Cove was renamed Queenstown on 3rd August 1849 to mark a visit by the Sovereign and kept the name until Irish Independence in 1920. Then the town was renamed Cobh. Cobh has a long maritime history as it was the departure point in 1838 for the Sirus, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. The Deepwater Quay was where first and second class passengers embarked aboard the tender Ireland to be ferried out to the Titanic anchored of Roche's Point.

Nearby in Cobh are the former offices of the White Star agents, James Scott and Company. The building was erected in the 1830s and today houses the town Post Office and a Titanic restaurant. Behind the building stands the pier, where the third class passengers would have boarded the tender America.

In Pearse Square is a new Titanic memorial, unveiled on 7th July 1998. It commemorates the "R.M.S. Titanic and her last port of call on her maiden and final voyage. April 11, 1912. In special memory of the Irish emigrants and all those who lost their lives in this great tragedy." In Gaelic it says "Ah dheis dé go raibh an anmacha" which literally translates as "At God's right hand are the souls".

Many shipping enthusiasts and maritime historians interested in the Titanic also share an interest in the vessels of the Cunard Line. Memorials exist in Cobh to the Cunarder Lusitania, sunk in 1915, as the survivors and bodies of the victims were landed here. The most important is the Lusitania Peace Memorial, while the local cemetery holds a number of victim's graves.

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