately there were not enough lifeboats on board for all the passengers. As she sank she split in two. Only about 705 people were saved. Women and children were allowed on the lifeboats first. This is a tradition at sea. The captain, Cpt Smith, went down with his ship (another seagoing tradition).

9. NEWS Of course, the unsinkable Titanic made the news for days afterwards. There was an inquiry into why there were not enough lifeboats and a law was made requiring all ships to carry enough lifeboats for all their passengers.

10. NOWADAYS There were many books written and films made about the Titanic. But you may know the most recent one which starred Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. It was one of the most popular films of the year.

11. SEABED The wreck was discovered by a French and American team led by Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel on 1 September 1985 at 1:02 in the morning. Many trips have been made to the wreck and articles retrieved from it.

12. IRELAND AGAIN A new museum was opened recently in Belfast which is dedicated to the Titanic. So, in a funny way, the Titanic has returned again to the place where she was built.