The SS Sea Fisher departed Waterford city on Saturday 9th December 1916 at 3pm. She and her ten man crew were never heard from again. This blog marks that event with what information is available to me at present. The Sea Fisher (1883) was built by McIlwaine &...
On Saturday, April 24 1852 nine men from Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, went to the assistance of a sailing ship showing signals of distress. When they finally managed to row to the vessel through an easterly gale, help was refused. On the return leg of their mission,...
I was delighted to be featured on an episode of the very popular maritime podcast Steady As She Goes with host Captain Seán Boyce of Rosslare. The episode covers a wealth of topical stories of the coast, including a proposed new maritime history gallery in Waterford,...
“Tram and Ship Collide” “A tramcar and a schooner came into collision in Dublin yesterday. The tram was crossing Victoria drawbridge on the Ringsend line while a three masted schooner was being berthed in the Grand Canal Company basin, which is spanned by the...
On a beautiful spring morning, we took a trip out to Hook Head. Rather than visit the lighthouse, however, I was keen to do a short video of the maritime exhibition. It sounded like a good plan during mid-week, but as it was Easter break, the place was hopping. I did...
On March 30th 1918, a small steamer was chugging along the southern Irish coast. Of the thirteen souls aboard, eleven crew and two naval gunners, eight were from or living in the port city of Waterford. All would die that night, within sight of their homeland. Another...
On Sunday, 15 Feb 2026 the good folk of Stradbally, Co Waterford, unveiled an information board to commemorate the events of 100 years previous when a Spanish registered ship steamed onto the rocks at Ballyvooney Cove. The events of that day were relived in words,...
For many of us, Christmas is a time of goodwill and making merry, if you are fortunate enough and depending on what you do for a living. For seafarers, it tends to be just another time of the year. But in the days of sail, it was also a sailor’s lottery of favourable...
The MV Shapinsay was a converted fishing trawler that came to grief on the Hook Peninsula in November 1967. Miraculously, no one aboard died, thanks in part to the bravery of her master, but also the sharp eyes of the lightkeepers of Hook Head Lighthouse. In early...
Ivan Fitzgerald's Tramore of Yore site has some terrific articles on our local maritime past. His latest endevour is a listing of all the Shipwrecks Tramore Bay and its environs, from the 18th C onwards. I can't reblog the page (my lack of technical know how on show...
There has been a long history of shipwrecks off the Waterford coast. During the First World War and the battle for control of the seas between the German and British navies, many ships were sunk along the coast of Waterford in the period 1914-1918. The addition of the...
Commercial fishing and seafaring are challenging occupations. Although creature comforts have improved, forecasting is much better, and rescue services are more proficient, accidents still occur. This Christmas blog looks at a different era, two very different...
This December marks 106 years since Waterford endured its worst maritime tragedy. The Clyde Shipping Company steamers Formby and Coningbeg were sunk by a U-boat in the Irish Sea in 1917. Tragically, 83 lives were lost, including 67 from Waterford and its surrounding...
On January 8, 1890, the SS Torridon displayed distress signals off the Wexford coastline while anchored in a fierce south-southwest gale. The ship had suffered a collision three days earlier in the English Channel, leaving it adrift for two days before being towed...
Congratulations to Ivan Fitzgerald for his new blog on the history of Tramore entitled Tramore of Yore. Ivan has long been a person I have followed and had several interactions with. There will be much maritime and general Waterford interest in his posts. Here's just...
By Tomás Sullivan This guest blog is brought to us by Tomás Sullivan. It is a glimpse into the days of sail in the harbour. It is also a tragic tale so common in seafaring communities. The story is of Captain Daniel Sullivan of Coolbunnia, Cheekpoint and his vessel...
I'm delighted to say that I will be appearing on RTE 1 TV's very popular walking series Tracks and Trails this coming Friday night, 5th April 2024 at 7.30pm. I will be guiding Crime journalist, Nicola Tallant who follows the cliff top trail starting out from Dunmore...
On a wild windy winter night in December 1888, the Belfast Barque Etta, rounded Hook Head in search of shelter, the lifeboat was signaled, but the ship was driven onto the rocks of Creaden Bay before the lifeboat could reach the vessel. Miraculously all but one were...
Christmas is just another time of the year for seafarers. The oceans and seas of the world carry much of the goods that we consider essential but this desire never ceases. This was just as true in the days of sail and to give a sense of the struggles faced by...
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...
In March I was lucky enough to deliver a talk for the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers at Poolbeg and after the talk Jonathan Wigam came up to me with some images that were taken in his great grandfather's time –Edward Jacob, an agent for Lloyds of London based in...
To conclude our Mayday Mile coverage on the blog this year David Carroll shares a fascinating insight into the ultimate sacrifice of two fishermen and how it provoked the community to campaign for a lifeboat station. Remember the Mayday mile runs until the end of the...
Occasionally a blog falls literally into my lap. So it was with this account when a partial and very faded 19th-century sailing ship log was handed to me recently. But what would the tattered pages of the document reveal? An incredible amount as it happens...
The City of Bristol departed the quay of Waterford in November 1840 for her home port of Bristol in a gale of wind. Anxious to keep to schedule the vessel would sail into one of the worst storms that season. She would later run aground, break up and all but two of the...
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