The blai A History of the Titanic in 30 Pieces

When I was 15, we moved house,

and my father came across this little piece of metal,

which he said was a blai -

a piece of steel punched out to make way for the rivet.

Weighs about half a pound, it's a solid thing.

He told me, "It's our family's piece of the Titanic."

My grandfather had worked as a riveter on the Titanic.

There were around three million rivets

holding its great hull plates together.

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I think of the men who had put heart and soul into building that ship.

Granda was a wiry little man, whom I loved dearly.

He kept the blai as hard evidence of his part

in building the most famous ship in the world.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd