We completed our Mayday Mile event - Cheekpoint to Dunmore by Cliff and Shore - in aid of our local RNLI station at Dunmore East on Sunday, May 22nd, 2022. Although the day dawned overcast and damp by 11 am the cloud was lifting and the walk proceeded in a fresh SW...
As part of the RNLI Mayday Mile fundraiser, author David Carroll returns this week with another fascinating insight into the history of the Dunmore East RNLI. You can donate to the Dunmore East Mayday mile page here. David is the author of numerous guest blogs on this...
As part of the RNLI Mayday Mile, this year author David Carroll has agreed to join our team to help promote and fundraise for our local station at Dunmore East. Our 22km walk takes place on Sunday 22nd and over May we will have a number of lifeboat-related blogs. You...
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the loss of a very important vessel in Irish maritime heritage and history, the Muirchú and page regular David Carrol has agreed to share the story of the ship and her final voyage with us. Having been laid-up since late 1946, the...
The Mayday Mile is a major fundraising initiative of the RNLI. 150 people drown in UK and Irish waters every year. And this summer, thousands of people will get into danger by the water. Ordinary people enjoying days out with family or friends. It happens so easily,...
I finally received my long-anticipated copy of Pete Goulding’s book on Irish lighthouse fatalities, and I can heartily recommend it to anyone with an interest in lighthouses, maritime heritage, or Irish history in general. When the Light Goes Out, a clever title by...
An official mail packet service ran between Milford Haven and Waterford from 1787 to 1848. The service often referred to at the time as the Southern Route, operated in competition with an earlier route between Holyhead and Dublin*. Although the Southern route was...
The very existence of Waterford and the quays are linked to the coming of the Vikings, who arrived in the mid 9th Century to the area. The harbour was first seen as a staging point, from where raids could be launched inland via the Three Sisters river network of the...
Last month we explored the loss of the American Sailing Ship Columbus, lost on the Hook Peninsula in 1852. The ship was wrecked on the jagged rocks, thanks in no small part to the mistaken belief that the Hook Head lighthouse was actually Tuskar Lighthouse, about...
On 13 February 1884 the fully rigged sailing ship Stowell Brown came to grief on the sand bar above Creaden Head, one of several ships caught out in a terrific February storm that year. A regular and popular guest contributor to our page, David Carroll has the story....
On Tuesday 6th January 1852 the American sailing ship Columbus went ashore to the east of Hook Lighthouse and was wrecked. Despite the efforts of those onshore 14 were lost including three female passengers. It was arguably an avoidable tragedy but as is often the...
Traditionally Christmas has been a time of excess when whatever you were celebrating was marked by feasting and making merry. Turkey originated in Europe with the early explorers returning from America with breeding pairs. The large bird became a favourite for...
In a follow up to an earlier article on the life and times of Irish Master Mariner Albert Bestic, author David Carroll affords a second installment of Bestic's career -the tragic sinking of the Irish Lights Vessel Isolda on 19th December 1940. Take it away David:...
Captain Tom Donohue of Co. Waterford was a sea captain who sailed throughout the Irish Emergency to keep the country supplied with basic foodstuffs and other essential supplies. He survived many scrapes including one of of the most famous rescues at sea in the era by the MV Kerlogue crew
On the 18th of November, a significant piece of local maritime history was created when the new pilot launch Port Láirge was received by Port of Waterford at Dunmore East. ‘Port Láirge’ is a name well known in the maritime heritage in Waterford. The previous namesake...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWZP805WNg The lecture was recorded and is available to view here Our good friend and regular guest contributor, David Carroll will do a public zoom lecture on the History of the Dunmore East RNLI Lifeboats, crews, and the maritime...
A Guest post by Conor Donegan. Two weeks ago, Dr Pat McCarthy, the foremost expert on the Irish revolutionary period (1912 – 1923) in Waterford, gave a very well attended lecture on the landing of a significant shipment of arms at Cheekpoint by the IRA, the...
The Gaultier Story: Aspects of Waterford’s Maritime Barony consists of 21 chapters on different aspects of the Barony of Gaultier History, Geology, Archaeology, Townlands, Education, Religion, Pilots, Lifeboat, New Geneva and Geneva Barracks, Passage...
After a busy month of activities, I was relieved when Damien McLellan offered a guest blog arising from last week's two-day event exploring the arrival of Henry II at Passage East in 1171 - 850 years ago this year. Damien, like so many others who attended, was buzzing...
Arming the IRA – Running guns into Waterford Harbour 1921 By early summer of 1921, the IRA was facing a crisis in its conflict with British forces - a severe shortage of arms and ammunition. This shortage was threatening to curtail operations by the active units...
Henry II, Crooke 1171 Recalled is a two day event that the Barony of Gaultier Historical Society is hosting on the 23rd and 24th of October 2021. We had previously planned to hold it a week earlier on the 17th October 2021, which is the 850th...
On a dark December night off the coast of Dunmore East, the pilot boat Gannet spotted an incoming steamer and sailed on a line upriver to intercept. The action would lead to the loss of the pilot boat and an unholy row in Waterford that would see the court of...
I wanted to acknowledge this wonderful achievement by a blog regular, David Carroll. David wrote his first guest blog for us in January 2017 and has been a firm favourite since. In that story, Memories of a Harbour Boy, David recalled growing up in Dunmore East...
This coming September marks the 11th anniversary of the last passenger train to use the SW Wexford railway line and the Barrow Railway Viaduct. The bridge is Irelands longest rail bridge but it would appear that this September may see another regressive step...
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