The loss of the Titanic was felt throughout the world, but perhaps most acutely in the city of Belfast, Ireland. The men of the Harland & Wolff Shipyard had spent months pouring their blood and sweat into her construction and to have her ripped away so quickly was, to some, akin to losing a child.
Over the coming days shipyard workers wandered out to the gantry where hull #401 was constructed, and where pieces of scrap still sat. Motivated by a desire to memorialize their loss, some workers used this scrap to create pieces of folk art.
This divot - created during the hydraulic punching of a rivet hole - is one of those pieces. Punched from one of Titanic's hull plates, it was decorated by a shipyard worker with the ship's name, the date of her loss, a star motif, and a series of Irish shamrocks encircling the sides.
- Created: c. 1912
- Inventory Number: 401R.2019.003