Samson and Goliath

Today we speak of Samson and Goliath .....no no, do not worry....you are still in the blog dedicated to Ireland and not in any religious blog... ;)

Samson and Goliath are the names of the magnificent yellow twin shipbuilding gantry cranes situated in Queen's Island. They have been built in 1969 and 1974 when the "Harland & Wolff" was one of the largest shipbuilders in the world.

The "Samson and Goliath" shipbuilding gantry cranes, Belfast 2015 

Notwithstanding shipbuilding has ceased in Belfast (the last ship launched at the yard was in March 2003), the twin cranes are still (2015) kept in working order and used for heavy lifting by Harland & Wolff in its other activities.

The Samson and Goliath gantry cranes are scheduled as historic monuments under Article 3 of the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.

 

Nowadays, the cranes stand sentinel over the city of Belfast and became one of its main symbol.

 

One of the "Samson and Goliath" shipbuilding gantry cranes standing
as sentinel over the city of Belfast, Belfast 2015.

And now some technical details: Goliath stands 96 metres tall, while Samson is taller at 106 metres (348 ft). Goliath, the smaller of the two sits slightly further inland closer to Belfast City.

Each crane has a span of 140 metres and can lift loads of up to 840 tonnes to a height of 70 metres, making a combined lifting capacity of over 1,600 tonnes, one of the largest in the world. Prior to commissioning, the cranes were tested up to 1,000 tonnes, which bent the gantry downwards by over 30 centimetres.

The dry dock at the base of the cranes is the largest in the world measuring 556 m × 93 m.

You can find these information and more in Wikipedia.


One of the "Samson and Goliath" shipbuilding gantry cranes, Belfast 2015 

Queen's Island and the birth of the "Harland and Wolff"

Queen's Island is an island..as suggested by the name...and to be more precise, it is an artificial island :)

The material which forms this 17-acre island was removed during the steam powered dredging process finalised at the formation of a low water channel going from Dunbar's Dock to the River Lagan (1841). This was planned to allow large sailing ships to access the port, which before was difficult because of the shallow and sinuous nature of the River Lagan.

The norther part of Queen's Island was dedicated to leisure and resort, and it was also known as the "People's Park". Equestrian performances, concerts, and finally as the most important event, the "Victoria Fete", were all held there. The construction of an elegant glass-iron-wood Palace (1851), an aquarium (1856) and the first zoo in Belfast (1859) gave to the island a big popularity as resort. In 1864, a fire broke out and destroyed the Palace.

The South and East parts of Queen's Island were instead maritime industrial areas. With the completion in 1849 of the Victoria Channel, a deep water cut in the Belfast harbor that allowed larger ships access to the port, trade from and to Belfast also increased drastically.

The first iron shipbuilding yard was opened in 1853 by Robert Hickson who employed the designer Edward Harland as general manager. In 1858, Harland bought the business from Hickson for £5.000 and three years later he went in partnership with his personal assistant, Gustav Wolff, forming the Harland and Wolff.

In the years later, site reclamation was performed with the construction of new shipbuilding facilities and the completion in 1867 of the Hamilton Graving Dock. The Harland and Wolff used the new facilities to launch many of the ships they built for the White Star Line.

Nowadays, Queen's Island is a residential and business area, and again a leisure centre with its Odyssey Complex (arena, cinema, bowling, restaurant, bar, etc.)

Queen's Island (photo taken from the descriptive board).

Queen's Island, Belfast 2015

Queen's Island, Belfast 2015

The Big Fish of River Lagan

If you have read the post on the Lagan Weir, you should then know that the environmental restoration project carried out in the area resulted also in the rebirth of the river as wildlife habitat, with salmons and common seals back to swim in the River Lagan's waters.

To celebrate this success, a sculpture was commissioned in 1999 to local artist John Kindness.

He realised a 10 meters long salmon, with the outer "skin" composed by ceramic blue tiles decorated with texts and images relating to the history of Belfast.

 

More info in the following links:

http://visit-belfast.com/things-to-do/member/big-fish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Fish

 

The Big Fish, Belfast 2015

The Big Fish in Donegall Quay, Belfast 2015

The Big Fish, Belfast 2015

 

Lagan restoration project and Lagan Weir

The biggest river in Northern Ireland which runs for 86 km before entering the Belfast Lough is the River Lagan.

What attracted me of this river and of the area along its banks (called Laganside and measuring 140 hectares) is the environmental restoration project which transformed an abandoned polluted area around a tidal river in an area which now plays a vital role in the life of Belfast city.

The main opera was the Lagan Weir, completed in 1994, which served as river dredging and which has an aeration system: this allowed the control of the water level and the improvement of the water quality.

The photos below (taken from the explicative boards in the area - for this Belfast is very visitor-friendly...you can find descriptions of monuments, buildings, streets, etc. all around the city) show how the Lagan River was before the restoration project.

Before the construction of the Lagan Weir the water level was varying 3 meters between low and high tide. During low tide unsightly and smelly mud flats were exposed. The weir now allows a constant minimum water level upstream.

The over £1 billion of investments consisted also in the dredging of the river, in the removal of contaminants and in the installation of a riverbed aeration system to mix the saline and freshwater upstream and to supply oxygen for the biodegradation of contaminants.

Nowadays the river does not serve only as central point of a lively Belfast, but the restoration project resulted also in the rebirth of the Lagan river as wildlife habitat. Visitors of the river are for example the Common Seals and salmons (who were reintroduced in 1991). Notwithstanding I have not seen any of those :( :(, below is the photo of a nice seal nosing around the river bank (photo taken from the descriptive board).

Last but not least, I am happy that the Lagan Weir was jointly funded by the Laganside Corporation and the European Commission.

And now...(I know you are waiting only for these ;) :P) ...MY photos! :)

Lagan Weir, Belfast 2015

Lagan Weir, Belfast 2015

Lagan Weir, Belfast 2015