Day 156: Cobh, Ireland … Formerly Queenstown

Sunday, 11 June 2017
At Sea — Celtic Sea

Stats @ Ship’s Time 7:50p (BST) … UTC 6:50p (11 June)
Temp: 54.3F (12.4C)
Position: 51.26.86N / 8.59.45W

If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet.
~ Rachel Wolchin ~

Woke up before 6:00a.  An overcast sky and a wet veranda greeted me when I pulled open the drapes.  As we entered the protected waters of Cork Harbor, it started raining … the distant horizon becoming veiled with mist.  But by the time we finished breakfast and returned to the cabin around 7:30a, the sun was trying to break through … patches of blue with bits and pieces of the landscape spotlighted by the rays of the sun.  A good omen for a day of sightseeing.

Today we docked at the cruise terminal in Cobh [the Gaelic version of Cove … there is no letter ‘v’ in that language].  This is the port for Cork and Blarney … of Blarney Stone fame.  The town has a strong maritime legacy and is perhaps best known for its association with the RMS Titanic … though at the time the name of Cobh was Queenstown.  More on that connection later.

We disembarked shortly after 8:30a.  We had originally planned a private tour to a few of the nearby towns.  When that fell through, however, we decided to stay in Cobh for the day and wander around.  So glad we did.  Not only did we thoroughly enjoy our wander through the quiet town — most of the passengers went off on tours to Blarney and elsewhere — but we also didn’t get the rain showers that others later said plagued their excursions.

The walk into town was a pleasant one.  Easy and along the waterfront, with lots of colorful buildings adding to the charm.  Before we got too far from the ship, however, we stopped at the Annie Moore Statue.  I only knew of Annie because my friend Sue had mentioned her in a blog post she wrote a few years ago.  This fifteen-year-old girl was the first immigrant to be processed through Ellis Island when it opened in 1892.  Why a memorial to her here?  You see, Cobh has a strong emigration legacy as well maritime … over 1/3rd of the nearly six million Irish people who emigrated to North America between 1848-1950 departed from here.  The statue stands in front of the Cobh Heritage Center.  Unfortunately the place was closed when we stopped by, so we continued on to greener pastures, so to speak … and didn’t make it back in time to check it out when we returned to the ship at the end of the day.

Left: Annie Moore and her brothers sailed from Cobh to New York City on 20 December 1891
on the SS Nevada.  She was admitted to the US through Ellis Island on 1 January 1892.

Right: a pop of color adds cheer to our walk into town.

When we arrived at Casemate Square, we wandered around a bit and then stopped at the Lusitania Peace Memorial.  Remember how I mentioned that Cobh/Queenstown has a strong maritime legacy … this is one of those associations.  RMS Lusitania, en route to Liverpool, was sunk by a German u-boat in 1915.  Nearly 1,200 passengers lost their lives … only 750+ surviving the disaster.  The survivors and the bodies were all brought to Cobh … some 160 of the bodies were later interred in the Old Church Cemetery in town.

Left: The St Colman Cathedral dominates the Cobh skyline.
Right: The Lusitania Peace Memorial is dedicated to all who perished on 7 May 1915.

I mentioned that RMS Titanic has a strong connection to Cobh … even if the name of the town was different back then.  What is that connection?  The last passengers — 123 of them — to board the ill-fated ship on 11 April 1912 did so from here.  The date has always held a significance for me as I was born on 11 April … though quite a few years after that momentous day ;-)  Perhaps that association played a role in the warm feelings I developed for Cobh today.  Anyway, let’s get on with the story.

Across from Casemate Square we found the Titanic Experience.  This is a much smaller encounter than the one in Belfast, but better in some ways because of it.  It is designed to tell the story of Titanic by stepping back in time and following in the footsteps of the ship’s Queenstown passengers.  What makes it particularly special is that it is housed in what was the White Star Line Ticket Office in 1912 … one can still see the remnants of the pier from which the tenders ferried the passengers to RMS Titanic.

It was from this building that the last 123 passengers boarded RMS Titanic.
On the left is what’s left of the tender pier.

We paid the €8pp admission for the 10:00a guided tour.  There were only six of us on the tour … two of which were friends from the ship.  Our admission came with a “third class passenger’s contract ticket” for each of us.  We would be guided through the experience as these passengers and when we reached the end we would find out whether we survived the sinking or not.  It was a very interesting, personal, and intimate experience.  That we had free time in the museum after the tour made it even better.

My third class ticket for RMS Titanic carries the name of Delia McDermott.  She and
the other passengers in this class would have stayed in cabins not unlike this one.

Inside the museum there were interactive exhibits and dioramas; lots of historical photos — including some of the last ones of the passengers and the ship taken by Father Browne who left the ship here … and thus survived; and interesting tidbits of information around every corner — like the fact that there was a lifeboat drill scheduled for April 14th, the day before the ship sank … but for some unknown reason Captain Smith cancelled it.  Would holding the drill have made a difference to the death toll?  That’s a question that will forever remain unanswered.

SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) regulations nowadays require minimum lifeboat
capacity of 100% … half on each side of the ship.  The first version of these
regulations was adopted in 1914 in response to the Titanic disaster.

We left the former White Star Line building quite moved by the whole experience.  And, oh yeah — I … that is, Delia Bridget McDermott, survived the sinking.  Unfortunately, Mui … that is, John Irwin Flynn, did not.

The 123 passengers at the White Star Line ticket office waiting to be tendered to Titanic.
Note the few people on the balcony … they would have been first class passengers.
The photo was taken by Father Browne who disembarked in what was then Queenstown.

