Closing a boat loop

On Saturday, we took a day out for Randall to revisit boat people scenarios. We drove over to Cobh, once known as Queenstown to the English and once the port for Cork. We know that Randall's great great grandmother Eliza Sandford and point of origin for the Kingsley dynasty in Australia was held in Cork gaol for a year or so before taking the “Roslin Castle” from Cork to Australia in 1835.

So to close a loop, we spent a few minutes at Cobh.



Whilst there we visited the remarkable heritage centre, established at one end of the railway station. This centre has a strong focus on immigration by ship from Ireland, especially to the US and to Australia. The centre also covers the “Titanic” as this was the last port of call for “Titanic” before heading off to oblivion and “Lusitania” which sank near Cobh in 1915, itself creating something of an unresolved controversy. So there was plenty to take in and think about here. Enough to require a cup of tea and a scone afterwards.



Cobh may have been the last port of call for the immigrant ship “Joshua” and immigrants John Cassidy (16) and brother Patrick Cassidy (14) in 1857 but this has not been proven. They may have sailed from Donegal way or even Galway. Work for another day.

From Cobh we became temporary inmates in the old Cork gaol which now is also a museum worth a visit. With the accent we have, the woman at reception was a bit too quick to welcome Randall home again after all these years. We spent quite a moving hour or so there listening to recreated stories of the people once held there.



The two museum visits were taking a mental toll and so we repaired to nearby Kinsale for the rest of the afternoon. The sun was shining and everyone was out and about including the sailing boats.