Centenary; Loss of the Esperanza de Larrinaga

A guest post courtesy of Liam Cheasty and Pat Sheridan

A centenary is defined as the one hundred anniversary of a significant event and in 2021 there will be many related to the War of Independence and partition of Ireland in 1921. However, while conflict and strife bring about many tragedies that are noteworthy ordinary life can be equally dramatic and hard. On the 2nd of February 2021 is the centenary of the death of my maternal grandfather James Quilty, my mother’s father. James was born on 18th of February 1893 to Andrew and Mary Ann Quilty .

In 1911 James was 18 and lived at 11 Roches Street in Waterford City with his parents, his twin sister Mary Kate and a younger brother Patrick who was 16. The census shows five children had been born to Andrew and Mary Ann and four were still surviving. Andrew Quilty is listed as being a labourer as was James and Patrick. Mary Kate is listed as a sailor.

Roches Street no longer exists and it is now the side entrance to De la Salle College. The houses were small with mainly large families of mostly labouring men and would have been known as a tough street in its time. James married Johanna Lonergan who lived in 1911 at 58 Lower Yellow Road. That house is now knocked and there is an opening between the Yellow Road and Mount Sion Avenue. Hanna was also born in 1893 and her parents were John and Mary who were from Carrigeen in Mooncoin on the other side of the River Suir. John Lonergan is also listed as being a labourer and they had six children. When James and Hanna married they lived at 72 Doyle Street. My father’s parents, William and Annie Cheasty lived at 43 Doyle Street almost directly across the road. In 1920 my four grandparents lived in Doyle Street, none of them lived long enough for me to know them.

In 1920 James and Hanna had two daughters Maura and Tish with Hanna expecting my mother. This was shortly after the First World War and times were tough in Waterford with lots of unemployment and the poverty that goes with it. As a struggling young man James had to get work where ever he could, so he went to sea as an able bodied seaman.

James Quilty signed up to a Spanish owned company trading in Liverpool, Larrinaga Steam Ship Company. This line had been founded in 1861 by a Basque from Mundaka near Bilbao called Ramón De Larrinaga initially serving Spanish Colonies in the Philippines and Cuba. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 the company prospered hugely with many Basques moving to Liverpool.

On the tenth of December 1920 James Quilty sailed from Liverpool on the SS Esperanza de Larrinaga bound for the Americas. Esperanza is the Spanish for hope and it was built in 1907 and was 109 metres long. It had a top speed of 10.5 knots and a grt of 4981 tons. There were three other Waterford born sailors on board, John Furlong, Thomas Hunt and John Ryan.

The Esperanza de Larrinaga had been hit by a German torpedo from UB-65 on 13th of May 1918, 35 miles north of Lough Swilly, Ireland. There was one casualty. The vessel was successfully beached, refloated and repaired. Some of its crew in 1920 would probably have been on board when it was torpedoed. I am not sure where the Esperanza de Larringa was destined for on the outward journey but the return cargo was American grain loaded in Norfork in Virginia. The return journey was to Reggio Calabria on the very toe of Southern Italy, a massive journey across The Atlantic , through the Straits of Gibraltar and down the Mediterranean sea.

The Esperanza sailed out of Norfolk in on 2nd of February 1921 as did the Ottowa, a 3,600 ton bulk oil tanker . Sailing out of New York on the same day was the Italian owned Monte San Michelle, quite a large vessel at 6,517 tons. On the night of the 2nd of February 1921 a dreadful hurricane developed in the Atlantic. A French steamer Vicorieux and the Belgian owned Bombardier were abandoned by their crew the storm was so bad. The other three ships were lost with all hands lost and no signs ever found. More info on the sinking here. Four Waterford born men, including my grandfather James Quilty perished that awful night. For a sailor on his maiden voyage and with little experience one can only imagine the horror he went through on that faithful night.

Meanwhile back at 72 Doyle Street in Waterford it must have been a really tough time for Hanna Quilty that February. Firstly she lost her husband to the sea, later that same week her own mother died and on 24th February she gave birth to my mother, Kathleen. She was now a widow with three infant children to take care of but she was a survivor. Taking the £50 she received from The Larrinaga Shipping Line she moved to 77 Lower Yellow Road opened a hucksters shop in her front room, where she raised her three daughters who went on to marry and raise their own children.

This guest blog of this important centenary comes courtesy of Liam Cheasty and his cousin Pat Sheridan. I’m indebted to both men for the research, keeping this story alive and allowing me to share it with the tidesntales crew.