It’s 108 years since the sinking of The Titanic.

And with the country in lockdown to halt the spread of Covid-19, it will be the first time in over 20 years that there will be no public ceremony to mark the anniversary in Cobh, its last port of call.

Instead, a quiet memorial has been planned for this Saturday, a tribute to the 79 passengers who boarded The Titanic in the seaside town and lost their lives in the North Atlantic Ocean when it struck an iceberg in the early hours of April 15th, 1912, during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City.

Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died.

A member of the Cobh Tourism Board will place a solitary floral tribute on the Titanic Memorial in the town square, to honour all those who lost their lives on the doomed ship.

“Instead of a traditional public ceremony this year, we are inviting everyone to say a prayer or share a thought this Saturday (11th April) for all those who embarked on their final journey from Queenstown, as the town of Cobh was then known, onboard the ill-fated Titanic,” said Chairman of Cobh Tourism, Jack Walsh.

“As you remember all those who died on Titanic, please also think about those who have been taken from us in the current pandemic – they are not a statistic or a story, they are real people with families who love them and hopefully their ancestors will continue to remember them and commemorate this current tragedy long into the future.”