Cork communities uniting to commemorate Lusitania
The people of Kinsale, Cobh and Courtmacsherry in Co Cork, have organised a series of events in May to pay tribute to the victims and to remember their ancestors who rescued survivors and recovered the dead.
The RMS Lusitania, which was on route from New York to Liverpool, was sunk by a torpedo fired from a German U-boat off Cork on May 7 1915. It sunk 11 miles due south of the Old Head Lighthouse and 1,201 people died.
Among the events planned for the Lusitania100 commemorations, being organised in association with Cork County Council, are a wreath laying ceremony in Cobh, which will be attended by President Michael D Higgins, and a ceremony at the Lusitania Monument on the Old Head of Kinsale, attended by Marine Minister Simon Coveney both of which will take place at 2.10pm on May 7 — the time the torpedo struck.
A free open air tribute concert will take place on Cobh’s promenade that night to coincide with a twilight flotilla of work boats, fishing boats and pleasure craft, each illuminated with white lights.
Courtmacsherry will also reenact the heroic efforts of its RNLI lifeboat crew who responded to the scene.
Read More: Lusitania Centenary: Shared history that lay buried for many years
A reenactment of the mass funeral procession of Lusitania victims will be staged in Cobh, and the inquests will be reenacted in Kinsale, with descendants of the original jury which heard evidence.
The Old Head Signal Tower, and its flag and ball signalling system, is being restored as part of a Lusitania museum which will be officially opened on May 7.
The museum will eventually host a sculpture bearing the names of all who sailed on the doomed ship. A new exhibition has also opened at Cobh Heritage Centre.
Each community will also host Lusitania-related lectures, talks, photographic exhibitions, street fairs, and commemoration dinners.
Kinsale History Society and the Port of Cork have launched schools initiatives, encouraging primary and secondary students to study the story of the Lusitania and submit projects, essays and art, which will be displayed at the Temperence Hall in Kinsale town Centre, and Cobh Maritime Building over the commemoration week.
Full details on all the Lusitania100 Cork events are at www.visitcorkcounty.com/Lusitania100Cork.
Planning permission has been granted for a Lusitania memorial garden on the Old Head of Kinsale in Cork.
The garden will be developed by the Lusitania Museum/Old Head Signal Tower Heritage Ltd group as part of its Old Head Signal Tower restoration project at Ballymackean.
Cork County Council granted planning in 2013 for the signal tower restoration project, which will include a museum and the restoration of its old flag and ball signalling system on a 15-metre mast. This work is ongoing and it is hoped to perform the official opening on May 7.
Cork County Council has now granted conditional planning for the memorial garden alongside the tower, which will feature a viewing area and a sculpture bearing the names of all those who sailed on the doomed ship.
