After a break, I'm back to continue sharing various topics about Ireland and elsewhere.
On 15 April this year marked
a century of the most famous
shipwreck in history, the sinking
of the "unsinkable" Titanic. I was on that date in the town of Cobh formerly Queenstown in Cork Harbour here
in The Republic of Ireland, which was the last port of call of RMS Titanic on her
first and only voyage in April 1912.
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| St Colman's Cathedral, Cobh town |
There
has been much speculation as to which was the last tune that the Titanic's band
interpreted the night of the sinking. However, some Witnesses said that the
last song was the hymn "Nearer my God to Thee"
I attended "The
Carillon Memorial" among other events on The Titanic Centenary
commemoration Week in Cobh. I am sharing here some aspects I learned from that
experience and well illustrated in the links I have provided throughout this
commentary.
The weekend of the
commemorations was especially dry and sunny,
but the night of the concert was particularly cold, so
it printed out to the concert a halo of solemnity and an atmosphere of meditation and spirituality, the photo of the tower of St Colma’s Cathedral was taken that night at the time when Adrian Gebruers played on the carillon the hymn "Nearer
my God to Thee"
Carillon Memorial
“Many of the 123 passenger who embarked on the RMS Titanic at Queenstown are believed to have attended Mass in St. Colman's Cathedral before boarding that ill-fated liner. It is therefore fitting that those who lost their lives in this terrible tragedy should be especially remembered at Cobh's famous Cathedral.
Adrian Gebruers, the Cobh carillonneur, commenced
playing the Cathedral Carillon at 11.40 pm on Saturday 14 April marking the
precise moment one hundred years on when the Titanic struck the iceberg. The
programme included Chopin's funeral march and the hymn "For Those in Peril
on the Sea". The short recital concluded with the hymn "Nearer my God
to Thee", believed to have been played in the final moments by the liner's
eight-man orchestra, all of whom perished.”
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| Cobh town, 15th April 2012 |
