Like every port in Ireland and beyond - there are rules. Many of these are standard, but others are unique and specific to a given port, primarily due to its geographic location. Waterford had many such specific rules and one category was for the Pilot Boat Master. ...
On 13 February 1884 the fully rigged sailing ship Stowell Brown came to grief on the sand bar above Creaden Head, one of several ships caught out in a terrific February storm that year. A regular and popular guest contributor to our page, David Carroll has the story....
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 recent announcement that the Port of Waterford had commissioned a new pilot boat to be called the Portlairge II prompted a flurry of communication to me asking for details and some of the history of the pilots. So this months blog is a journey from 1816 to the...
One of the most intriguing and enduring mysteries we have anywhere in Waterford harbour is the Forty Steps at Creaden Head. Carved into the cliff of this inhospitable headland the purpose and the creators of the stone steps have intrigued and perplexed many. Creaden...
Author: Fintan Walsh Passage East in the era described On the banks of the Suir that flows out to the seaLies a quaint little village that’s like heaven to meSteeped in our history and also Ireland’s folkloreIt is called Passage East and it’s a place I adore In these...
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...
In my recent book on growing up in Cheekpoint I devoted a chapter to my uncle Sonny and his operation of the Cheekpoint pilot boat. His role was to embark and disembark pilots coming to and from New Ross. The role of pilot or river guide is probably as old as people...
Those who have looked at the photos depicting the bustling trade on Waterford and New Ross quays in the 19th Century must wonder at the safety aspect of so many ships in close proximity. Indeed, the risks associated with this golden age of sea travel have made for...
I offer a platform for anyone who wants to write about Waterford harbour on the last Friday of each month. This month David Carroll joins us with a tale of ships and people from the port in 1960 and his experience of the impounded vessel the SS Macuto and how it...
A picture paints a thousand words they say, and that was proven yet again recently when Catherine Heffernan posted to the Cheekpoint Faithlegg and Coolbunnia Facebook page. The photo was of the Morning Star II, the pilot boat that operated from Cheekpoint when we were...
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...
Cheekpoint is located 7 miles downstream from Waterford City. It has been an important navigation point for the ports of Waterford and New Ross as it is located at the meeting point of the three sister river network, the Barrow, Nore and Suir. Between them the drain...
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