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, their boat was swamped, and eight of the rescue crew were lost.  This blog explores the story in greater detail primarily through local newspaper reports of the time.

Vessel in distress

The ship was the Harry King of Cork. She was on a journey from Runcorn (on the R Mersey) to her home port with coal under Captain Michael Lenihan.  During the early hours of that Saturday, the vessel ran into a terrible squall of wind and rain. Damage was done to both her main mast and foremast and, reaching the relative safety of Dungarvan Bay, her crew dropped anchor and abandoned the vessel, rowing, it seems to Helvic.

Perhaps at daybreak, but at some stage the crew returned to their vessel with a pilot from the area. We can only assume they hoped to enter Dungarvan for repairs or perhaps sail onwards. However, the wind was still strong, and at some point it seems a flag of distress was flown, as it was this signal that alerted the people of Dungarvan.

Rescue bid launched

Nine men stepped forward to answer the call, and boarding what was described as a whaleboat, they rowed off towards the vessel in a freshening easterly gale. It was reported to be 6 pm in the evening when they departed.

All the men were local. “Mr Laurence Lenehan, as agent for Loyds, took a boat, accompanied by Captain Maurice Duggan, Patrick McNamara, Thomas McNamara, Maurice Mulcahy, Michael Raher, John Maher, Thomas Crawford, and John Whelan, and went to see if any assistance could be rendered to the vessel”

The sole survivor and later ferryman Paddy McNamara, stands by his boat at the Lookout, Dungarvan, Waterford c1902. Photo Edmund Keohan courtesy of Waterford Co Museum.

After a very difficult rowing operation of an estimated four miles in duration, you might only imagine the reaction of the Dungarvan men when they arrived to be told that their assistance wasn’t required. A Coastguard boat was also on the scene from the Helvic station. The likely reason was that the crew of the Harry King had managed to make repairs or perceived a change in the weather. Taking assistance might mean the loss of the cargo through a salvage claim.

Tragedy strikes

Having rested for a time, the Dungarvan men headed towards home, the night now being dark. But about two miles off the boat was swamped by a wave (accounts differ, but this seems most plausible) and all the men were thrown into the sea. The only man to survive, Patrick McNamara held onto his oar when going overboard and luckily found another. Both allowed him to stay afloat and the force of the seas carried him shoreward. It was almost 10pm when he finally landed. He raised the alarm, and despite his exhaustion, he was aboard one of the vessels that rushed to the scene. Alas, no others had survived. At least five bodies were found in subsequent days.

Newry Examiner and Louth Advertiser. Wednesday, 28 April 1852

Dungarvan response

With four widows and twenty orphans in the town, the people of Dungarvan were quick to respond. It was reported that a public meeting was convened at 12 o’clock, at the Court House, on Wednesday 28th to enter into public subscription for the relief of the widows and orphans.  Although the weather was very bad, the subscription had exceeded £100 by the end of the first evening.

Felt as far away as London

In July it was reported that the committee of the Royal National Institute for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck discussed the loss at a regular meeting in London. There it was agreed that a grant of £20 would be made in aid of the local subscription. The report noted that group, which would later become what we know today as the RNLI concluded “…it is not unreasonable to suppose that, had there been a lifeboat at Dungarvan, their great bereavement would, in all human probability, have been spared.”

RNLI

I’m not sure if this event was directly attributable to the foundation of a lifeboat service in Dungarvan Bay, but according to the Helvic Head RNLI history page, a station was first founded there in 1859, seven years after the tragedy. That year a lifeboat house was constructed at a cost of £126. It was later moved to Ballinacourty, east of Dungarvan, in 1863. In 1899, they built a lifeboat house and slipway on a new site on the south side of Dungarvan Bay at Crowe Point for £1,800. The station was called Dungarvan Bay (Helvick Head). Although the service was closed in 1969, it was subsequently reopened in 1995 and provides essential service to the present.

Harry King

So what became of the Harry King? The vessel is described as a schooner, brig and a brigantine in reports and online circles. The name is not listed with Lloyds in 1852. An online list of Cork owned/operated vessels does include a Harry King  however. She was built in Nova Scotia in 1836 and may have been owned in Cork from the 1840s. 126-ton, brig-rigged, and Michael Lenihan is listed as captain from 1847-1850. Lenihan was born in Cork in 1816. It concludes that the vessel was wrecked off Helvic in 1852. But was she?

Well, no, she wasn’t. Because the Cork Examiner of May 5th lists her as arriving from Dungarvan to Cobh with a cargo of coal. Was she assessed thereafter and scrapped? 

Cork Examiner. Published Wednesday, 5 May 1852; page 2

Well again it seems no! The vessel must have been repaired in Cork or elsewhere subsequently, for she appears on the Cork-Wales run into the autumn and winter under Captain Lenihan, but in May 1853 she (or is it another vessel of the same name) is listed for sale in Cork. Advert below. I would imagine it is the same vessel – perhaps her rig was changed to a brigantine with the repairs?

Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier. Published Tuesday, 10 May 1853; page 1

Patrick McNamara

The sole survivor was Patrick and in one article it was mentioned that he was the owner of the ill-fated whaleboat. Thomas McNamara was a brother. He resided in the town up to his death in 1895 and I guess his descendants still reside there now. A local Edmund Keohan wrote the Illustrated History of Dungarvan in 1924 and he included the following about what was then, obviously, a local institution.

“ ‘Paddy Mac’ was one of the most notable men in the town. He was a fine, well-built man, broad shoulders, and in every respect representative of a fine type of boatman. He lived close to the ferry, and for many years he held undisputed sway in the rowing of passengers to and from the Cunnigar…a fine, intelligent man, well versed in all current affairs, and even foreign politics. He was an especial favourite with the gaybricks , that is the visitors who came to the seaside for a holiday, and it was a treat of rare interest to observe him superintending the ferrying of passengers in the boats. He possessed a powerful voice which could be heard for long distances across the water. He stood for election for the Urban Council and became a member, his election cry being ‘What are the wild waves saying?‘ He was held in high esteem by the visitors from the county Tipperary, and, indeed, all through the town and district no one had anything but a good and kind word for ‘Paddy Mac’. Often he is inquired for in letters from America, for he was looked upon partly as an institution of the town, and his quaint ways and peculiarities rendered him a personality of a very rare and interesting type”

Gone but not forgotten – a memorial plaque at Helvic, Co Waterford. Image courtesy of Helvic Head RNLI via David Carroll.

Conclusion

The loss of the 8 men of Dungarvan was an obvious disaster and the need for a purpose-built lifeboat was eventually recognised. That they were lost in such futile circumstances seems so harsh and sad. But in the days of basic communications, they responded in a way that was heroic. I’d imagine the crew of the Harry King stayed well clear of the town of Dungarvan thereafter. You can’t help but wonder, though, was there more to Paddy Mc’s phrase ‘What are the wild waves saying?‘ beyond mere whimsy. 

References

19th Century Cork Sutton Mariners, Sailing Ships and Crews: https://publications.corkarchives.ie/view/222329238/150/
https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/lifeboat-stations/helvick-head-lifeboat-station/station-history-helvick-head
Sligo Champion, published Monday, 2 August 1852, page 3
Newry Examiner and Louth Advertiser. Published Wednesday, 28 April 1852
Waterford News. Published Friday, 30 April 1852
The Freeman’s Journal of April 25th, 1852
The Freeman’s Journal of Saturday, July 24th, 1852
Waterford Chronicle. Published Saturday, 1 May 1852; page 3
Illustrated History of Dungarvan by Edmond Keohan 1924 (new edition by Waterford County Museum 2022)

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