Nomadic, Tender of the Titanic

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This is Nomadic, the tender of the legendary ship Titanic (and Titanic’s sister ship, Olympic) at Cherbourg, France.

The Titanic was such a large ship that many ports were not deep enough to allow it to dock directly at a pier to take on passengers. Such was the case at Cherbourg, where the Titanic stopped on its maiden (and only) voyage to take on new passengers. The boat that accomplished this shuttle service for the Titanic's visit was the Nomadic, and that is the boat you see here. Many of the 172 passengers who boarded this little boat to reach the Titanic never returned. A lucky 24 passengers used this boat to disembark at Cherbourg, since they had only booked as far as that city.

The boat went through several incarnations with a bit of remodeling after it served the Titanic. I once dined inside, at a time when it was a (fairly good) Japanese restaurant. At one time, you could rent it for special occasions. Believe it or not, it was said to have a very slow leak (oo-wee-oo!), although it had been moored here for years and didn't appear to be any lower in the water than it ever was. The last time I saw the ship, still moored at the same location, it was being torn down in some way and only the hull remained (February 2003). It is currently in Le Havre, France, stripped to the hull, and its fate is uncertain.

There are several movements afoot to save the boat in various forms, but none has yet born fruit as far as I know. One association in France working to save the ship is the Association Française du Titanic, which you can visit here.

Photographed on January 10, 2000.