Titanic Walking Tour
Written by Meagan Stroud
Photographed by Nicole DeSantis

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   Imagine the perfect European seaside town. Quaint, brightly colored shops and houses, sloping hills, sailboats in the harbor… This is Cobh, a small town in County Cork and the final port of call for the Titanic. As such, it’s also the home of the Titanic Walking Tour.
   This tour is led on May 16 by Michael Martin, its author and creator. Martin is the author of two novels on the Titanic, based on his own personal research. He has also been involved in more than 50 documentaries on the subject.
   The tour began at Bella Vista Hotel, which overlooks the beautiful Cork Harbor. The starting location is quite appropriate, as the tour begins with the history of the harbor.
   The greatest influence in the development of the harbor was when the Normans, who would later become the British, settled in County Waterford in 1171. They never left, and as they spread across the island they came to establish a military presence in Cork Harbor.
   This was due to multiple strategic and military benefits, such as the proximity to England, large size of the harbor, and its small mouth. In addition, across from the mouth is Spike Island, which acts as an additional source of protection.
   This natural protection, supplemented by cannons that were installed in 1548 to keep out the Spanish Armada, made Cork Harbor the ideal location for military, merchant and passenger ships. It was also considered the last safe port of call between Europe and the North Atlantic for ships such as the Titanic.
   Along the harbor is a small shipping office, which was leased to the American Line and White Starline in 1912. It was at this office that passengers of the Titanic gathered to board for its unknown final voyage.
   First- and second-class passengers would walk up the steps of the office, receive their tickets and be served drinks on the veranda overlooking the harbor while they waited to be taken to the ship. Steerage, or coach, passengers would receive their tickets from a small window outside the office and wait along the dock. In addition to this initial separation, these two groups were taken to the Titanic in separate ferries. It was certainly not the casual mingling depicted in the popular movie based on the voyage.
   “It was more like apartheid,” said Martin.
   As proven by a photograph taken of the dock 11 days after the Titanic sank, the background for this tragic scene hasn’t changed. Although the occupants may have moved on, the buildings themselves are still standing.
   123 passengers boarded the Titanic from Cobh, and only 44 of them survived. Seven passengers also left the ship in Cobh, one of which was Father Francis Brown.
   Father Brown received his first camera at the age of nine, and won his first photography contest at 19. He never went anywhere without his camera, and his voyage on the Titanic was no exception. His 79 photographs taken during his 24-hour voyage are the only images of life on board while at sea.
   Although the tour covered several stops relating to the general history of Cobh, the final Titanic stop is the Titanic Memorial, unveiled in 1998 by Milvina Dean, the youngest passenger to survive the sinking. She was nine months old when it sank, and was the last surviving passenger until her death on May 31, 2009. Her time of death was almost poetic, as May 31 was also the date of the Titanic’s launch. This remarkable bronze and granite memorial and the Titanic Walking Tour are both beautiful tributes to not only the Titanic but the impact it had upon this small Irish harbor. View the Titanic Walking Tour site.