Waterford Sailing ships Archives

05/09/202406/09/2024

Disappearance of Cheekpoint schooner Chase

By Tomás Sullivan

This guest blog is brought to us by Tomás Sullivan. It is a glimpse into the days of sail in the harbour. It is also a tragic tale so common in seafaring communities. The story is of Captain Daniel Sullivan of Coolbunnia, Cheekpoint and his vessel the schooner Chase. Daniel was married to Rose nee McCarthy and they had six children. Bridget, Edward, Charles, Maria, Daniel and Thomas.

Sullivan Family

Daniel was born and raised in Cheekpoint. Like many others in the village, he probably started his working life fishing in the river. His earliest sailing record places him aboard the Waterford-owned Mary Jane. Daniel is listed as Mate. It’s a role he would not have attained without lots of experience. He is serving under Captain John Phelan of Mary Street in the City. Waterford coal merchant and ship broker John E Angle, Hanover Street, Waterford owned this ship.

Schooner Chase

According to Lloyds Register of Shipping the sailing schooner Chase was built for Daniel Sullivan in 1876/7 by Hodges Boat Yard Cardiff. The details listed are as follows:

Sailing ships such as the Chase were competing at the time with larger and more reliable steam-powered vessels. Many of the cargos that she could hope for were bulky goods that were not considered time-sensitive. Cargos such as coal were typical for which there was a significant Irish market. The return trips could carry various goods such as pit props for the Welsh mines. Agriculturalproducts also such as barrels of oats and barley and sometimes ballast.

Chase ports of call

The Chase took cargo from where she could and was a regular into the ports of Waterford and New Ross. The vessel called to Cheekpoint, Passage East, Arthurstown and Dungarvan. Other destinations recorded in the ship logs are Cork, Wexford Wicklow, Dublin, Derry, Liverpool, Milford, Bristol and Portsmouth.

Pilots Licence

Daniel applied to the Waterford Harbour Commissioners pilot committee to be examined for a pilot’s licence in 1878. This application would allow him to bring his ship into port without the cost of a river pilot. The move was understandable given that he had known the harbour since childhood. An exemption would allow him the freedom to sail when he decided. It was also a crucial factor in reducing the costs of his vessel. Not paying pilotage, gave him a better margin on his cargo and reduced his outgoings. His application was referred to the Board of Trade. The following March 1879, following an examination before the Board, Daniel was awarded a pilot exemption for the entire harbour.

Crew of the Chase

The following is a list of those recorded as shipping out on the Chase as crewmen.[ii]

Accessed from NLI Records of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, 1860 – 1921

Last trip

According to family lore the Chase departed Waterford for Cardiff in Wales on the 28^th of August 1884. Aboard was a cargo of pit wood. Fatefully, Daniel decided to stop at Cheekpoint, perhaps to wait for favourably wind and/or tide. His two sons came to see their father off, Daniel jnr and Thomas. Their older brother Charles, aged 20, was already serving as Mate on the family vessel. Another Cheekpoint man, Michael Nugent was serving as an able seaman. Michael was aged 22.

Image and text of last recorded returned Ships log in December 1883. Accessed from the National Archives.

Schooners at anchor off Cheekpoint circa 1899. Photo AH Poole Collection – NLI

Daniel managed to talk his father into taking him on board. As he was then 14 he probably argued that it was high time for him to “learn the ropes”. Thomas, aged 12, must have been sorely disappointed not to have been aboard when the Chase headed away downriver.

Some days later Rose Sullivan was out in the yard of their family home in Coolbunnia, overlooking the estuary. Suddenly she started screaming and crying saying she could see her husband and son Daniel Sr and Junior. She claimed that they had just passed through the yard. Not long after official word reached the family that the Chase was overdue.[iii]

Source: UK REGISTER OF DEATHS AT SEA 1884

Overdue in a storm

What was officially known was little. The schooner had made good time on passage over and departed Cardiff on September 5^th 1884. Aboard was a cargo of coal, their destination was Passage East. Although they left in favourable conditions, the weather was changing. Soon the ship was sailing into a westerly gale as it headed out of the Bristol Channel. It is speculation but it seems that the Chase ran for shelter, steering a course for the protection of Milford Haven. Many other ships were in difficulty, including the Triumph which saw two crewmen washed overboard. The pilot cutter Blue Eyed Maid was lost. Further north on the Welsh coast the St Dogmael’s lifeboat rescued three crew and the captain’s wife of the wrecked smack Ellen.[iv]

Nothing was ever heard from the Chase again. A coastguard man later reported finding “…a head-board with CHASE painted on it, and a female figurehead”. The information provided to the Receiver of Wrecks for the area included the siting of other wreckage. This was seen between Sheep Island and Linney Head on the Pembrokeshire coast. This included “…a mainboom jaws upwards, with a piece of mast and some heavy weight, probably sails, under water which rendered it unmanageable [to retrieve] by small boats”.[v]

What efforts the crew of the Chase employed is unknown. Whether the ship’s boat was launched, or any tried to swim for it is unknown. Given the location, it was thought likely the ship had overturned in the gale. In the circumstances, those aboard would have had little time to consider their predicament. Or for Daniel to think of his family on board or at home in Cheekpoint.

Conclusion

Chase, most likely foundered sometime on the 6^th or 7^th of September 1884. She was finally listed as missing in February 1885. Prior to this she was considered by authorities as overdue.[vi]. But long before then, Rose Sullivan knew she had lost the main breadwinner of her home, two of her sons and the family’s investment.

Like many other families in the area, the sea was one of the main forms of employment. But it came at a cost, such as with the Chase and the Sullivan and Nugent families. Edward, Sullivan was lost while crossing the Atlantic on another sailing ship. Bridget Sullivan would later lose her husband James Clawson on the SS Formby in 1917. Michael Nugent’s brother William died while serving aboard the schooner Elizabeth Cowman while sailing down the Suir. A later Nugent descendant, Edmund, was lost at sea in 1941.

There are no flowers on a sailor’s grave
No lilies on an ocean wave
The only tribute is the seagulls sweep
And the tears upon a loved one’s cheek
Fear not for those who go down to the sea in ships
For as sunset draws near and dawn breaks afar
We remember those who have crossed the bar
PAUL HOLLAND

I want to thank Pat O’Gorman for his generous assistance with this piece and his endless hours chatting with my late father Tom Sullivan, discussing Cheekpoint’s seafaring history. Thanks also to P.J O’Shea for all the information on the Nugent family. Finally to acknowledge the assistance of Alan Jones from Shipwrecks UK. Tomás Sullivan 2024

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[i] https://archive.org/details/HECROS1884/page/n247/mode/2up

[ii] Accessed from NLI Records of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, 1860 – 1921

[iii] These apparitions were very common in seafaring communities. A“Fetch“ appears regularly in Irish folklore. See for example Michael Fortune’s post at Folklore.ie https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1175277146956289

[iv] Western Mail – Monday 08 September 1884; page 3

[v] Bridgend Chronicle – Friday 19 September 1884; page 4

[vi] Liverpool Weekly Courier – Saturday 07 February 1885; page 5

27/04/202307/09/2023

Long Lost Log of the Brig Glide

Occasionally a blog falls literally into my lap. So it was with this account when a partial and very faded 19th-century sailing ship log was handed to me recently. But what would the tattered pages of the document reveal? An incredible amount as it happens including the ship, the owner, the crew, an astonishing account of a storm-tossed journey, and ultimately the story of the destruction of the Waterford ship on the Wexford shore

Walter and Evelyn Byrne presented me with the document on a recent visit to their pub in Ballyhack, where I was presenting the story of the paddle steamer era. The ship’s log was found in the attic of their pub, and although only a few tattered pages remained, the very faded writing allowed me to at least identify the ship and master. The puzzle was under what circumstances did the log end up in the attic of the pub, why was it placed there, and by who, and what exactly could I find about this old sailing vessel from the 19^th Century. As it happens, a heck of a lot, thanks to the help of a number of friends.

