Kinsale and Cobh - Ireland 2014 - page 280

motion ballet to the bottom (settling as two crunched hulls 700 yards apart and 12,000 feet
deep).
The last stop is a room highlighting the luxurious ship's innovative firsts. It was one of
the first equipped with a wireless “Marconi room” to send messages from sea to shore—or
to other ships. Titanic was the first ever to issue an SOS message by Morse code. Another
wall explains in grim detail the effects of hypothermia on the human body.
Beforeyouleave,checkoutthelistof123passengerswhoboardedthe Titanic inCobh.
Your entry ticket has one of these passenger's names on it. See if you survived (you've got
a 30 percent chance). A passenger with the same name as one of this topics co-authors is
listed among the third-class passengers lost.
▲ The Queenstown Story
Filling a harborside Victorian train station, this museum is an earnest attempt to make the
city'shistory come tolife. Thetopics—the famine, Irishemigration, Australia-bound pris-
on ships, the sinking of the Lusitania, and the ill-fated voyage of the Titanic —are inter-
esting enough to make it a worthwhile stop.
Cost and Hours: €7.50; May-Oct Mon-Sat 9:30-18:00, Sun 11:00-18:00; Nov-April
Mon-Sat 9:30-17:00, Sun 11:00-17:00; last entry one hour before closing, Cobh Heritage
Centre, handy café, tel. [phone], www.cobhheritage.com , [e-mail] .
Visiting the Museum: Coverage of the famous luxury liner was beefed up for the
100th anniversary year of the Titanic 's sinking. You'll learn about one priest who got off
at Cobh. His photos of the early leg of the voyage are a priceless historical reference. But
in general, the museum itself, while kid-friendly and engaging, is weak on actual historical
artifacts. It reminds me of a big, interesting history picture book with the pages expanded
and tacked on the wall.
Before departing, walk over to the Annie Moore statue next to the water, 25 yards from
the front door. She emigrated from Cobh and was the first person to be processed through
Ellis Island when it opened on January 1, 1892.
Nearby: ThosewithIrishrootstotracecanusetheHeritageCentre's genealogy search
service, located right across from the Queenstown Story ticket booth (€10 for 30 minutes
of research assistance, email ahead to [e-mail] ) .
Sleeping in Cobh
These hotels are all centrally located near the harbor, less than a five-minute walk from
the Queenstown Story.