Cobh remembers victims of Lusitania tragedy

THE Lusitania liner took just under 20 minutes to sink off the coast of Cork 95 years ago this month, but the memory of the devastating loss of over 1,100 people continues to live on in Cobh where remembrance wreaths were placed on mass graves at a cemetery in the town yesterday afternoon.

The sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915, after it was torpedoed by a German U boat had a particular impact on Cobh as survivors were brought to the local Cunard line offices and all rescue operations were launched out of the town by fishermen and naval personnel based there.

The Old Church graveyard also contains the remains of 193 people who died in the tragedy. Of those, 45 were unidentified and their coffins merely marked with a number.