Belfast's two shipyard cranes have become iconic symbols of the city as they tower above the city's Titanic Quarter, The cranes were installed in the Harland & Wolff shipyard at Queen's Island and were nicknamed Samson and Goliath after the Biblical figures. The gantry cranes were manufactured by German engineering company Krupp and despite their notoriety as Belfast landmarks they are in fact relative newcomers to the city's skyline. The smaller of the two cranes, Goliath, and first to be installed in 1969 (just as the city was plunged into years of conflict known as the Troubles) is 96 meters high while Samson, installed in 1974, is 106 meters. Both cranes span 140 meters and can lift up to 840 tonnes. The H&W shipyard itself had 35,000 employees at the height of its powers, ironically after the cranes arrived the shipyard began to decline. The last ship to be build in the yard was in 2003 and it is now primarily ship repair, design and engineering. The consequence of this decline was that it was thought that the cranes would be decommissioned, however they have since been designated Historic Monuments. H&W ceased trading in 2019.
A lot of work goes into these videos. You can now buy me a pint as a means of appreciation for my work on Naked Ireland, no obligation, obviously - only if you can afford it... I appreciate it. Cheers.
www.buymeacoffee.com/NakedIre...
Wikipedia Insert here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_...)
Discover Northern Ireland:
discovernorthernireland.com/t...
Visit Belfast:
visitbelfast.com/partners/sam...