THE tiny styrofoam container in the picture used to be a regular sized coffee cup. Two years ago it was put in an onion bag, attached to the outside of a submersible and taken to the wreck of Titanic. The diver was Irishman Rory Golden and that same Titan submersible , on another ocean floor voyage in 2023, tragically imploded taking five lives.
Rory had gifted the cup to Dr Michael Martin, a Titanic authority and a man who knows more about the Co Cork harbour town of Cobh than any history book, even the ones he wrote himself. On a visit, Dr Martin showed us this little cup as he told of Cobh’s Titanic history. For two hours in April 1912, the ill-fated liner stopped at Cobh — then known as Queenstown — and, after seven got off and 123 boarded, sailed away on that terrible journey to the bottom of the ocean.
So why wasn’t the cup crushed? ‘Ah,’ said Dr Martin, ‘because it’s an open vessel and the pressure under was equal on every part, so it shrank.’ Cobh, 20km from Cork city, is bustling. Brightly painted independent shops and homes decorate the coastline, all overlooked by the magnificent St Colman’s Cathedral.
We were delighted to be able to stay at the town’s Commodore Hotel, facing the harbour, which opened way back in 1854. It’s at the heart of the town, sewn through its history, and has views onto Spike Island and Haulbowline, home of the Irish Navy. My wife and kids, 13 and 11, fortified by cosy beds, sea air and a feast from the Georgian hotel.