Titanic artefacts digitised

A message in a bottle from the Titanic, a water canteen and flags are just some of the artefacts that have been digitised and are now on display in a heritage centre in Cork.

Cobh Heritage Centre announced this week that it has digitised several artefacts following a public call out for memorabilia associated with Irish emigration. The call out resulted in artefacts from all over the world being donated to the Cobh Heritage Centre.

A selection of these include:

· Message in a bottle - a small bottle and note thrown from the Titanic by Jeremiah Burke. The note said: “From Titanic, goodbye all, Burke, Glanmire, Cork.”

· A letter written on the Titanic by Edward Colley to his cousin. The letter was posted when the Titanic arrived in Queenstown/Cobh.

· A shillelagh that belonged to an emigrant in the US in the 1860s.

· A water canteen that was used in the US Civil War.

· Two flags (United States and Company flag) that were hanging on the S.S. America on its last voyage into Cobh.

On 11 April 1912, The Titanic left Cobh (known then as Queenstown) with 1,308 passengers and 898 crew members as she embarked on her final journey. Thanks to the generosity of the public, the large exhibition in the Cobh Heritage Centre on the Titanic features many individual and personal stories including photographs taken by Fr Frank Brown which are some of the last photographs ever to be taken of the Titanic. The exhibition also tells the story of Mary Mullins and Denis Lennon who eloped on the Titanic. The story of Jack and Rose from the movie ‘Titanic’ is based on them.

The Cobh Heritage Centre is located within Cobh’s restored Victorian railway station. The Cobh Heritage Centre tells the story of some of the 3 million people who left Cobh and emigrated to countries all over the world including Australia, America, Canada, England, Barbados and Jamacia from the 1600s to the 20th century.