I left Peg taking some lunch and returned off the ship to walk the 200 metres into the charming Victorian Heritage town of Cobh. In 1849 Queen Victoria visited Cove and to mark this occasion three local dignitaries requested the Queen to give her permission to rename it Queenstown. In 1921, however, the local Council reverted back to the name of 'Cove' – or in the Irish language spelling 'Cobh' since there is no letter “v” in the Irish alphabet.
Of course Queenstown will forever be connected with the last call of the Titanic before shipping her anchor and heading out across the Atlantic on her fateful voyage in April 1912. This year of course has seen the centenary of that fateful voyage and indeed the Balmoral was selected by the Titanic Commemorative Society to retrace the last journey of the Titanic. Not surprising then that the town is bedecked with posters commemorating this centenary and the shops full of Titanic Memorabilia. Today the railway station that still links Cobh with Cork some 24 miles away has been converted to incorporate a Heritage Centre recording the history of Cobh, the Titanic and the Lusitania.
Apart from the Titanic connection, Cobh was the main departure point for thousands of immigrants from Ireland wanting to escape poverty by seeking their fortune in the USA. At the end of the pier is a statue to Annie Moore (See Photo) who was one of the first Irish Immigrants to pass through the doors of Ellis Island at the entrance to New York.
Another statue in the main square remembers the 1000 plus lives lost including local fisherman who went to the assistance of RMS Lusitania that was sunk in WWI by a German U-Boat on 7th May 1915, 19km off the Old Head of Kinsale.
Cobh itself is a glorious reminder of a Victorian seaside town with the John F Kennedy Garden along the shore side complete with its wrought iron bandstand, a sweeping crescent of white terrace houses set appropriately on Spy Hill and leading the eye towards the massive but graceful structure of St Colman’s Cathedral of French Gothic architecture with its towering 300 foot spire dominating the town from its lofty position above the harbour. The cathedral is also renowned for its 49-bell carillon of which Ionly heard the ‘half-hour peel’. To the west of the cathedral and lining Bishops Road stood a row of typical ‘one down, one up’ terrace houses with their back sculleries facing the cathedral.
The main street overlooking the harbour is a colourful collection of well preserved Victorian shops and pubs the later selling “the Murphy’s” – and not Guinness – with the lilt of Irish music floating out into the bright summer sunshine.
All too soon it was time for me to return to the Balmoral after an uplifting hour or so exploring this historic town – well having bought the inevitable Titanic fridge magnet! On the quayside were a number of local ladies dressed in Victorian costume that had come down to waive the ship ‘Bon Voyage’. So the sail away was a nostalgic moment as the ladies with their white hankies fluttering in the wind bid farewell, as many previous generations must have done so, to yet another ship leaving for the New Land with the massivecathedral standing proudly above this colourful town.
Well we thought we were bound for Halifax Nova Scotia but in fact we were now heading to the Azores to avoid Hurricanes Leslie and Michael currently building up strength over Bermuda and predicted to be heading across our intended course to Canada. By heading south for 3 days and spending a day in Ponta Delgada in the Azores and then heading north we would miss the hurricanes as they moved up the Canadian Eastern seaboard – well that’s the plan anyway. The Captain is providing day-by-day updates and as I write this blog in the late afternoon of Sunday 9th September the plan is working. The wind has picked up slightly as these vast weather systems that cover half of theNorth Atlantic suck in air. There is a gentle swell but the sun is shining with high fluffy white clouds. We are due in the Azores on Tuesday morning 11th September.
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