MEMORIAL UNVEILED AT THE NAVVY BANK
Kevin O’Neill (Left) whose grandfather was Captain O’Neill and Damien Higgins whose Grandfather, John Higgins was first mate, perform the unveiling at the unveiling ceremony of a memorial to the SS Dundalk on the Navvy Bank.
IN bright winter sunshine, a memorial to the twenty people who perished when the SS Dundalk was torpedoed by a German u-boat less than a month before the end of the First World War, was unveiled at the Navvy Bank on Sunday afternoon.
Descendants of the nineteen men and one woman who perished were among those who attending the unveiling ceremony which poignantly took place on Armistice Day.
The names of the those who died are commemorated in stone on the granite memorial which is topped by a clock permanently stopped at 11.10pm recalling the time that the torpedo struck the SS Dundalk on October 14 1918. The restored clock came from the Dundalk Steam Packet Company.
The roll call of the victims remembers Hugh O’Neill (Capt) Edward Bennett, Patrick Melia, James Hernon, Daniel Stowell Thomas Tuite, William McKeown Patrick Hughes, Francis Kieran John Stack, Vincent Morgan Joseph Halpenny, Joseph Fox Peter Matthews, Peter V. Sloane Margaret Creegan, Edward Johnston, Harold Grey ( Wales), Samuel John Cocks and John Muckian (Liverpool) who perished on that fatal sailing. The names of those who survived the terrifying experience are also remembered.
The unveiling of the memorial was one of a series of events organised by the SS Dundalk Centenary Committee, which includes an on-going exhibition in the County Museum. Brendan Cleary sings ‘Amazing Grace’ at the unveiling ceremony of a memorial to the TSS Dundalk on the Navvy Bank.
The impressive memorial is flanked by seats where people can rest and enjoy the view across Dundalk Bay to the Cooley mountains. The SS Dundalk would have sailed past the Navvy Bank on its weekly sailings to and from Liverpool which continued despite the constant dangers posed by the German submarines which stalked shipping in the Irish Sea.
The chairperson of Dundalk Municipal
District, Cllr Conor Keelan presided at the unveiling ceremony. He recalled the enormous impact which the tragedy had, not just on the families of the victims but on the whole town of Dundalk and surrounding areas.
He also spoke of those from Dundalk and Co Louth who lost their lives during World War 1 and referred to efforts being made to have a memorial erected in their memory.