The story of the sinking of the RMS Leinster is the subject of a free public event in the DLR Lexicon library in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, on Friday (Oct 10).
Marking the 107th anniversary of the sinking, maritime historian Philip Lecane and documentary maker Rose McCarthy will attend the screening of her short film Forgotten, the Greatest Tragedy Ever on the Irish Sea.
“The film captures all the drama of the sinking using letters from the time, poetry and interviews with Irish and Welsh relatives of several of the casualties,” the library says.
On October 10th 1918, in the final stages of the first world war, the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company steamship RMS Leinster was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine UB-123.
The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company did not have a passenger list, and its owners estimated the loss of life as being 501.
The RMS Leinster website team has established that 571 people were lost in the sinking, noting it was the greatest ever loss of life in the Irish Sea and highest ever death toll on an Irish-owned ship.
While attempting to return to Germany, UB-123 was lost in a minefield in the North Sea with all of its 36 crew.
Those who died in the sinking of the RMS Leinster came from Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland, the Channel Island of Guernsey, Canada, North America, Australia and New Zealand. The crew of UB-123 all came from Germany.
The event takes place on Friday, October 10th at 3pm in Studio Theatre, Level 1, DLR Lexicon
All are welcome, and no booking is required, the library says.
