Titanic Memorial, Belfast

The memorial presents an allegorical representation of the disaster in the form of a female personification of Death, or Fate, holding a laurel wreath over the head of a drowned sailor raised above the waves by a pair of mermaids.

[2] On 30 July 1912, McMordie asked the council's Improvement Committee to provide a site in Donegall Square North or Castle Junction.

The city surveyor reported on 6 August that the Donegall Square site was suitable and the memorial committee turned its attention to choosing a sculptor.

[5] The plinth's front and back faces feature two small bronze water-fountains in the shape of the heads of gargoyle-like creatures with recessed eyes, stumpy noses and webbed antlers.

[5] The plinth's front face bears the following inscription, focusing exclusively on the heroism of the local victims: Erected to the imperishable memory of those gallant Belfastmen whose names are here inscribed and who lost their lives on the 15th April 1912, by the foundering of the Belfast-built R.M.S.

Their devotion to duty and heroic conduct, through which the lives of many of those on board were saved, have left a record of calm fortitude and self-sacrifice which will ever remain an inspiring example to succeeding generations.

Subsequent research has established that in fact 28 victims of the disaster were from Northern Ireland, out of 36 people with Ulster connections aboard the ship.

In the end, though, it was decided to move the memorial only a few hundred yards, to a new site in the grounds of the City Hall at Donegall Square East.

The Belfast Titanic Society objected to the wheel's location and proposed that the memorial be moved to the north eastern corner of the City Hall grounds.

[12] The garden was opened in a ceremony held on 15 April 2012, with wreaths laid by Lord Mayor of Belfast Niall Ó Donnghaile, Jack Martin, great nephew of Titanic victim John Simpson, and David McVeigh on behalf of Titanic″s builders Harland and Wolff.

Its upper level includes five bronze plaques on a plinth 9 metres (30 ft) wide, naming all 1,512 victims of the disaster, passengers and crew, listed in alphabetical order.

The main area of the garden is planted with springtime flowers such as magnolias, roses, forget-me-nots and rosemary, the colours being intended to evoke those of water and ice.