Brig Glide

The brig Glide was a Waterford-owned vessel. According to Lloyds register of shipping in 1863[i] the ship was built of timber in Halifax Novia Scotia in 1837. The ship was just over 80 feet long, 20 wide, and 12 deep and her stated tonnage was 154 Tons. The ship was only listed in Lloyds in 1863 and 1864. Then under the command of Captain T Black, the owner was listed as an L Freeman and her port of registry is Waterford.

The Log

Interpreting the remaining pages of the log is a bigger challenge. A ship’s log is a record kept by a ship’s captain in which the vessel’s daily progress is recorded, the wind, weather, currents encountered, and anything of interest that occurs aboard during a voyage.[ii] Unfortunately the partial log is a very challenging read and I can only decipher parts of it due to the handwriting, the damage, and that it is written in very abridged writing to capture wind, weather, seas, and any incidents. Admittedly I am also curtailed by a lack of experience with reading these, this is my first. Reading historical fiction or biographies can’t quite compare.

On one page the following crew names are recorded; William Walsh, Thomas Riley, Thomas Deveraux, ? Bird, Charles Bird, Pat Furlong, Peter Regan, and John Colfer. There is also a Patrick Furlong, perhaps the already-mentioned Pat? A couple of other names were illegible. (see the end for post-publication information that confirms that some of the crew were from the Slade area of Hook)

Journey to St Andrews

We can make out two full journeys of the vessel and a few partial details of others and the crew. The first entry deals with a trip from Cardiff to St Andrew’s (I think this is Saint-Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada) under Captain Thomas Black (Thomas was born in Waterford in 1807). The log commences on July 13^th, 1866 when the weather is fair and the Light of Lundy has been sighted. The journey was uneventful finally arriving at their destination on Sept 1st. I can’t work out what the outgoing cargo was, but they had difficulties loading deals (timber boards) for the return trip, finally departing on Thurs 27th Sept. Again the trip home seems uneventful but on Mon October 29th, 1886 the Coningbeg lightship was spotted. This was rounded at noon and at 3.30 pm a pilot was picked up at Creaden Head, anchoring at Passage at 7 pm

Note a 30-day uneventful passage across the Atlantic, but look at the issue faced by the brig Form on more or less the same journey.

After this some pages are missing and the handwriting and style of the recording change and the name John Commins appears. There’s mention of a trip to Cardiff and Waterford, but the next full account is a trip from Waterford to Boulogne, France. This trip was anything but routine or uneventful.

A stormy passage

The Glide was fully loaded (again no mention of the cargo) and was prepared for sailing on Friday, Dec 20th, 1867. On Sat 21^st they departed downriver coming to an anchor at Passage East awaiting favourable winds. On Sunday 22nd they sailed, rounded the Hook, and ran into a strong SE wind. On Monday the weather was worsening, the Mine Head light was sighted, and they made the best of the wind to make it back to Passage East where they anchored at 5 pm that evening. Christmas was spent at anchor, but apart from the weather, the log records nothing of the holiday, any gifts, special meal, or religious observation. I hope they enjoyed it, cause the drama was only beginning.

On Sat Dec 28^th they again sailed from Passage East but thereafter the log is empty of any entries until January 6^th when they are sheltering off Falmouth and seem to be busy repairing their masts, rigging, and sails suggesting they have weathered a bad storm. They remain there until Sat 11^th Jan 1868 before getting underway, sighting the Eddystone Light. On Sunday the 12^th the Portland Light is sighted but the winds are increasing, the sail is taken in and there is mention of standing by the pumps if I am interpreting the writing correctly.

