Addergoole to remember local Titanic victims

Addergoole to remember local Titanic victims


Anton McNulty

NINTY-eight-years following the sinking of the world’s most famous liner, ‘RMS Titanic’, the village of Addergoole in north Mayo will remember the 14 emigrants from the parish who were passengers on the liner.
The parish of Addergoole was uniquely affected by the Titanic’s sinking with eleven women and three men from the locality all aboard the luxurious liner when it sank after striking an iceberg on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. Of these 14 would-be emigrants, only three - all women - survived, making Addergoole’s loss one of the greatest in Europe.
In the early hours of Thursday, April 15 the people of Lahardane village in Addergoole will remember the victims by the ringing of a lonely church bell at the time of the sinking. The Titanic sank off the Great Banks of Newfoundland at 2.20am on the morning of April 15, and this year the annual bell-ringing ceremony, with readings of poetry, recitations and emigrant songs will start at 2am at St Patrick’s Church, Lahardane and finish at 3am.
The Timoney Bell erected in 1937 by the renowned Gaelic Scholar and folklore collector, MicheΡl Ó Tiomnaidhe will be tolled, with three slow knells for each of the eleven drowned, followed by fast joyous rings for each of the three young women saved.
The Titanic was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast and at the time of its construction, was the largest passenger steamship in the world. The Titanic was designed by some of the most experienced engineers of the time and used some of the most advanced technologies available at the time - and was popularly believed to be unsinkable. The sinking resulted in the deaths of 1,517 of the 2,223 people on board, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.
The ceremony is being organised by the Addergoole Titanic Society and many of the bell-ringers are direct descendants of the 14 Addergoole people who left the parish. Last year, over 100 people from all across Connacht and beyond attended the unique ceremony and all are welcome to attend this year’s ceremony.