Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Peter Morrison/AP/Press Association Images

Titanic bandmaster's violin on display in Belfast

The iconic instrument belonged to Wallace Hartley, who famously continued playing alongside his fellow musicians as the vessel sank in 1912.

THE VIOLIN PLAYED by the bandmaster of the Titanic as the liner sank beneath the waves is now on display at Titanic Belfast.

The instrument belonging to Wallace Hartley was found strapped to his body after he drowned with some 1,500 others on board the supposedly unsinkable ship in 1912.

It carries an inscription from the 34-year-old’s fiancee to mark their engagement.

For decades the violin was believed lost, but it was found in the attic of a house in northwest England in 2006.

It will be displayed at the Belfast exhibition from until 13 October before it goes to auction.

“This could very well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for visitors to see one of the world’s most famous and most valuable Titanic artefacts,” said the museum’s chief executive Tim Husbands.

The Titanic was built in Belfast and set sail from Southampton, southern England, for New York on 10 April, 1912.

The band played the hymn “Nearer, My God, To Thee” to try to calm passengers while they climbed into lifeboats as the Titanic sank beneath the icy waves in the North Atlantic on 15 April after hitting an iceberg.

Hartley and his seven fellow band members all died after choosing to play on.

The Titanic musicians play on; a scene from ‘A Night To Remember’ (1955) — regarded as the most historically accurate film depiction of the tragedy. (Youtube: OBrasilo)

He was given the maple, spruce and ebony violin by his fiancee Maria Robinson to mark their engagement in 1910. She had a silver plaque fixed to the instrument engraved with the words: “For Wallace, on the occasion of our engagement. From Maria.”

It is now thought that the instrument was inside a leather bag that was found strapped to his body 10 days after the sinking, and was then passed to Robinson.

Robinson never married and after her death in 1939, her sister donated the violin to her local Salvation Army band, where it passed into the hands of a music teacher and then to the unnamed owner in whose house it was discovered in Lancashire, northwest England.

After seven years of testing including MRI scans, researchers said in March this year that the instrument was genuine.

- © AFP, 2013

Read: Long-lost Van Gogh painting unveiled in Amsterdam >

Author
View 25 comments
Close
25 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Dickenson
    Favourite David Dickenson
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:04 PM

    Cost of insurance will kill it here.

    117
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paddy Byrne
    Favourite Paddy Byrne
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 2:29 PM

    It says it has a range of 300km and can hit speeds of 300kmph. . But then the article says you can get to london in just over an hour? I dont get it. Because if you travel at 300kmph you wont make it to london in time before it dies? Because it takes over an hour.

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Imnotrodten
    Favourite Imnotrodten
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 2:47 PM

    My flying car is an 04 so nobody will quote me

    31
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paraic McDonagh
    Favourite Paraic McDonagh
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 3:31 PM

    @Paddy Byrne. Range, flight time and air speed are all different things. If you have a tail wind, you may have an airspeed of 300km/hr but you might cover 350km of ground. Also range is not calculated at maximum airspeed, so if London was 300km away as the crow flies, it still might take over an hour if you are cruising at say, 250km/hr. Lastly, London is 464km from Dublin as the crow flies, so the article is most likely talking about flight time (time in the air) as opposed to journey time but it might be possible for the aircraft to achieve greater range depending on loading and being trimmed for ‘maximum range’. You would have to refer to the performance charts for the aircraft to determine the maximum range (as opposed to specified range).

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Moylan
    Favourite John Moylan
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 7:03 PM

    …lolz. Mine’s an ’85 DMC12 so qualifies for classic.. :)

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Craig Barry
    Favourite Craig Barry
    Report
    Jan 4th 2017, 9:23 AM

    As the crow flies..gotcha

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paraic McDonagh
    Favourite Paraic McDonagh
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:20 PM

    Amazon are developing a airship warehouse which will carry a large amount of stock floating in the sky and will deliver via drone. In other words, in the near future, the sky above us will be owned by e-commerce full of buzzing cr4p.

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kieran OKeeffe
    Favourite Kieran OKeeffe
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:30 PM

    Considering the carnage on our roads at times..would you really be comfortable with idiots flying above you?

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bairéid Rísteard
    Favourite Bairéid Rísteard
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:40 PM

    @Kieran OKeeffe: Reduced vertical separation minimum!

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cian Martin
    Favourite Cian Martin
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:41 PM

    There’s no way they’ll let actual people have control of these things.

    23
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave Byrne
    Favourite Dave Byrne
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 4:12 PM

    That’s only in play above FL290 or 29000ft

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Flood
    Favourite John Flood
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 4:59 PM

    @keiran o keeffe – perhaps using carnage is a bit of hyperbole “deaths” would do fine carnage ˈkɑːnɪdʒ/ noun the killing of a large number of people. “the bombing was timed to cause as much carnage as possible” synonyms:slaughter, massacre, mass murder,mass destruction, butchery, bloodbath,indiscriminate bloodshed, bloodletting,annihilation, destruction, decimation,havoc; 

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Colleen McGovern
    Favourite Colleen McGovern
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:09 PM

    Meet George Jetson

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gene Parmesan
    Favourite Gene Parmesan
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:21 PM

    His wife Judy

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Girl
    Favourite The Girl
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:29 PM

    Daughter, Judy, Jane his wife.

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute alpha_chaarlie
    Favourite alpha_chaarlie
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 2:02 PM

    You can fly to London in an hour as it is…

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Desmodromic
    Favourite Desmodromic
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:43 PM

    Dear Santa. I know it’s a bit early…

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pius Flynn
    Favourite Pius Flynn
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:57 PM

    Don’t know about having a fender bender at 3000 metres

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jason Culligan
    Favourite Jason Culligan
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 2:22 PM

    “With an expected range of 300km and estimated top speed of up to 300km/h, the Lilium Jet is aiming to make inter-city travel, faster than any widely available mass transit system.

    San Francisco to Palo Alto would take less than 15 minutes, while Dublin to London would take just over an hour.”

    So basically, this thing cannot fly between Dublin and London as the flight time will be longer than the expected battery life on a full charge. That’s a new battery and we all know that our current batteries tend to degrade over time after successive charges.

    In my mind it would need to have a maximum range of at least 1,000 km before it’s of any real value. Why would one invest in this thing when it will probably cost the same as a Cessna 172 but have 1/4 of the range?

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick Gough
    Favourite Patrick Gough
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:07 PM

    electric planes is a stupid idea. But big drones are the future.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Canning
    Favourite Tony Canning
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:24 PM

    It seems you have a narrow view of what a drone is.

    42
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Noel Allan
    Favourite Noel Allan
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 7:29 PM

    Then the Government will put up the first Air50 Toll Bridge, go through our gate before you access the skies.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter
    Favourite Peter
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 4:31 PM

    I want one.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Free comment ratings
    Favourite Free comment ratings
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 2:59 PM

    Needed badly.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gerard Heery
    Favourite Gerard Heery
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 6:19 PM

    Going to buy one for the mother in law

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jackson Bollovks
    Favourite Jackson Bollovks
    Report
    Jan 3rd 2017, 1:28 AM

    The question is will it pick me up from the pub?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joseph Siddall
    Favourite Joseph Siddall
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 7:52 PM

    Such a lovely looking mock-up/prototype…sat on a ratty old pallet. Get a grip lads.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
    Favourite Fiona Fitzgerald
    Report
    Jan 2nd 2017, 9:34 PM

    What fuel is it using, though? Does it run on batteries? Is Atomico just a buzz word here? Not liking the hint of radioactivity.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds