Fierce pride and Belfast blood flowed through the veins of the men who made the Ship of Dreams a reality. Young men like Alfie Cunningham and William Campbell had toiled long and hard so that Titanic, the ship that put Belfast on the map, would be the greatest the world had ever seen.
How would they have felt when designer Thomas Andrews offered them their very own place on the ship’s maiden voyage? Two young men, these ‘Titanic Boys’ sailing on a dream of their making, a piece of engineering magic of which they were two of the wizards.
New York and adventure beckoned – Alfie would try his Belfast charm with the girls, and Willie would scale the heady heights of the Statue of Liberty. Life had opened up into a broad prairie of opportunity.
The ‘Guarantee boys’ never contemplated Titanic sinking in their wildest dreams, but when the journey of a lifetime turned into a nightmare, few would have felt the loss like these wide-eyed Belfast boys.