Titanic hero honoured with hometown plaque in Cork

A Cork seaman credited with helping to save more than 50 lives on the Titanic has been honoured with a plaque, in his home town of Youghal.

Jack Foley was a storekeeper on the ill-fated liner when it hit an iceberg in the Atlantic on April 15 1912.

He and fellow crewmen Samuel Hemmings and Walter Perkins took charge of lifeboat 4 as the ship sank, and guided dozens of women and children to safety.

Jack had married Kinsale girl Mary ‘Minnie’ Murphy, and around 1907, they settled in Southampton .

Fifty years ago, his grand-nephew in Youghal, Liam Mulcahy, encountered 15-year-old Kevin Melly reading a book on the Titanic on the quayside, and told him of the local connection.

Kevin, a keen historian, never forgot the story, and earlier this year he and friend Peter Landers raised €2,000 through Go Fund Me for a commemorative plaque. 

The bronze plaque was created by East Cork artists Liam Lavery and Eithne Ring.