A boyhood in Belfast

Tom McCluskie grew up in Belfast, followed his father, and was apprenticed into Harland and Wolff's shipyard on Queen's Island, Belfast. Harland and Wolff was a hard-working and dangerous environment, but Tom accepted this as the price to pay for working at such a famous shipyard--the one that had built the Titanic and also the Canberra. Slowly working his way up through determination and hard work, Tom became passionate about the history of the yard and, at a time when no one in H&W cared, he managed to secure the company's archive and was responsible for having it deposited at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. As an acknowledged Titanic expert, he was also seconded by H&W to help James Cameron make his epic "Titanic" movie, starring Leonardo de Caprio and Kate Winslett. A regular speaker at Titanic conventions worldwide, Tom has written numerous books on the Titanic and her two sister ships.