Such a gut punch for families of the people, who used to work there. Edward, I think that the artifacts from the shipyard may go back to the families of the workers past. Only those, which cannot find their legitimate owner, would be sold at auction......
They might still be able to work there. What has gone into administration is the H&W holding company, which owns three shipyards. The individual yards are quite likely to be bought by other companies so what will be lost is the name but not necessarily the employment.
But it hasn't been thriving for a long time. It has been in nearly terminal decline since the 1950s/60s, like the shipyards of the Clyde and Tyne, and the main reason it didn't close long ago was because it got preferential tratment by successive governments in an attempt to prop up the failing economy of Northern Ireland.
I assume you mean GB rather than UK. Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Selling the other shipyards wouldn't raise enough cash to bail out H&W's dire financial problems. The bright side, as I said before, is that the Belfast yard may prosper under a new owner like Babcock International or Navantia.
Your right, apologies
I went on a school trip to the H&W yard in 1969, just after Goliath was erected. The new dry dock had been built over the previous few years and the old Arrol gantry was disused for years and about to be demolished. Samson would be erected in the next 5 years to complete the new facilities. We were given a presentation telling us how the shipyard was moving into a new era and gearing up to build the new breed of supertankers.
