On last month's blog which gave the sailing directions to Waterford City in 1790, I mentioned that I was surprised to see the Ford Channel given as an option. This area was previously a crossing point to Little Island from the Kilkenny shore and this month I want to...
The Duncannon Lighthouses
A guest Blog by Pete Goulding. Last month I mentioned in the story about 1790 navigation into Waterford that my good blogging buddy Pete was working on a story of the lighthouses at Duncannon. It's one of those stories I always wanted to tell, but let's face it, when...
Sailing directions to Waterford Harbour 1790
Recently I chanced upon the 1790 sailing directions into Waterford and although it's for a different era, it offers some fascinating insights into the practicalities, the difficulties, and the practices of navigation at a time when all sailors had was their wits and...
Gentry at Play-Hook Regatta, 6th Aug 1870.
On this day in 1870 the great and the good of the harbour area and beyond gathered to enjoy the sport of sailing and racing at the Hook Regatta. In this guest blog post David Carroll shares the spectacle and many of the characters who took part. The Standard and...
When the Light Goes Out
I finally received my long-anticipated copy of Pete Goulding’s book on Irish lighthouse fatalities, and I can heartily recommend it to anyone with an interest in lighthouses, maritime heritage, or Irish history in general. When the Light Goes Out, a clever title by...
Hook Lighthouse gets a makeover
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...
Bestic and the bombing of ILV Isolda
In a follow up to an earlier article on the life and times of Irish Master Mariner Albert Bestic, author David Carroll affords a second installment of Bestic's career -the tragic sinking of the Irish Lights Vessel Isolda on 19th December 1940. Take it away David:...
Long Legged Spider Light on Maritime Ireland Radio Show
I was thrilled to be asked onto Tom MacSweeneys Maritime Ireland Radio Show to talk about my new book and to specifically talk about the Spider Light at the Spit bank, Passage East. Tom's show is published online, but it also goes out on 18 community radio stations...
Harbour Sentinel – Hook Lighthouse
This weekend we commemorate the loss of the ships SS Formby and SS Coningbeg in December 1917. It's a topic I covered last week with a view to promoting the commemoration this weekend. In thinking about the sailors who perished this week I came to realise that the...
The Dunmore East lighthouse
Comparisons, it's said, is the thief of joy. So when it comes to the two lighthouses at either side of the mouth of the harbour, I would suggest that it is silly to choose one over the other. Hook light is much better known as the oldest working lighthouse in Europe,...
The unique but crumbling “Spider Light”
Let us honour if we can, the vertical man Though we value none, but the horizontal one W.H.Auden These lines from Auden often come to mind when someone dies, particularly when I realise just how much I used to rely on them or value them. I've mentioned this about my...
The light that sweeps the harbour
One of my earliest childhood memories was playing with my siblings in the old house on the hill in Coolbunnia one chilly summer morning. The scene was unsettling to us I remember, because our usual/familiar view of the harbour, the three rivers flowing our towards...
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