The Tramore Coast Guard Station 1874 - 2024 by Ivan Fitzgerald Although small in scale (94 pages in all) this book packs a punch. Broken into twelve chapters, it covers the origins of the Coast Guard, the building of the Tramore station, and some of the life-saving...
By Dorothy McMahan With excerpts from On Shipboard by Anne Starrett Craig Information gathered by Dorothy McMahan and Chuck McMahan Olivia Murray, a page regular with a family connection to the Waterford coast, brought this guest blog to my attention. The story is one...
Last month we explored the loss of the American Sailing Ship Columbus, lost on the Hook Peninsula in 1852. The ship was wrecked on the jagged rocks, thanks in no small part to the mistaken belief that the Hook Head lighthouse was actually Tuskar Lighthouse, about...
The Irish newspapers of Christmas 1831 were alight with speculation after a ship sailed onto the sand banks of Bannow, Co Wexford with no crew. Aboard was a full cargo, some blood-stained clothing, a box of silver dollars and a dog. The ship was the La Bonne Julie of...
On a blustery Thursday afternoon, January 27th 1869, five Coastguard men said goodbye to their wives and children before leaving their homes in Dunmore East and traveling to Waterford city. The purpose was to collect a new lifeboat to be used at their station on the...
A guest blog by David Carroll In 2024, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution will be celebrating two hundred years of saving lives of sea. The Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck was founded in London on March 4th, 1824 by Sir...
On a dark tempestuous winter's evening, the brig Glencoe was blown onto the rocks at Ballymacaw to the west of Dunmore East. As the winds howled and the seas crashed and washed over the ship her 13 man crew had little hope of survival but those on shore had seen this...
Òn Saturday evening, 23rd November 1872 the SS Kinsale grounded on the Wexford side of Waterford harbour at a spot known locally as the Hell Hole. It was an appropriate name for the events that were to follow and it resulted in one of the largest losses of life in the harbour that I am aware of.
A stormy January in 1862 saw tremendous seas and howling gales that created havoc in the Irish seas and beyond. As ships do, they sat it out where possible and then when it passed, they raised anchor and got underway. The gales however had not gone, merely abated. ...
The HM Coastguard service was created in 1822 when the Revenue Cruisers, Riding officers, and the Preventative Waterguard were amalgamated into a single force to try tackle incidents of smuggling and to enforce the collection of taxes. Waterford was in the top three...
This months guest blog is provided by James Doherty. It takes a look at the incidence of smuggling in the harbour from a historical perspective. Its a very exciting topic, and one that has not received much attention in the past. I sincerely hope people enjoy reading...
I read recently that some children do not leave home until 27 years of age. Although this has less to do with protection and more to do with finances, spare a thought for the child sailors of the 18th & 19th C. It will comes as no surprise of course to anyone who...
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