Two Irish divers aim to place a memorial plaque on the Titanic this summer, during the latest expedition to the wreck lying 2 1/2 miles below the Atlantic surface.
Mr Rory Golden of Flagship Scuba Ltd, in Dublin's Ringsend Basin, and Garda Sean O'Donnell from Waterford will use a robotic arm on a submersible, as the pressure is 6,000 lb per square inch at that depth.
A brass plaque has been commissioned by the town of Cobh, Co Cork, to commemorate the 1,513 people who died when the ship hit an iceberg off Newfoundland in April 1912, on its maiden voyage. "Other plaques have been placed on the bridge of the wreck before, but this will be the first from Ireland," Mr Golden said yesterday.
The idea arose when Mr Golden's company was awarded the contract for dive safety operations on the expedition, which is being organised by RMS Titanic Incorporated, the legal owner of the shipwreck.
Mr Golden, former head of Virgin Records in Ireland and a diver for 24 years, will be supervising the safety of underwater camera crews who will be filming the recovery of artefacts from the site as they near the surface.
Earlier this month Mr Golden contacted Cobh Tourism and discussed the idea of a plaque with Mr Michael Martin, chairman of the tourism body. Mr Martin, a former member of the Naval Service and founder of PDFORRA, was the creator of the Titanic Trail in the Cork port.
The inscription on the plaque aims to pay a "dignified and sensitive tribute to those who left Cobh on the ill-fated ship, and all passengers who lost their lives thereafter", Mr Martin said.
The wording reads: "Commemorating all those lost on RMS Titanic. From the people of Cobh (Queenstown) and Ireland. Go dtuga Dia suaimhneas siorai dananamacha. August 2000."
It is to be handed over today by Mr Martin to the two divers Eanna, at Ringsend Basin.