On Tuesday 14^th a strong gale is continuing and their second anchor is let go giving 60 fathoms of slack. The crew is employed at “Sundrey jobs”. No mention is made of the first anchor. I can’t work out if that suggests the first one was lost in the events between the 28th Dec and the 6th Jan or that they were deploying the second one to assist the first. On Wednesday 15th Jan 1868 they haul up the anchor and continued to the Downs where they again dropped anchor and remained until Monday 20th (They tried to move on 18th but had to drop anchor again. The log ends with a simple entry on Monday, January 20th, 1868 – “Light winds from eastward at 4 am, got up one anchor and got the other short and at 8 am got underway. At noon pilot came onboard” Presumably they had arrived at Boulogne…almost a month after first departing Waterford.

The end of the Glide

So what happened to the Brig Glide after the French trip? Well, I’m not sure, as there was only one record of her in local papers, sailing in ballast for Cardiff in Nov 1870. ( I found the following after publication which lists the journeys for the first few months of 1871 which included Waterford, Welsh ports, Boulogne and Gursnesy. Also a crew list in this link.) However, I can tell you for sure about her last journey…which ended in disaster on the SW Wexford coast – a familiar refrain here on the blog. The Waterford Chronicle of Wednesday 25^th Feb 1874 recorded that the ship had left Cardiff laden with coal the previous week and on Friday 20^th had run into fog just after sunset. The fog was so dense nothing could be seen within a cable length of the vessel. At some point the vessel grounded close to Kilmore Quay and broke up on rocks, the crew getting away safely. Another article states the location as Ballygrangans Bay to the east of Kilmore.

A small trading brig entering the Bristol Avon, painted by Joseph Walter. 1838. Royal Museums Greenwich. Public Domain. Wikipedia. I’m afraid I could find no depiction of the Glide, but hopefully, this might give a sense of the scale and sail plan of the vessel.

John Power records that the Glide had 141 tons of coal aboard and had left Cardiff on the 15^th Feb but put into Milford to shelter from a storm. She sailed again on the morning of the 20th, meeting the fog off the Wexford shoreline later that night. Having grounded, the stern post was damaged and the ship made water, rising to about three feet in the hold. The master tried to set more sail to run the ship ashore, but she remained fast and they eventually lowered the ship’s boat and rowed ashore. The piece which was drawn from a local newspaper report concludes that the master was at fault for not casting the lead, to determine the closeness to shore, a practice which would save many a ship in the area![iii]

As May approaches so does the annual May Day Mile fundraiser for the Dunmore East RNLI. This year my brother Robert and I plan to row from Carrick On Suir to Cheekpoint in a two-day adventure in the punt. We reckon it’s about 25 miles and if you would like to support us, you can donate to this worthy cause here. Watch out for lots of updates, photos, videos,and blogs to capture the month here on T&T

Loughlin Freeman

The owner of the vessel was Loughlin Freeman. He was a merchant and businessman who as early as 1845 had written to the Freemans Journal and described his operations as being extensive including shipping and carrying river freight along both the Suir as far as Clonmel and the Barrow to Dublin. At the time of the loss of the Glide, several reports mentioned that he was based in Barronstrand Street in Waterford and was also a Town Councillor. In other accounts, he was described as “an honest and upright liberal in the customs house ward”. In his obituary (1887) he was described as one of the longest-serving TC’s – over 32 years and had also served on the Harbour Board.

Keyzer St and sometimes spelled Keiser St now. Photo via Michael O’Sullivan on the WHG facebook page. Cian Manning previously wrote of the Viking origins of the name

However, Slaters Commercial Directory of 1870 has his business address as Keyzer St, Waterford where he is listed under several entries including an agent for Ale and Porter, a ginger beer and soda manufacturer and a corn merchant. No mention of shipping interests, timber imports or indeed coal. More about h

Orientating our readers from outside Waterford of the location of Keyzer St from the OSI Historic map series. Cian Manning has guest blogged on the street name for us previously.