Before continuing on with our touring, we decided we were in need of some sustenance.  The brilliant red door and trim of Cuppacity Coffee on Casemate Square caught our eye.  It looked like a cheery place to sit for a minute or two, have a scone and a hot beverage, and rest our feet for a bit.  We would have sat at one of the small tables on the sidewalk, but it started sprinkling just as we crossed the street … even though the sun was out.  So, we sat at the counter in the window overlooking the square instead and enjoyed our treats.

Fellow-passenger Doug catches us enjoying scones and hot beverages at the window counter.

Our next stop was the Titanic Memorial Garden in Cove Fort … where Connolly Street dead ends as The Mall.  To get there we had to walk high … and walk low.  It was an easy stroll nonetheless.  What we found when we arrived at the garden was a peaceful green space that overlooks the final anchorage of the ship for which it is named.  A glass memorial wall is inscribed with the names of the 123 passengers who boarded the ship from here … including those of the passengers whose identities we had assumed earlier for our tour.  I was surprised to see a memorial stone here dedicated to Bruce Ismay, the chairman of the White Star Line … he survived the sinking.  I’ll have to do some research to see if he was indeed the ‘evil’ character portrayed in the James Cameron movie, or if that was just the screenwriters taking some artistic license.

We sat on one of the benches for a bit to gaze out at the sea … but not for long.  It was quite windy and chilly, so we got moving to warm ourselves up, retracing our steps back towards the city center at a brisk pace.  Somewhere along the way, we detoured onto Harbour View and began an uphill ascent through one of the residential neighborhoods.  Our route took us to St Colman’s Cathedral where Sunday Mass was in progress.  We slipped inside and took a seat in one of the pews in the back to wait for the service to be over so we could explore the church.

Also known as the Cobh Cathedral, the church sits high on a hill overlooking Cork Harbour.  With its 300-foot (90m) tall tower adding to its height, it dominates the small-town skyline … in some ways seeming out of place because it stands out so much from everything else around it.  With 49 bells, the carillon here is one of the largest in Europe and we heard it many times throughout the day as it struck the hour every 15 minutes.  As always, I was fascinated by the stained glass windows.  We didn’t stay long here, however, as a couple of christenings were scheduled after mass and we didn’t want to intrude.

Outside the church, we took some time to enjoy the colorful row houses that made for a photogenic image.  Then, instead of going back down the way we came, we detoured to check out a row of 13 Victorian houses billed as The Crescent.  The semicircular buildings, all painted white, were quite charming.  They overlooked a wide expanse of green space that fronted private gardens.  Between them ran a narrow footpath that led us to a spot from which we got our best views of the cathedral.  That the sun was out and the sky was blue added to the beauty of the scenery.

I love the stepped-symmetry of these row houses.

A quiet oasis with a view of St Colman Cathedral.

When we eventually made it back into the town center it was well after 1:30p.  We were starving.  We checked out the various eateries on and around Casemate Square, but couldn’t seem to settle on one.  Then we ran into a couple from the ship.  Doug and Joanne’s recommendation to try the Trade Winds sealed the deal.  They warned us that the place was a bit shabby-looking and had an odd entrance, but said to go upstairs to the dining room and we wouldn’t be disappointed.  We weren’t.  The food was really good … Mui ordered the fish and chips and said he would share it with me, so I just got a cup of creamy pumpkin soup that was served with rye bread.  We topped off our meal with a delicious flourless chocolate cake.

By the time we left the restaurant it was 3:00p.  With Insignia set to sail at 5:00p, it was time to slowly make our way back to the ship. We’d be heading across the Atlantic from here and it would not do to miss the boat … literally!  We took our time wandering back, though.  Music from the bandstand on the Promenade distracted us for a while … as did some sculptures.  By 4:00p we were in our cabin.

We enjoy the music at the bandstand on the Promenade before heading back to Insignia.

Insignia left her berth on schedule to begin the four day crossing from Europe to North America.  Though the sun had gone into hiding, we stayed on our veranda to bid Cobh farewell.  As we sailed out, we recognized many of the landmarks we had walked by or visited.  The colorful houses made for a lovely sailaway.

The former Scots Church now houses the Cobh Museum.
Locals and museum visitors come out to bid us “Go dté tú slán” … safe travels.

Seeing people standing on the balcony of the former White Star Line Ticket Office sends a chill up my spine.  From our veranda we also get to see The Crescent from a different vantage point.

From the Cobh townscape …

… to the Cobh countryside … complete with grazing cows.

We stayed out until we passed the Roche’s Point Lighthouse … near which RMS Titanic anchored to embark the last of its passengers before beginning the crossing to New York City 115 years ago.  We said a silent tribute to the passengers of the ship — victims and survivors alike — and crossed our fingers that Captain B would steer clear of any icebergs we might encounter during our voyage.

Roche’s Point Lighthouse … RMS Titanic anchored nearby to embark the last of its passengers.

”The coast of Ireland looked very beautiful as we approached Queenstown Harbour,
the brilliant morning sun showing up the green hillsides and picking out groups of
dwellings dotted here and there above the rugged grey cliffs that fringed the coast.”
Lawrence Beesley, Survivor — The Loss of the SS Titanic, June 1912

When we first decided to stay in town, I wasn’t sure if we were going to find enough to keep us interested and occupied.  Those fears were for naught … and this turned out to be one of the best ports of call of our RTW voyage.  Next stop … St Pierre & Miquelon … a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France near the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.  But first … some lovely days at sea.  This will be our first crossing taking the northern route.  I’m curious to see how it differs — if it differs — from our usual southerly crossings of The Pond.

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