Welcome to Cobh It is situated 20 kilometres from Cork City and it takes 20 minutes to travel by car from the city. It is very accessible by car, bus or even train. Cobh looks out over Cork Harbour where Spike Island is. The Island was used as a jail for young offenders up until 2004. Haulbowline (to the right of the island) is where the Irish Navy Base is and beside there is the Old Irish Steel Plant. Cork is very capable of holding large vessels, most notably the Titanic, Lusitania and Queen Elizabeth 11 (QE2). Cobh was the last port of call for the Titanic and the Lusitania was famously sunk off the coast of Kinsale in 1915 by a German U-boat which contributed to the US entering World War 1. In the town centre there is a memorial for the 1198 lost lives on the Lusitania which some of them are buried in the old church cemetery. Brief History Cobh was a famous famine town at the centre of emigration for Ireland during the famine years. It changed it’s name back to “Cobh” the original Irish name in 1922 after Ireland won her independence, before that its was known as “Queenstown”, it was named Queenstown in August 1849 after the visit of Queen Victoria. Cobh has a rich history going back the in mists of time, and is displayed magnificently in Cobh’s own Heritage Centre. It hosts the history on the Transatlantic Ships that were nicknamed ‘Coffinships’ during the famine and depression. Cobh’s St. Coleman’s Cathedral is a remarkable and wonderful sight in the middle of Cobh town. It spirals high into the sky in Cobh and is land marked for miles around. It can be seen even before you enter the harbour by boat, and was probably the last landmark of Ireland the people onboard the Titanic saw while setting sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Below: Annie Moore Annie Moore became the first emigrant to be processed in Ellis Island, on a ship that had set sail from Queenstown; a memorial statue has been erected on the quay in Cobh as a symbol of all the thousands of Irish that emigrated through Cobh.