'The story is deeply engrained in our local identity': Remembering Titanic's last port of call 110 years on

The harbour town of Cobh is tomorrow set to hold its first public ceremony of remembrance for all who lost their lives in the Titanic disaster since the onset of the pandemic.

Organisers have issued an open invitation to the public to gather in the town to remember all those who died when the liner sank on her maiden voyage to New York in 1912.

The ceremony, typically an annual event featuring music, prayers and wreath laying organised by Cobh Tourism, will commence tomorrow at 2:30pm.

A colour party from the Cobh Irish Naval Branch ONE will parade from the Old Town Hall at Lynch’s Quay to the Titanic Memorial in Pearse Square where a ceremony of prayers and wreath laying will take place along with musical honours provided by the Commodore Male Voice Choir.

Proceedings will then move to the Promenade where the names of the passengers who boarded the Titanic in Cobh on April 11, 1912 will be read aloud.  

A wreath will then be placed in the sea in memory of all those lost in the tragedy.

The ceremonies will conclude with music from the Cobh Confraternity Band.

"Cobh is a beautiful, scenic town with a rich maritime history and the Titanic story is deeply engrained in our local identity," Hendrick Verwey, Board member of Cobh Tourism, commented ahead of tomorrow's event.

"Being able to come together as a community once more for this significant 110-year commemorative ceremony is another significant step for the town in regaining normality after the challenges of the pandemic."

Delegates from the British Titanic Society have also travelled from the UK to stay in Cobh for four days as they host their 35th annual convention in the town. 

Their event series will feature tours and lectures by Titanic scholars as well as a gala dinner.

"We are delighted to welcome the Society and look forward to the tourism boost their convention will bring," Mr Verwey said. 

The sinking of the Titanic is one of the world's most famous catastrophes. 

The ill-fated liner famously sank off the coast of Newfoundland in the early hours of April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage.

Bound for New York, the Titanic was touted as unsinkable when Captain Edward Smith set sail a few days prior on April 10.

"The White Star liner Titanic, the largest ship in the world, left Southampton this morning on her maiden trip to New York," The Echo noted in the paper that evening.

The Belfast built ship moored off Roches Point a day later - its last port of call before its tragic end.

When she left Cobh for New York, there were approximately 2,200 passengers and crew on board.

Late at night on April 14, Titanic hit an iceberg.

Ice warnings from other ships earlier in the day were ignored and Titanic did not reduce her speed.

When lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an iceberg dead ahead the crew was able to slow down and avoid a head-on collision but ultimately sideswiped the iceberg, causing the fatal tear to the hull.

The ship, which sank bow first, took two hours to descend fully to the depths of the freezing Atlantic.

Some 1,500 people perished that night owing to a woeful shortage of lifeboats.