During an eleven day siege of Waterford in 1495, a river bombardment by the cities defenders on Reginalds Tower, successfully sunk two and repelled nine other ships in an eleven day siege. A cannon from one of those sunken ships was discovered in Waterford in 1901, and to date it continues to be the oldest known cannon from an engagement in Ireland, perhaps not surprising as it was also the first known use of cannon in a conflict in Ireland.
Introduction The sinking of the RMS Titanic is a world renowned event. I was reared on the story either from local storytelling or the movie “A Night to Remember”. But it was only in recent years I even thought to research a local connection, when I came across a...
On January 23rd 1645 one of the most surprising victories of any Irish action against the English was realised, when an Irish force managed to sink the flagship of the English parliamentary navy at Duncannon Co. Wexford. The ship was the Great Lewis and she lies to...
A recent maritime related photo from my cousin James Doherty led me on a rambling search for the ship and her purpose. We identified her early on as the Stormcock, we knew it was in Waterford , but with precious little other detail as to the purpose of the visit or a...
On Tuesday 12th January 1926 the SS Valdura ran headlong onto the rocks west of Kilmore Quay at a spot appropriately known as The Forlorn (Crossfarnoge Point) She had sailed from Baltimore on December 29th and was bound for Liverpool. [1] Her holds were filled with...
Over a three-day period of January 22nd, 23rd and 24th 1862, a large number of shipwrecks and loss of life took place in Waterford Harbour and along the County Waterford coastline, making it probably one of the most catastrophic events in the maritime history of Waterford.
The story of the loss of the American sailing ship Alfred D Snow is well known in Waterford harbour. Following a ferocious south easterly storm overnight the American sailing ship was seen at 9 am inside the Hook with much of her sail taken off and working upriver. ...
At 11am on Saturday 15th December the SS Formby departed Liverpool for Waterford. Aboard were 37 crew and 2 passengers. She was due into Waterford the following morning, but never arrived. It was to be the start of a terrible tragedy that would be felt throughout the city and its harbour.
On the 9th of November* 1917 a small schooner slipped her moorings at Waterford Quays and sailed out of the harbour and towards the Irish Sea. Her destination was Cardiff Wales. But she never arrived. At the centenary of the end of the First World War, I thought it...
On Thursday last, Oct 5th, Michael Farrell of the Barony of Gaultier Historical Society and myself headed up to Dublin. The plan was to meet David Carroll and his old De La Salle school pal JJ Murphy at Dublin's Connolly Station and from there hit a selection of...
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 a dramatic few weeks in August 1917 Dunmore became the center of a naval espionage operation that saw the destruction of a U Boat, the rescue and interrogation of her captain and a salvage operation to lift the boat from the depths of Waterford harbour. But...
There was plenty of drama along the Irish coast in the First World War, some of which was directly played out in the harbour, whilst others eventually washed up, or in this case was towed into, the harbour. One such story is of the SS Hermione, a saga that continued...
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. ...
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...
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...
Next weekend in Waterford we will remember our greatest maritime tragedy when, within two days in December 1917, Clyde Shipping's SS Formby and SS Coningbeg were sunk by a U Boat. Of the 83 souls who perished 67 were from the city, the harbour and hinterland. It...
Following the Seahorse tragedy in Tramore bay in January 1816 an initiative was started to create a warning system about the dangers of confusing Tramore Bay with the entrance to Waterford Harbour(1). The system commenced with the placing of three towers on the...
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...
May 7th will mark the anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania. But did you know there was a link to the sinking and Passage East in Co Waterford? Well, if you didn't that makes two of us. I got a call last year from the cousin, who had heard that there was a life...
On the evening of Thursday 2nd November 1899, the barque Hansa entered Waterford harbour in gale force winds. Having endured the early winter storms crossing the Atlantic, and finally arriving at her port of destination, the crew were probably beginning to relax....
Within two days in December 1917, Waterford experienced its biggest loss of seafaring lives with the sinking of Clyde Shipping's SS Formby and SS Coningbeg. Of the 83 souls who perished 67 were from Waterford, the harbour and hinterland and the effects were profound....
Standing on the breakwater at Dunmore East last night, I found it hard to try to cast my mind back to the scene 99 years ago to the day. For on August 4th 1917 just after midnight, an explosion ripped through the hull of a U Boat laying mines between Dunmore and the...
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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