The chilling last words of 19-year-old Jeremiah Burke from Glanmire, Co. Cork, were slipped into a bottle not read until a year after his death on the Titanic. Now, the emotional artifact is on display at Cobh Heritage Centre.
Using the bottle of holy water that his mother gave to him when she saw him off in Cobh, Burke used one of his very own shoelaces to tie it up and threw the letter overboard.
The letter simply reads: "From Titanic, goodbye all, Burke of Glanmire, Cork.”
Miraculously, the bottle made its way to shore only a few miles from his family's house, according to the Belfast Telegraph. It was kept within the family until now, when his niece decided to donate it.
Speaking of how the loss affected her family, Mary Woods explained that, "Jeremiah's mother was at a removal several days later when a person came up to her and said 'I'm sorry for your loss.' It was only then that she found out what had happened. She died of a broken heart within the year.”
Jeremiah was just one of the 1,521 other passengers that died on April 15, 1912. The ship struck the iceberg at about 11:40 pm on April 14th, and sank around 2:20 am the following morning.
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4 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.larry hughes | Apr 20, 2012, 04:19 PM EDT
hello my wife catherine is the daughter of james hamilton boston mass who is the son of nellie (ellen christine) burke, sisterof jeremiah burke who's ill fated trip took him to titanic she would dearly love to make conact with any surviving relatives of the burke family. we have visited Cobh and halifaxd adn found so many interesting facts but would love to connect with the other surving relatives of jeremiah 100 yrs is never too late to reconnect... thanks in advance pls email cathihughes19@comcast.net if interested in connnecting thanks
nosoupforU | Nov 05, 2011, 11:54 AM EDT
If your name is Kozupsky he could be.
Newrone | Oct 30, 2011, 10:22 PM EDT
"Jeremiah was just one of the 1,521 other passengers that died on April 15, 1912."
He was one of the other passengers? How could he be two people at once?!
reinkefj | Oct 30, 2011, 04:13 PM EDT
"Speaking of how the loss affected her family, Mary Woods explained that, "Jeremiah's mother was at a removal several days later ..." What's a "removal"? Is it an Irish wake without the corpse or something else?