15/04/2022
REMEMBERING RMS TITANIC AND THE GHOSTS THAT REMAIN IN COBH
Cobh has been a kind of spiritual home for over fifteen years with frequent visits and exploration and older visits going back to childhood. One of the many draws is the connection to RMS Titanic, which made its final journey to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean this day in 1912.
On Thursday 11 April 1912, the Port of Queenstown (as Cobh was formerly known) was full of excitement as the Ship of Dreams came into view, weighing anchor to receive passengers and mail.
Queuing up to board were 123 excited Irish men, women and children, dreaming of a new world and reuniting with loved ones on the other side of the Atlantic. They stood on a wooden pier that still remains in part, a disfigured memorial to one of the worst tragedies in Maritime history.
They joined a flotilla of boats that would row them out to Titanic, too large to dock directly onto the mainland.
The people of Queenstown stood cheering along the pier and waving from The Queen’s Hotel, now known as The Commodore. They watched in awe as Titanic raised anchor and set sail at 1:30pm, unaware of the disaster that was about to shock the world.
In the early morning hours of 15th April 1912, Titanic hit an iceberg and began to sink into the merciless, freezing waters of the North Atlantic – 2228 passengers and crew fighting to stay alive.
Of the 79 who boarded in Queenstown, only 44 saw dry land again. To stand at the remnants of that wooden pier, chills creep up your spine and if you listen hard, echoes of the past, the distance whisper of cheering crowds settle on the wind.
The apparition of a young woman in a red cloak has been seen floating through the gates onto the jetty, gazing out to sea and the heritage centre, part of the railway building, has been the subject of poltergeist activity from moving tools to disrupted shelves in the shop.
The ripples of ocean waves guard the ever sleeping RMS Titanic some 12500 feet below. In Cobh, the ripples of time however, keep the memories and hauntings of the Ship of Dreams, very much awake.
All content and photo IPI/Ann Massey
