大象传媒

3 April 2012 Last updated at 13:57

The Addergoole fourteen

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When Titanic sank, eleven people from a single village in Ireland lost their lives. It was the highest proportional death toll of any place in the British Isles and had a devastating emotional and economic impact that reverberates to this day. Theirs is the human story of emigration and the cost of the tragic sinking for one community. Artist, Michael Coleman's depiction of the fourteen passengers meeting the Titanic at Queenstown.

Patrick Canavan was 21 when he died on the Titanic. He helped gather up the girls of the group and led them up through the third class staircase to the lifeboats. He was last seen holding his rosary beads and standing beside his cousin Mary Canavan and James Flynn.

Mary Mangan, was lost at sea. Mary had previously been living in Chicago and had returned home to visit her sick mother and celebrate her engagement. She was returning to Chicago to be married when the Titanic sank. Her gold watch was found with her and it can be seen on the Addergoole Titanic society's website.

John and Catherine Bourke. Catherine had previously lived in Rochdale, England before emigrating to Chicago where she ran a boarding house with Catherine Kelly. John was her childhood sweetheart, and they had been married for less than two years. Catherine, who was pregnant with their first child, had a chance to escape in lifeboat 16, but she chose to stay with her husband.

Catherine McGowan was lost at sea. She had returned to Addergoole to bring her neice Annie to Chicago - where Catherine owned a boarding house with Catherine Bourke. She was credited with getting the Addergoole fourteen together for the trip.

Nora Flemming was lost at sea on her 24th birthday. Nora was on her way to visit her sister who lived in New York. Her name was recorded on the passenger list as Nora Hemming, which led to a delay in finding out if she had survived or not. Survivors told of how she entertained people on deck by singing Irish songs.

Delia McDermott, was saved in lifeboat 13. She had to jump fifteen feet to the lifeboat which was one of the last to leave Titanic. She was approached by a strange man the night before she left the village, and was told there would be a disaster but she would avoid it. Delia married, becoming Delia Lynch, and lived the rest of her life in New York and New Jersey. She died in November 1959.

Annie Kate Kelly was 20 when she was put into lifeboat 16. She managed to get a space when Catherine Bourke gave up her seat to stay with her husband. Annie Kate Kelly, wrote to her cousin in Chicago; "I am coming to America on the nicest ship in the world". Her cousin received the letter on the same day the news broke of Titanic's sinking. Annie became a nun when she was 29. 'Sister Patrick Joseph' died in December 1969.

Annie McGowan was 17 and the youngest person in the group. She was saved in a lifeboat, and arrived in New York, along with Annie Kate Kelly. Annie was kept in St Vincent's hospital for a number of months, suffering from shock and exposure. She eventually made it to Chicago with the help of the Titanic relief fund, and died aged 95 in Illinois.

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The Addergoole fourteen

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