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AN OFFICIAL COMMEMORATION to mark the centenary of the sinking of the Royal Mail Steamer (RMS) Leinster will take place in Dublin in October.
More than 500 people died in the incident, making it the worst-ever maritime disaster in the Irish Sea.
Shortly before 9am on Thursday, 10 October 1918, the RMS Leinster began its final voyage from Carlisle Pier in Dún Laoghaire (then Kingstown) to Holyhead in Wales.
The ship was owned and operated by the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company. An estimated 771 passengers and crew were on board, comprising postal sorters, civilian passengers, military and medical personnel, and the ship’s crew.
Between 9.30am and 9.40am, the ship passed the Kish Bank Lighthouse. Shortly afterwards, it was sunk by three torpedoes fired by the German submarine UB-123.
Plans for the commemorative event, which will take place in Dún Laoghaire on Wednesday 10 October, were announced during the week. Members of the Defence Forces will take part in the formal commemoration and wreath-laying ceremony.
This is also the date on which the vessel will come under the protection of the National Monuments Acts, which covers all shipwrecks over 100 years old.
Speaking about the incident, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan noted: “This tragedy took place one month and one day before the signing of the armistice that ended the fighting in World War I and it remains the greatest maritime disaster ever to have occurred in the Irish Sea.
“Over 500 people perished, including members of the ship’s crew, postal sorters, civilian passengers and military, medical and support personnel involved in the war effort.”
‘Families were devastated’
Madigan said families and communities on both sides of the Irish Sea and as far afield as America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, were “devastated by this tragedy”.
Madigan said “an immense humanitarian response was mobilised following the tragedy”, adding that the rescue services and nursing and medical personnel involved in this effort will also be honoured at the event, as will the 35 members of the crew of the UB-123, who themselves were killed one week later.
The minister thanked all those who “worked so hard to ensure that the stories of all of those who were on board the RMS Leinster when she embarked upon her final journey are not forgotten”, adding: “Their stories have, for too long, been hidden and unspoken.”
Madigan also acknowledged the efforts of the late owner of the RMS Leinster, Des Brannigan, who “was committed to protecting the ship”. He was one of the founders of the National Maritime Museum in Dún Laoghaire.
“As we mark the centenary of this tragedy, we have developed an appreciation of the complex narratives around Ireland’s involvement in World War I and a mature understanding of the context of that time,” Madigan said.
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My grandfather was a postal worker on the boat that day. The boat sailed without a navy escort that day knowing there were German U-boats in the area. Many of the soldiers who died aboard the vessel were returning home from leave.
The ship was considered a legitimate target because it had soldiers on it. Also, it may have been carrying a large cache of munitions. It is an unappreciated fact that Ireland had munition factories during the war. The blast on board would have certainly been bigger because of such a cargo.
I might be correct in thinking that the disaster also gave rise to a raffle to aid the victims families in Ireland, an event that eventually morphed into the Irish Sweepstakes.
@gowfc@yahoo.com W: The Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake was a lottery established in the Irish Free State in 1930 as the Irish Free State Hospitals’ Sweepstake to finance hospitals.
@gowfc@yahoo.com W: You know your History Sir.
Remember nineteen-year-old Josephine Carr from Cork, who became the first Wren (Women’s Royal Naval Service) to die on active service, when the RMS Leinster was torpedoed.
My two aunts were lost in the tragedy. They were Nurses from Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare returning to their duties in England after being home on holidays to visit their parents. They were Nurse Margaret O’Grady (28 yrs) and Nurse May O’Grady (26 yrs). Nurse May O’Grady’s body was lost at sea.
And the Germans are torpedoing Ireland financially now. They lost the war but are now winning financially!!! . May all those people that died at the time RIP .
@Windy Atlantic Way: I hope there will be German representation at this memorial event in October.
Protection? I’ve talked to divers who loot WW2 wrecks off the Cork coast.
@Barra O Brien: Well that say it all. The respect that some people have for a sailors grave., and the worst thing is, they are even very proud about it
@Barra O Brien: WWII..wrecks aren’t protected because they are not 100 years old…this article is about a WWI wreck.
“Kish Bank Lighthouse”? Lightship-surely!
@Billy Walsh: Nope,lighthouse.
@RJ.Fallon: In fact I remember the news on Telefis Eireann, Charles Mitchell commented on how the news writers often tried to make it difficult for readers ,and his example was when the lighthouse was towed out ” to SIT on the SHINGAL ” until commissioned.
@RJ.Fallon: Difficult for the news readers,that is
I think it is time to stop commemorating everthing. Anyone around then is long time dead.
All interested in the events to mark the centenary of the Mail Boat Leinster tragedy should contact The mAIL BOAT LEINSTER CENTENARY COMMITTEE- Families and Friends of the Leinster at
3 Eblana Avenue, Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin.
leinster2018@gmail.co,
The Last Voyage if the Leinster is the title if the centenary book on the Mail Boat Leinster tragedy.
Copies now available from the Mail Boat Leinster Centenary Committee , 3 EBLANA Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland. The hard back book including postage costs just €20/£20.
Email: Leinster2018 @gmail.com
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