This article is from page 17 of the 2012-05-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
RELATIVES of the three Clare passengers who travelled on the ill-fated voyage of the Titanic visited Clare County Council yesterday to take part in the unveiling of a plaque in their memory.
Twenty-year-old Martin McMahon and 35-year-old Daniel Keane lost their lives when the liner collided with an iceberg on its maiden transatlantic crossing, while 19-year-old Mary Agatha Glynn, from Flagmount, was one of the lucky few to make it to America on the rescue ships.
Speaking last night, the Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF), said it was important to mark the Clare people who took part in the only voyage of the world’s most famous ship.
“More than 100 years on, many people remain fascinated by the story of the Titanic. The ship was regarded as the pinnacle of man’s engineering ability, while many of its First Class passengers were drawn from some of the world’s best known and wealthiest families,” he said.
“The ship also was regarded as a microcosm of society at the time, due to its segregated class system and the fact that the majority of those saved emanated from the first-class section of the ship. It is important that Clare County Council recognises Clare’s connections with an event that has captured the public’s imagination for more than a century.
‘In erecting this plaque, we are remembering not only these connections but all of those who tragically lost their lives in the North Atlantic on the morning of April 15, 1912.”
Mary Agatha Glynn was the only Clare person to survive the sinking. She was on her way to start a new life in Washington when the White Star Liner collided with an iceberg.
After being rescued in Life Boat 13 by the Carpathia and taken to New York, the third-class passenger carried on to Washington, where she lived until 1955 when she died at the age of 61.
A farm labourer, Martin McMahon hailed from Cragbrien in Tiermaclane just outside Ennis. Thirty-fiveyear-old Daniel Keane, from Gallows Hill in Cratloe, was a second-class passenger who had planned to travel on to St Louis, Missouri, after arriving in New York City.