At the Titanic Memorial in Cobh

Many have heard of the famous 1997 film. It’s been over 110 years since the ship tragically sunk which claimed the lives of over 1500 people. Cruise ships nowadays can be bigger than the Titanic now, but at the time it was one of the biggest ships in the world. It’s still one of the greatest tragedies before both world wars.

Cobh (known as Queenstown at the time) is a harbor town in southern island that is very close to cork. You can pick up the 200 Cobh direct bus there for a $6 return bus fare. A lot of walking and steep hills, but it’s a lovely area to walk and mingle with locals. It’s worth coming here for the titanic memorial. I thought it was a good experiance. It’s £11 entry for adults and all the tours are guided for 35 minutes and then the next part of the exhibition you can take as long as you like.

This was our entrance passes. At the back is reproduction of an actual person who boarded the Titanic on Cobh. You get told what passenger you are and weather you travelled alone and what class you were in. It felt immersive.

We got to walk the steps of the passengers as they embarked on the ill-fated boat. We got to see real-life photographs taken at the time. This was a big event for Queenstown as Titanic was branded the unsinkable ship, but they didn’t take into account the icebergs.

What I didn’t realise was they had few lifeboats for the people on board. The crew had very little training so it was a big panic all round. Nowadays cruise travel is very tight on safety. Every cruise I have been on, I had to take part in a safety drill before the boat left. The captain wanted to leave as quickly as possible and the reason there was little life boats was so passengers had more space to move around.

The same revolving doors we came in are the same doors the passengers went in. I learned a lot of things about the passengers and the people involved in the Titanic. I remember the movie well, what I didn’t realise that the old couple that cuddled up together as the water engulfed their room was an adaption of the founder of Macy’s.

123 passengers embarked at Cobh, but less than 50 survived. I believe the exact number was 43. After the end of the guided tour. There was a plaque by the exit that had the names of the passengers that joined Titanic via Queenstown. It had all their fates and how old they were when they died.

One of the saddest stories was the tale of the Rice family. They were a family of six boys. The father and one of the boys died and Mrs Rice wanted to take all her boys back to America for a better life. Witness accounts stated that they saw her holding onto her children and her baby tucked under her arm as the boat split in two and sunk.

Who was I? I was third class passenger, Annie Jane Jermyn. She travelled alone and was planning to live with her family. She survived and got on a lifeboat in time, but she sustained injuries. What happened afterwards isn’t known. The last thing recorded about her was that she met a man and lost contact with her family.

There were almost no survivors at all. Had the S.O.S been called any later the survivors would have been stranded and stuck on icey waters.

I was glad I went. I think anyone with ancestors that sailed on the Titanic or American tourists interested in Ireland. It’s a nice excursion and worth the 3/4 of the hour.