The Titanic

On 11 April 1912, the Titanic left Queenstown with 1,308 passengers and 898 crew members as she embarked on her final journey. Our colourful and informative displays will take you back in time to learn more about the Titanic. Throughout the exhibition, there are many individual stories to be found such as that of Jeremiah Burke and the message in the bottle he sent from Titanic, and Fr. Frank Browne whose photos on board Titanic survived. Visitors will also see the original letter written on board Titanic by passenger Edward Colley and posted in Queenstown.

About Titanic & Cobh…
On the 11th April 1912 the newly built Titanic called to the port of Queenstown (now known as Cobh) on her maiden voyage. Titanic had set out from Southampton and called to Cherbourg before continuing onto Queenstown.

The pride of the White Star Line arrived at Roches Point (the outer anchorage of Queenstown Harbour) at 11.30am. Meanwhile the intending passengers went to the White Star Line pier to board the tenders PS Ireland and PS America which would ferry them to the waiting liner. A total of 123 passengers embarked at Queenstown, three travelled first class, seven second class while the remainder travelled in steerage (3rd class).

After boarding the tenders they proceeded to the Deepwater Quay (where Cobh Heritage Centre is now located) to load mail bags from the mail train. The two tenders then travelled out to the Titanic along with a number of smaller vessels carrying local vendors selling local specialties such as lace and crafts to the wealthy passengers on board.

At 1.30pm an exchange of whistles indicated that the tenders’ business was complete and the Titanic weighed anchor to the strains of “Erin’s Lament” and “A Nation Once Again” played on the bagpipes by steerage passenger Eugene Daly.

A total of 1,308 passengers were on board as they left Queenstown together with 898 crew members making a total of 2,206 people on board as she embarked on her final journey. 1,517 would never see New York.