On the week that Dauntless Courage arrives from the publishers to local shops, (December 2020) I asked author David Carroll to whet the appetite with a short guest blog about a rescue that is legendary in Dunmore East due to the skill and bravery shown by the lifeboat...
Glencoe and other shipwrecks on Waterford’s coast- Dec 1840
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...
Book Launch of ‘Dauntless Courage’: Celebrating the History of Dunmore East RNLI
As any blog regular will know, the lifeboats and their actions are a feature of so many of the stories on Tides and Tales. So it is with great anticipation that we look forward to the forthcoming Dauntless Courage, a history of the Dunmore East Lifeboat Station in the...
A Blighted Barque- Earl of Beaconsfield
When the owners of the four-masted iron hulled sailing barque Earl of Beaconsfield (1883) saw their new ship enter the River Clyde, they must have hoped for a handsome return on their investment. But although fate has a large role to play in anything to do with...
May Day Maritime History quiz
As we enter another bank holiday weekend in lockdown, David Carroll has put together this maritime history quiz of the SE area to give you a bit of a distraction. The questions have a maritime/historical basis and any of my regular blog readers will have a good...
Hell Hole Horror – wreck of the SS Kinsale
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.
Rescuing the Helemar H. Dunmore East 1959
At 3am on a damp, misty February morning in 1959, Waterford harbour pilot, Pat Rogers was arriving into Dunmore for work when he spotted a ship close to the shore up the harbour. In a fresh SE wind a small ship had run onto the rocks at Ardnamult Head, or the Middle...
Castaways of the SS Beemsterdijk
When the 42 man crew of the Dutch-owned SS Beemsterdijk departed Greenock for Cardiff in January 1941 none of them could have known that all but three would ever see their families again. Those three fortunate men who survived had the keen eyes of the men in the...
The Last Voyage of the schooner Saint Austell
The last Friday of each month I try to source a contribution from a guest writer. This month, David Carroll gives another slice of his early life growing up in Dunmore East concerning the shipwrecked Saint Austell. It's a wonderfully researched account of a...
Remembering the crew of the Alfred D Snow
Last Sunday there was an understated but very fitting memorial ceremony for the crew of the sailing ship, Alfred D Snow. The ship grounded in Waterford Harbour on January 3rd 1888 and all 29 crew aboard were drowned. The memory of the tragedy lives on however, on both...
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