Exhibition to mark 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Laurentic

An exhibition is to be staged in Derry at the start of next year to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of a famous ship off the coast of Donegal.

The SS Laurentic sank on January 25, 1917 after striking a mine at the mouth of Lough Swilly.

There were 475 passengers on-board the ship.

Of these, 354 people died and only 121 survived.

Many of the survivors were brought to Derry where a special care centre was set up in the Guildhall.

The ship was also carrying around 3,200 gold bars from England to Canada to pay for war supplies.

After setting off from Liverpool, the Laurentic was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Buncrana to leave off a number of sailors who were suffering from Yellow Fever.

However, within an hour of setting off again from Buncrana, the ship hit the mine.

After the Laurentic sank, the Royal Navy organised a huge amount of dives over subsequent decades to recover the gold bars which were worth an estimated £5m in 1917, which could equate to around £3bn today.

The vast majority of the bars were recovered but legend has it that 22 of them remain in the wreck.

The rights to the wreck of the Laurentic was bought in 1969 by Derry-based diver Ray Cossum.

A series of events are now being organised to mark the landmark 100th anniversary of the tragedy.

One of the main elements of the commemorations will be the opening of a Laurentic exhibition in the Tower Museum in Derry ON January 25 next year.

There are also plans to recreate the scene in the Guildhall when the Laurentic survivors were brought to Derry.

Most of those died who died on the ship are buried in a cemetery in Fahan, with a further two buried in Cockhill cemetery in Buncrana.

Commemoration services will be held in both Donegal cemeteries as part of the events marking the 100th anniversary in January.

Organisers of the commemorations say they have been in contact with surviving relatives of people who died on the Laurentic who have said they plan to travel to Ireland for the services.

There are also plans to take a boat containing relatives and other interested parties out to the location where the Laurentic sank.

During his many dives to the Laurentic wreck, Mr Cossum has recovered a number of items from the wreck.

These will all be put on public show as part of the upcoming exhibition in the Tower Museum.

However, it is known that a large number of other items have been taken from the wreck by divers since it sank almost 100 years.

Organisers of the new exhibition are now hoping to get access to some of these items. Mr Cossum attended a meeting in the Tower Museum on Friday morning to discuss the plans for the commemoration events.

He said many of the items would have been recovered from the Laurentic by Royal Navy divers searching the wreck for the gold bars.

Given that the items recovered were of little value in comparison with the gold, many of them were given away by the divers to local people.

He said that it was common for divers to sell the items in pubs in Buncrana and around Inishowen.

Mr Cossum said he would love to gather together many of the items taken from the shipwreck.

“I would stress that the items will only be loaned to the museum for the length of the exhibition and then be returned to the owners,” he said.

“Some of the items may also have been recovered during unauthorised dives at the site, but I would stress that there will be no questions asked about how people came into possession of the items.

“We just want to bring as many of the items together to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.”

The location of a number of items recovered from the Laurentic are already known.

A gun from the ship is currently on display in Liverpool Maritime Museum, while another cannon gun from the famous ship is located at Downings pier in County Donegal.

Anyone who believes they may be in possession of an item taken from the Laurentic, or who believes they have information relevant to the vessel, is asked to contact the Tower Museum in Derry.

Photo shows a diver examining the sunken wreck of the Laurentic.