The Cork town of Cobh is remembering the 110th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this weekend, paying tribute to the 1,504 people who lost their lives during the ill-fated maiden voyage of the White Star Liner.
Over 80 members of the British Titanic Society have traveled to Cobh for their annual convention and traveled to Roches Point on Friday to lay a wreath at the location where the liner made its final stop before departing for New York.
Members of the society gathered on board a local boat in Roches Point on Friday afternoon as Denis O'Brien, a local descendant of a Titanic victim, laid a wreath at sea.
Jess Sweetingham, spokesperson for the British Titanic Society, told the Irish Times that the ship arrived in Cobh at approximately 11:30 a.m. on April 11, 1912, and dropped anchor about two miles off Roches Point at 12:15 p.m.
"Eight passengers departed the ship, which had left Southampton on April 10th, and 123 passengers, mainly third class, boarded and it then sailed from Cobh at 1.30 pm on April 11th – only 48 of those passengers that boarded in Cobh would survive Titanic’s collision with the iceberg three days later," Sweetingham told the Irish Times.
The British Titanic Society will also pay tribute to the victims of the RMS Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Cork in 1915.
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The society will visit Cobh Heritage Centre, the Titanic Experience, the Titanic Walking Trail, St Colman’s Cathedral, and the Lusitania Museum over the weekend.
"We are extremely grateful for the huge amount of assistance we have enjoyed from the local community and businesses in the build-up to this event," Sweetingham told the Irish Times.
Meanwhile, one of the six life jackets remaining from the Titanic will go on display on the island of Ireland for the first time to mark the 110th anniversary.
The life jacket will go on display at the Titanic Museum in Belfast, which has described the artifact as a "really special thing".
The life jacket is said to be in "good condition with the original ribbon ties remaining".
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