To generations of locals, the Clyde boats were a byword for employment, trade, emigration, and holidays and the final two that were often referred to at home were the Rockabill and the Tuskar. Two very different ships, two different personalities but two ships that were part of the very fabric of a maritime port like Waterford.
The Clyde boats of my parents’ generation of course represented the last of the ships and a fine coasting tradition that spanned well over 100 years. The Clyde Shipping company started out life, unsurprisingly I guess given the name, in Glasgow on the banks of the River Clyde in 1815. As the company prospered it entered the Irish market in 1856, initially to Cork but quickly to other ports such as Waterford. It was a stalwart of the Irish goods trade, particularly in the South East, and Waterford as a result of its location was a pivotal hub. In 1912, the company further strengthened this link when it bought the rival Waterford Steamship Company.[i]
Down the years there have been many notable ships, none more so than the Coningbeg and Formby. But two that are equally deserving of mention are the Rockabill and the Tuskar.
The Rockabill(1931) was named like all the Clyde ships after a lighthouse (or lightships) around the coast of Ireland and the British Isles. She was built by D&W Henderson & Co on the Clyde. Her maiden voyage took her from Liverpool to Waterford on the 5th of February 1931. She was primarily a cattle and cargo-carrying ship but she had accommodation for 12 first-class passengers on the starboard side of her upper deck and steerage passengers too. Meals were provided but were not included in the cost, which was said to be very appealing to passengers, especially on rough crossings![ii]
She departed from Waterford quays between Reginald Tower and the Clock Tower and dropped cattle to the Wirral shore of the Mersey and later dropped her passengers to the West Waterloo Dock (east side)[iii]
Sailings continued during WWII until she was requisitioned for war duties in Liverpool on the 15th Sept 1943. Sailings continued with relief ships on the route including the Skerries. She finally returned to the route on the 4th of May 1946 (at which point the Skerries was sold).[iv]
After the war, her routine was set at a fairly leisurely pace. Her twenty-hour (approx) trip commenced on a Saturday from Liverpool arriving at Waterford on Sunday. She left again on Tuesday arriving in Liverpool on Wednesday morning. Sailing times were set to suit the tidal conditions. A cabin berth was £3 10s single or £6 return. Steerage was £2 single fare (Not many traveling in steerage would have the luxury of returning after all) Children between 1-14 were charged half fare.[v]
Some described the Rockabill as an unlucky ship and several accidents/incidents were recorded about her, perhaps because she lacked the power required in strong tidal conditions. There’s a locally famous image of her across Redmond’s Bridge in Waterford on 15th December 1956 after she drifted into the bridge while turning. Luckily both the bridge and the vessel survived the incident as she floated away on the ebbing tide. Another incident occurred on 1st June 1942 – three miles east of Hook – when she ran aground but was fortunately towed to safety by the coaster Mayflower[vi]
My aunt Margaret told me once that she first emigrated to Liverpool aboard the Rockabill in the 1950s, extended members of the Doherty’s were fairly well established in the port at that stage, I imagine my father probably took the same route when he first went to sea on the Coast Line ships from that port too. As far as I can recall my grandfather actually sailed on her for a time too.
Rockabill last sailed into the port of Waterford in April 1962. The Waterford News & Star of Friday 6th April[vii] recorded the event on the front page with a photo and headline ”Today a 31-year-old connection will be severed” and went on to outline her role in the port and the technical difficulties that hastened her demise. Her final journey out the harbour brought her to Cork and the breakers yard of Haulbowline Industries Ltd. It was a historic journey and worthy of recording. She was the final steamer (coal burner) of the Clyde fleet and had proudly borne this mantel since 1953. I’m guessing as such she was our last coastal trading steamer and so ended a chapter of our maritime history that started with the first steamers that operated such as the Mail Packet ships at Dunmore East (the early 1820s) or the Nora Creina in 1826.
