I was fortunate to catch up with Susie Millar before she boarded the Enterprise to Dublin. Not on a day trip but to meet up with 28 Americans for a two week journey round Ireland visiting places of notable history and culture, the last four days in Northern Ireland spending compelling time hearing her talk of the RMS Titanic. And no better woman.
Susie followed in her family footsteps and became a journalist and reporter with BBC and for 20 years with Ulster Television leaving in 2008 to follow a career in tourism specifically telling a story which is very personal to her.
This story goes back three generations to her great grandfather, Tommy Millar from Carrickfergus, who worked at Harland and Wolff on the big liners of the day including the Titanic. He planned to travel to America with his wife and two sons but sadly Jeannie died and he decided to carry out his plan, sail to the States, get established and return as soon as possible to bring his children to grow up in America.
“He signed up as a deck engineer on the ship he helped to build. As he said goodbye to his two little sons on the dock side, he gave them each a shiny new penny from his last pay packet and told them not to spend them until they saw him again. That wasn’t to be and the pennies dated 1912 remain in our family to this day.”
FAMILY HISTORY CONTINUES
One of the boys was Roddick, a journalist and playwright and Susie’s grandfather. Like him, now around 100 years later, Susie too is documenting the history of the Titanic for future generations.
When she first began, the Titanic story was rather rough and ready however during the months leading up to the Centenary she realised that she was sitting on an important story, the story of the pennies her great grand father gave to his two sons.
Working with Tourism Ireland Susie has taken her story all over the world, Australia, America, Europe, the UK and Ireland and the interest has been amazing, the legacy of the ship that left Belfast slipways on 2nd April only to lose it’s life on 15th of that month to become a world wide phenomena, a ship under the controversial guidance of Captain Edward Smith, once surrounded by shame became recognised as a feat of superb engineering and luxury. And as president of the Belfast Titanic Society she has ensured the story is treated with respect and her knowledge is second to none.
And now there are two new books to add to her huge library, many of the books and articles inherited from her father journalist Rupert Millar. In the days when nobody talked about the Titanic disaster, he championed the family connections and was founder of the Belfast Titanic Society magazine CQD still available today through the Titanic Belfast Society.
UNIQUE RECORD INSIDE THE TITANIC
Travelling on Titanic with Father Browne is a book of unique pictures and the second is Rescuing Titanic an illustrated story of the RMS Carpathia, the ship that went to the rescue of Titanic passengers. Belfast born Flora Delargy also has a special interest in the Titanic as, like Susie, her grandfather and great grandfather both worked at the shipyard on Queen’s island and the story is part of her growing up. Flora has a Master’s degree in Children’s Book illustration and now her latest work has been shortlisted for the prestigious Klaus Flugge prize awarded to the most promising and exciting newcomer in children’s picture book illustration; however, we will have to wait until September to see if she is successful.
Father Browne SJ was a Jesuit priest now recognised as one of the most important Irish photographers of the 20th century with a reservoir of 42,000 photographs taken during his life.
He joined the ship in Southhampton on 10th April to sail on the maiden voyage to Cherbourg France and on to Queenstown Ireland. He was invited to continue the journey to New York but his Jesuit Superior ordered him to ‘get off that ship’ when it birthed at Queenstown, renamed Cobh on 1920, and thankfully his photographic record has given the only insight into life on what was at that time the largest ship in the world.
The book which has been compiled by E E O,Donnell SJ is filled with plans of the interior of the ship, staterooms, tickets, menus, letters and newspaper reports with his own hand written comments – altogether a fascinating photographic record as the crew went about their work and passengers were excited, unaware of the disaster only hours away.
POIGNANT JOURNEY
Susie Millar has brought all these events together and she’s passing them on to thousands every year with enthusiasm for her subject. She tells them of an emotional centenary cruise to New York.
“We passed the Statue of Liberty, the place where the Titanic would have been moored and when I set foot on Manhattan soil, just as Tommy hoped to do, I felt I had finally completed his journey.”
Not quite the fulfilment to Susie’s journey, there is still one ambition. “I would love to travel down to the remains of the ship on an underwater tour. But“, she adds with a smile, “prices start at £50,000. Some day – maybe!”
www.titanictours-belfast.co.uk.
WHAT A WEEK END
The celebrations at the weekend, ending with todays cavalcade and street parties. The weather has been more than kind and I hope it lasts for all the people who will be out cheering and eating, singing and dancing.
The whole thing has brought up so many conversations and arguments about the royal family – to be or not to be, that is the question. I am not a royalist but `as far as the queen is concerned I totally admire and respect her, especially her good humour and willingness to step out of her somewhat stern demeanour to appear with 007 and appear to jump out of a helicopter during the Olympics and then last night taking afternoon tea with Paddington Bear and beating out a tattoo in time with the group bearing her own name. Thank goodness for Adam Lambert the Freddie Mercury replacement. He lifted their set as Queen themselves, all two of them, seemed lost in the melee of shots.
I absolutely love Sam Ryder and his spaceman song and his smile and his flying hair and his tonsils and if I was Rod Stewart I’d retire immediately and play with my trains. I was disappointed in the sound, not overall but for the frontmen and women who seemed drowned by orchestras and bands, but hats off to the BBC for almost three hours seamless coverage falling back on shots of the Mall perhaps too often but it was an amazing feat.
I am doubtful about the monarchy after the queen. I’ve met Charles on a couple of occasions and he’s nice and he’s funny but hardly a vote winner whereas his son has more chance of rallying the masses in support because he is young, handsome and has an attractive wife who wears beautiful clothes. When the queen steps down as indeed she almost has done, I doubt there will be many huge happy festivities costing millions. When the queen is the centre piece of a celebration the world will want to join in and tv coverage will be bought and this will bring in huge revenue, so this weekend is indeed the last of it’s kind even when Charles or William is crowned I don’t think it will be just as big and beautiful. The queen’s funeral when it happens, will be the next event of national importance but more somber.
Are the royal family worth it? That is the crux for me, I love the tradition and I was mesmerised by the service in St. Pauls Cathedral, the beauty of the building and the sensational music, I suppose I’m a traditionalist rather than a monarchist, I love the thought of kings and queens hundreds of years ago going through the same ritual. And I was glad to see Harry and Megan make an appearance and not hog the lime light as predicted. As for the booing of the prime minister – he must surely have been embarrassed.
The opening of Parliament a couple of weeks ago is pure pantomime but the Trooping of the Colour is a display of intricate timing and I was holding my breath more than once in case there was a pile up of soldiers as they marched round the parade ground. Anyway I don’t want them to go, the family is a tourist attraction but of little influence when it comes down to it. Although the queen has been a valuable sounding board and a woman to be admired and listened to but when she goes so does the gravitas of the monarchy. Anyway, my horse won the Darby! But with a fiver on each way I won’t be retiring anyway soon!
