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CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED TO HONOUR YOUGHAL TITANIC HERO
Two Youghal maritime history enthusiasts have launched a fundraising campaign to honour a local seaman who helped to save up to 50 people on the Titanic.
Kevin Melly and Peter Landers have already received permission to erect a plaque to John (Jack) Foley, whose place in history has gone unrecognised in his hometown.
Born in Muckridge near Youghal Co Cork in 1865, Jack’s family moved to Tallow Street in the town when he was a child.
He married Kinsale girl Mary ‘Minnie’ Murphy in 1894 and the couple subsequently moved to Kinsale, where the first five of their seven children were born.
They left Kinsale for Southampton circa 1907 and Jack signed on to Titanic as a quartermaster in Belfast in March 1912.
“He signed on to the ship again on April 6th as a storekeeper”, says Kevin, who was first learned from Jack’s Youghal connection over 50 years ago by Youghal man Liam Mulcahy, who was the sailor’s grandnephew. “I think he was sometimes registered as from York, due to administrators misinterpreting his accent”, Kevin reflects. “I never forgot the connection but only began researching it in recent years”.
Kevin acquired a copy of Jack’s birth certificate and contacted groups like the British Titanic Society and parties associated with Titanic in Cobh.
He discovered that after the ship hit an iceberg on April 15th, Jack was instrumental in launching lifeboats. He and colleague Samuel Hemming worked particularly on getting lifeboat 4 flush with A-deck and used an axe to chop a sounding spar (pole used to measure depth) that was inhibiting the launch.
“Jack was placed in charge of lifeboat 4 and soon afterwards helped pull Hemming from the sea”, says Kevin.
“Hemming later reported that under Jack the boat plucked seven more crew from sea that night and rescued four more people from an upturned boat after dawn broke”.
In July 1912 Jack signed on the Oceanic but failed to show for the sailing.
Minnie died in 1922, aged 52 and Jack suffered a fatal stroke in 1934, leaving just €180 in his estate. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Southampton’s Hollybrook Cemetery.
Story by Christy Parker - Courtesy of The County, Irish Examiner
Image: RMS Titanic departing Southampton on 10th April 1912 - Picture inset: Youghal seaman John (Jack) Foley
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1st Sep 1865 | VIEW SOURCE |
| Date of Death | 1st Jan 1934 | |
| Spouse (First Name/s and Maiden/Surname) | Mary Murphy from Kinsale in 1894 | |
| Number of Children | 7 | |
| Occupation | Quartermaster on the Titanic | |
