As the 102nd anniversary of this global maritime tragedy approaches, ceremonies in the last port of call of the Titanic will remember all those who died when the liner sank.
On 11 April 1912, one hundred and twenty three passengers boarded the Titanic in Queenstown (now Cobh). Three days later the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank with the loss of over 1,500 lives, including 79 of those who boarded in Cobh.
People will gather in the ship's last port of call to remember all those who died, but in particular the Cobh passengers. The ceremony will start at 3pm at the Old Town Hall at Lynch's Quay when a Colour Party from the Cobh Branch O.N.E. will parade to the Titanic Memorial in Pearse Square. The ceremony of prayers and wreath-laying will have musical honours provided by the Commodore Male Voice Choir and Cobh Confraternity Band.
The proceedings will then move to the newly opened Titanic Memorial Garden at the east side of the town. Wreaths will be laid at the Glass Memorial Wall and seventy nine white flowers will be placed in the sea by members of the Cobh Animation Team in memory of the Cobh passengers. The Mayor of Cobh, Councillor John Mulvihill Jnr. will then place a wreath in the sea in honour of all those who lost their lives when the Titanic sank. The Titanic Memorial Garden has views to the site where Titanic weighed anchor for the last time ever.
The ceremonies will conclude with a bugler playing the Last Post and Reveille. Members of the public are encouraged to attend.
