The SS Nomadic, one of the last links to the ill-fated Titanic, has returned to Belfast where it is planned to establish it as a centrepiece tourist attraction for the city.
The Nomadic was built 95 years ago at the Harland and Wolff shipyard at Belfast and was used to ferry first and second class passengers from the harbour in Cherbourg, France, to the Titanic - also built at the Belfast shipyard - on its maiden and only voyage in 1912.
However, a special reception ceremony planned for the harbour area beside the Odyssey Centre yesterday evening was postponed until today after one man, who was helping to carry out some initial cleaning work on the ship, died yesterday.
The British government paid £170,000 to transport the Nomadic from France to Belfast. It is estimated that it will cost over £7 million to restore it as a tourist attraction with a Titanic theme.
A special trust has been established to raise the money. It is hoped work will be completed by 2011, the 100th anniversary of the floating of the ship.
The Nomadic, which is 67.5 metres long, was sold by the White Star line, which owned the Titanic, in 1927.
It was a working vessel up to 1968 when it was sold to be broken up. It was bought, however, and converted into a restaurant operating from 1974 close to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It has been idle since 2000.
Sinn Féin expressed concern about the cost of restoring and maintaining the vessel in Belfast, although its return to the city was welcomed by the DUP and the Ulster Unionist Party.
DUP Assembly member Diana Dodds said the arrival of the Nomadic in Belfast was "only one part of a large jigsaw that needs to be set in place if the huge potential of Titanic, as we approach the anniversary of the ship, is to be realised in the city that made her" .
"Belfast is rightly proud of Titanic and no other city in the world can tell the Titanic story in such authentic surroundings. However, if this is to be done it will require a strong drive from government coupled with investment from the private sector," she said.
Ms Dodds added, "The return of Nomadic and the Titanic signature project should be the golden opportunities to develop and grow the economy of Northern Ireland."
Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey said: "I hope that this vessel will form the centrepiece of a real and meaningful tourist attraction in the Titanic quarter area."
