As the last living man to see the Titanic before it sank, Angus MacDonald returned to Belfast recently to celebrate his 100th birthday in the same year that the sinking of the Titanic reaches its centenary. MacDonald was cradled in his mother’s arms as an infant when they watched the Titanic set sail on its ill-fated maiden voyage.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that MacDonald returned to the Titanic Quarter site where he saw the Titanic set sail nearly a hundred years ago from Belfast. The same location is now prepping for the much anticipated grand opening of the Titanic Belfast center, which will provide an interactive experience with all things Titanic for visitors.

MacDonald, who was joined by his thirty grand and great-grandchildren, said of the nearly completed Titanic Belfast center ““It’s amazing what they are doing here (in the Titanic Quarter) now.”

MacDonald was born in 1912 in Islandmagee in Antrim. As a teenager, MacDonald began his 45 year career as a seafaring man which took him around the world to places like the Suez Canal and the Far East. After living in Aruba for 17 years, he finally retired in 1974 and returned to Islandmagee.

“It’s been a long, long road,” said MacDonald of his long life, “and I travelled it as well as I could. When I left Belfast’s docks (in 1929) they were going full blast. Finally, I have arrived here in this beautiful building and I find everything really super.”