Cork to host Titanic and Aud events

A special commemoration will take place in Cobh tomorrow to mark 105 years to the day since the ill-fated liner Titanic set sail from her last port of call.

The gathering will remember all those who died in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, with particular emphasis on the passengers who boarded the liner in the Co Cork town, then known as Queenstown.

The ceremony is being organised by Cobh Tourism and will start at 3pm.

A colour party from the Cobh Branch Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen (ONE) will parade from the old town hall at Lynch’s Quay to the Titanic memorial in Pearse Square.

A wreath-laying ceremony will be held there, featuring a performance by the Commodore Male Voice Choir.

The Titanic memorial features the names of all 79 passengers who boarded the Titanic in Cobh on April 11, 1912, and who died four days later when the ship sank after hitting an iceberg.

All their names will be read out and a wreath will then be placed in the sea in memory of the near-1,500 people who were lost in the tragedy.

The ceremonies will conclude with Cobh Confraternity Band’s rendition of the ‘Last Post’ and ‘Reveille’.

Meanwhile, next Saturday Spike Island is hosting a special ‘Aud and the Easter Rising’ tour.

The Aud was a German gun-running ship that was bringing 20,000 rifles and 1m rounds of ammunition for use by the IRA.

But the British had cracked the German secret codes some months before and were expecting the attempt.

The crew were captured and escorted to Cork harbour before they scuttled the ship, and they were held on Spike Island before being sent to Britain as prisoners of war.

The boat to Spike Island on Saturday departs Cobh at 3pm and returns at 6.30pm.

Visitors can enjoy the new exhibition dedicated to the Aud incident and will be treated to a short talk on the fascinating story.

They will hear a reading from a letter by a living relative of the Aud’s crew and also from the German Ambassador to Ireland.