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18Oct
By any comparison, Victorian hay-day of sail or today’s modern giants of the seas, the sailing barque, Bay of Bengal, three-masted, 260 feet long, built of ‘Government standard, best, best best iron’, to beyond Lloyd’s highest specification, was a large ship. Launched from the Fairfield Yard at Govan on the Clyde by the respected shipbuilder, […]
20Aug
A Tale of Shipwreck and Lost Treasure The Banks Many will be aware, and unfortunately for some, they will also remember only too well, how Banks can ‘fail’. The term is of course not an honest assessment of events when due governance and propriety are recklessly abandoned in favour of greed. Terms like ‘maximising […]
12Apr
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF THE EAST COAST An account of the harrowing loss of the emigrant ship, Pomona, 1859 ‘Arranged side by side, they lay locked in the sleep of death, and the lifeless, which a few hours past were lighted up with life and animation, had become sickening objects, from which the heart […]
5Sep
They built a huge wall and stemmed the waters of two rivers; the Liffey and the Kings River. Both had joined at Baltyboys and cascaded into the dark pool near Ballymore Eustace, known as the Devil’s Hole – Pool a Phuca. Legend had it, that a large monster swam in the pool, and was blamed […]
8Aug
When is a Wreck not a Wreck? An answer seems easy, but not always obvious. A ship that has been wrecked might be raised and then float again. It might sink again, immediately, or soon after – and declared a wreck once more. It may be repaired, and live out many more years afloat. Alternatively, […]
15Apr
Local Wexford people know it as the, ‘Graveyard of a Thousand Ships’. There are that many lost ships there, and probably some more. The primary reason for such a large amount of unfortunate losses is quite simple – traffic. This part of Ireland represents a major crossroads for shipping, of increased importance, and more fatal […]
14Oct
The Atlantic Gateway (Jim Phelan 1941) When ships crossed the channel between Ireland and England during WWI, they were attacked and sunk by German submarines. The loss of ships, Irish or not, with civilians, service men and women, was not only condemned by those considered to be ‘West Brits’, but anger and a sense of […]
1Oct
‘West Britain’ It was Tuesday, the 31 day of August, 1785, and just a few miles south of Dublin city, the inhabitants of the grand harbor town of Kingston were sleeping soundly in their beds. A number HM ships of the line had arrived earlier in the week for naval exercises and shore leave had […]
28Sep
Not Alexandria – The Great South Wall? There were no constructed harbours in this part of Dublin Bay before the early 1800’s. Boats, small ones that is, landed on shale and sandy ground in front of where the wonderful little harbour of Sandycove is now situated. Similarly at Bullock, there was no constructed harbour but […]