Her replacement was a few months in coming on duty and when she did she was for a very different function. The Tuskar (1962) was built by Chas. Connell & Co as a motor vessel of 1,115 tons, launched on the 18th of April 1962. She was designed to carry cargo and containers however and her maiden voyage to Waterford was not until the 26th June 1962 (the MV Sanda covered the route at this time). She worked the route until the 10th December 1968 before being sold to a Yugoslav company and renamed the Brioni. She would be broken up in 1988.[viii]
I suppose the reason that she was known so well to me was that my father sailed on her, for a time in 1968 after the new job he had come home to on the building of Great Island Power station was complete. But maybe it’s also because, as was often the habit with the Clyde, there was more than one vessel to have the name.
Although there were five ships that shared the name, the first I have information on is Tuskar (1890) which acted more in a relief capacity on the Waterford route from what I have read, and was lost on the West Coast of Ireland during WWI. Tuskar (1920) was specifically built to accommodate the trade on the Waterford run and first sailed the route on the 1st of September 1920. She worked alongside the Rockabill for a time but after import duties started to take a toll on the company’s business she was sold to Swedish owners in 1937. She would later be seized by Nazi Germany and her ultimate fate was to be sunk off the Greek coast in 1944.[ix]
The arrival of the MV Tuskar into Waterford was covered in many of the national papers of the time and according to the Cork Examiner[x] she arrived in Waterford on Monday 25th June. On Tuesday a reception was held aboard and she was shown off to an invited audience. (although Des Griffin of the Waterford Maritime History Facebook page told me recently that although he was only a child he was able to go aboard and explore the ship from stem to stern) The guests included the following dignitaries: “Councillor John Griffen, Mayor; Mr. Sean Gillen, City Manager; Mr. F. Cassin. Chairman of the Harbour Board; Mr. P. Breen, President, Chamber of Commerce, were received on board yesterday. The attendance also included Captain Chestnut, Mr. William Logan, and Mr. A. Cuthbert. Glasgow, managing director and director of the company respectively, and Mr. W. D Sterling, a local manager.”
The article went on the describe the ship as a ; “1,597-ton vessel… a 15-ton and three five-ton cranes…equipped for the container traffic with accommodation for 450 cattle and a refrigerated hold for 100 tons of frozen cargo. Her speed is 14 knots.” She departed on Wednesday with a general freight cargo and what was to be her mainstay on the route 370 cattle and 40 horses.
Her career was short-lived and there is little of the drama or excitement that would be connected to her forbearers. The one tragedy with which she is associated in the papers was the drowning of a 16-year-old apprentice at the L&N of Broad Street as it then was. James Hanrahan of Morrison’s Road was lost down the side of the Tuskar when she berthed at the Clyde wharf in June 1966. James was apparently cycling along the quay with his fishing rod when the bike swerved and James was thrown over the handlebars. James’ body was later recovered by the Portlairge in September.
In 1967 she was reported as carrying up to 1000 live pigs, the largest consignment to leave the port since WWII, accumulated due to a bacon strike[xi]. While in 1968 the Munster Express[xii] carried a photo of a powdered milk shipment being loaded aboard, paid for by the Cork Rotary Club, and bound for Liverpool and hence India to assist in famine relief.
But in December of 1968, the newspapers both national and local carried the story of the sale of the ship. A company spokesman explained in the Irish Independent[xiii] that the sale was partly due to government policy to slaughter and process animals in Ireland. Perhaps not surprisingly the Munster Express[xiv] was more concerned about the impact on jobs the route closure heralded and more generally in the position of the Port of Waterford in the overall scheme of maritime affairs in Ireland.
The sale of Tuskar was only another step in the sad decline of a once vital employer in the city of Waterford and her environs and although the company offices would remain open for another few years the writing was on the wall. Today all that remains are the iconic offices on Customs House Quay, the sculpture to honour the crews of the Coningbeg and Formby, and the fading memories of those that were lucky enough to see them sail into port.
I’d like to thank Demma Hutchinson and Mark Fenton who helped me with this piece, both their dads also sailed on the Tuskar. If anyone has any memories to share of the crew or as passengers I would be delighted to receive them for addition to this piece.
Sources used includes:
McElwee. R. The Last Voyage of the Waterford Steamers.
[McRonald. M. The Irish Boats. Vol II Liverpool to Cork and Waterford. 2006. Tempus. Stroud. Gloucestershire. Pp130-137
