Immigrant memorial
at Victorian Train Station, Cobh
Between 1848 and 1950 almost six million
people emigrated from Ireland to America.
Two and a half million of these people
left from Cobh, pronouced Cove. During
the time of this emigration, Cobh had
been renamed for Queen Victoria, hence
the name Queenstown.
Between 1791 and 1853 over 40,000 convicts
were sent to Australian penal colonies
in what came to be known as "coffin
ships"; more often than not, prisoners
on these ships would die in transit. As
well, prisoners were kept in Cork Harbour
on floating prisons.
Today, the old Victorian train station houses
The Queenstown Story, a multi-dimentional
historical telling
St Colman's
Cathedral
of the emigration, detailing the typical
passenger, how much it cost to travel, life
on aboard the ships, and life in America.
For those emigrants who traveled from Cobh/Queenstown,
St Colman's Cathedral was the last thing they
saw as they left the harbour. St Colman's
dominates the Cobh hillside with its huge
bell tower, now topped by a spire. Bells would
ring until the ship exited the harbour. Today
the tradition continues. Each passenger ship
and ferry that passes through Cork Harbour
will hear a bell ringing from the cathedral.
In turn the ship will sound its horns. This
is a continuing symbol of good luck wishes
for the passage. Knowing this, it's quite
a moving experience to witness a ship or ferry
sailing passed the cathedral and hearing the
bells.
Cobh/Queenstown was not only the departation
point for immigrants, it was also a port of
call for other transatlantic oceanliners.
The most famous was Titanic. Though the movie
Titanic doesn't mention a stop in Queenstown,
as it was still named then, Queenstown was
the last port of call for this oceanliner.
This is the point where hundreds of Irish
emigrants boarded Titanic for its ill-fated
trip to America.
Another oceanliner that has
a history with south Cork, and is also documented
along with Titanic, is the Lusitania, which
was bombed by German U-boats in WWII. The
Germans thought this ship was carrying more
than its passengers, such as weapons, and
sank the ship to keep the weapons from reaching
soldiers. Hundreds died and the ship sank
to the bottom of the sea. There were no weapons
discovered during excavations of the ship
ruins.
Cobh is located on Great Island
and can be accessed by a ferry across Cork
Harbour from Passage West, just outside Cork
City, or by the bridge on the back of Fota
Island that passes by Fota Wildlife Park.
