On Wednesday, 29th October 1862, the Royal Yacht Squadron vessel Eva was at anchor at Cheekpoint, Co Waterford, awaiting favourable sailing conditions before setting out on a Mediterranean cruise.  A storm had cleared, and as the day broke, a watery sun confirmed the crew’s worst fears: another blow was on the way.

What follows is the slow, torturous attempts by the crew to get underway. What I find so compelling is that it reflects the reality for centuries of sailors and sailing ships looking to either enter harbours and ports or depart. As such it is neither spectacular nor amazing but a basic and factual depiction of the reality of sailing before the mast from Waterford harbour. A time when sailing was measured in terms of tides and weather rather than a clock.

The Eva under sail. After Kavanagh.

The vessel was the RYS Eva (1860), a wooden-built, schooner-rigged sailing vessel of 130 tons. The Eva was built by Inman of Lymington, and she was owned by the writer of the piece, Arthur Kavanagh of Borris House, Carlow. Arthur was born with only the rudiments of arms and legs, but on the insistence of a strong-willed mother, he was reared to expect to live a full life, which he certainly achieved.

There is a crew of 16 aboard with Arthur, including a sailing skipper,  eight sailors before the mast and three below decks – a steward, steward’s mate, and a cook. They have five hunting dogs kennelled on deck; they will see use on shooting trips on the Dalmatian coast. The last of the known life forms was contained in two chicken coops, also on deck – a source of eggs and white meat.

At 13.00, the tide turned ebb, and they drifted down on the tide to Ballyhack, where they dropped anchor again to await the wind and tide. There they washed the dogs and sent them ashore for a ramble. The crew set about preparing for a long spell at sea, making the vessel shipshape and securing and stowing everything as required.

On Thursday, a gale blew from SSE, and it was high water on Friday, 31st (Halloween), before they finally weighed anchor and headed down the harbour. They had only reached Creaden Head when Arthur realised the error of his ways. The wind was freshening once more from the SE, and with rain coming on, they turned tail and headed once more for the “Passage Roads” – the anchorage above Passage and Ballyhack.

Other ships had the same idea, and on the journey back up they were accompanied by a whole fleet of other vessels, including “…three or four Austrian and Sardinian barks, a couple of large Yankee ships with a host of collier brigs and schooners…”

Despite Solomon’s proverb ‘that those who watch the clouds will neither reap nor sow,’ they dropped anchor off Ballyhack to allow the storm to pass.

Arthur Kavanagh By Unknown – http://www.thelongridersguild.com/Historical_J-O.htm, Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30807184

On Saturday, 1^st November, the crew of the Eva were awakened to the sound of about thirty capstan winches retrieving their ship’s anchors, accompanied by the screeching of the brace and halliard blocks as the fleet prepared to move.

Arthur soon realised that he could have stayed in the hammock, however. There was a flat calm, and many of the colliers were getting ready to make their way up on the tide to Waterford as best they could, whilst colliding with each other on the flooding tide and cursing and swearing in a multitude of accents and languages as they fouled each other or smashed booms. The crew of the Eva had to fend off several drifting vessels, too.

Finally, at 12 noon, a light southerly breeze drew up, and with the tide slackening, the Eva departed and at about 16.00 hrs, they were off the Hook when the wind freshened, and they were finally on their way towards the Bay of Biscay before entering the Mediterranean and visiting the African and European coasts.

The journey of Eva is available as an ebook on Google from here. It makes for an interesting read of a time and era now past. Hopefully you enjoyed the basic, everyday details of navigating the harbour at the time, however. I certainly did.

The following blurb from Amazon might give a better sense of the topics covered.

The Cruise of the R. Y. S. Eva is a book written by Arthur Kavanagh and first published in 1865. The book is a personal account of Kavanagh’s journey on board the yacht R. Y. S. Eva, which he owned and sailed on the Mediterranean Sea. The book describes the yacht’s voyage from Gibraltar to the coast of Africa, and then to the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. The book provides a detailed account of Kavanagh’s experiences during the voyage, including descriptions of the scenery, the people he met, and the challenges he faced while sailing. Kavanagh also writes about the history and culture of the places he visited, providing readers with an insight into the Mediterranean world in the mid-19th century. The book is written in a lively and engaging style, with Kavanagh’s enthusiasm for sailing and exploration shining through in his writing. The Cruise of the R. Y. S. Eva is a fascinating read for anyone interested in sailing, travel, and the history of the Mediterranean region.

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