Dun
Laoghaire remembers Tragic Leinster sinking
Special
evenst to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the
sinking of the Leinster in Dun Laoghaire harbour
in 1918 is taking place on October 10.
Over
500 lives were lost when the Leinster was torpedoed
near Kingston as Dun Laoghaire was called at the time.
The doomed mail ship set sail from Carlisle Pier just
before 9am on the morning of the sinking.
At 9.45am the German submarine UB-123 fired three torpedoes,
two of which hit and destroyed the ship sending it to
its watery grave. The final death toll of 501 out of
771 passengers and crew made it one of worst disasters
to occur in the Irish Sea.
Among those who died were soldiers returning to the
war (Australian, British, Canadian, USA, New Zealanders)
postmen from Dublin, nurses, the crew (mainly from Dun
Laoghaire and Holyhead) and members of the public including
a number of children.
Ceremonies taking place in Dun Laoghaire on the anniversary
include the laying of wreaths where the ship went down
at 9.50am. An Irish naval vessel and the Dun Laoghaire
lifeboat will be involved.
At 11.45am an inter-church service will take place at
St Michael’s Church, Dun Laoghaire. Children from
Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead will read the names of some
of the dead.
Two minutes silence will be observed in Dun Laoghaire,
Holyhead and aboard the Holyhead ferry. Church bells
will then be rung.
Following the church service at around 1.15pm a public
procession to the anchor of The Leinster on Queens Road
will take place where more wreaths will be laid. There
will be short addresses by MP for North Wales, Albert
Owen, a former seaman and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown councillor,
Denis O’Callaghan.
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