Now for Freeman to lose one ship in 1874 must have been tragic, but worse was to come. For in August a sister vessel, the brigantine Alcedo, left Waterford for Cardiff, where she was impounded by inspectors as she was found to be rotten.

The reason was a politician named Samuel Plimsoll who first entered the House of Commons as a Liberal in 1868. In 1873 he published Our Seamen, which attacked old and decrepit vessels or “coffin ships,” unseaworthy and overloaded vessels, which were often heavily insured, in which owners risked their crews’ lives. Plimsoll initiated an investigation by a royal commission in 1873, and in 1876 the Merchant Shipping Act gave stringent powers of inspection to the Board of Trade and fixed the loading line (Plimsoll mark) for ships.

Alcedo incident

Unfortunately for Freeman, the Alcedo became a cause celebre and what followed was a series of court cases, newspaper reports, and even statements in the UK parliament where Plimsoll had helped to ensure that the matter of seafarers and their well-being was a topic of concern. And although the wheels of justice turned slowly, turn they did. In Waterford, in 1875 one of Freeman’s sons was escorted from the court after an outburst while his father was sentenced to prison for two months and fined £300. Paradoxically, Freeman failed to live up to his name.

The story of the Alcedo is an interesting one and probably deserves its own blog, perhaps in the future.

The present Byrnes of Ballyhack and an image from he early 20th C probably looking from off one of the paddle steamers fully laden on deck with sheep

Byrnes attic

And why was there a partial ships log in an attic in Byrnes of Ballyhack? My first thought was that it was left behind by some foreign ship’s master following a shipwreck or death. Then I wondered if it had been part of the wreck sale, found in an item purchased from the ship at the time, however unlikely that the captain would have left it behind. But when I shared the information with Walter Byrne, particularly the name of the ship’s master, John Commins, Walter was able to tell me that the family took over the pub in 1929 and that one of the previous owners was the Commins family.

Thanks to Maria Doyle nee White I now know that John, listed as a Master Mariner, died at his home in Ballyhack on January 26th 1894 aged 73. He died after an illness of five days of pneumonia. His death was witnessed by his son John. Most likely John Commins left the log behind as part of his personal possessions. That’s our working theory – perhaps someone can let us know more.

I’m indebted to Walter and Evelyn Byrne for the loan of the partial ships log for this piece and to the assistance of Cian Manning, marine artist Brian Cleare, Liam Ryan, Maria Doyle and Andy Kelly.

This story, and the research of it has brought me past the 200th ship I have found that was built or registered in Waterford. I also have a separate list of ships sunk in the harbour or coast of Waterford as well as Waterford ships lost elsewhere…the list now stands at 652.

Post Publication Gillian Finn supplied me with the following details and images on the Historical Wexford facebook page – Two of the crew Charles & brother Christopher Bird were from “Slade” Charles in particular sailed around globe. I work a Hook Peninsula Tree on Ancestry tracking all past inhabitants, I came across a crew record for the Glide.
I enclose it here, lists all the men who sailed on that voyage.

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[i] Accessed from https://archive.org/details/HECROS1864/page/n369/mode/2up?q=Glide

[ii] James A Dunnage. Shipping Terms and Phrases.(1925) Pitman Press, London. See p52

[iii] John Power. A Maritime History of County Wexford. (2011) Olinda Publications. Kilmore Quay. See p169-70

24/05/201928/05/2019

Farewell Madcap & Zayda

On a bright but blustery dawn in June 1928 three vessels departed Waterford’s quays. Leading the small convoy was a powerful tug, towing two old sailing ships. Although the tug was a stranger to the city, the sailing ships were anything but. To anyone looking on the scene must have proven ironic if not ignominious. For these were the ports last sailing vessels; Zayda and the Madcap, and they had given over fifty years loyal and trusted service to the city, only to be made redundant by steam power.

The story of these two sailing ships is also a story of Waterford and one man in particular, Geoffrey Spencer. Spencer was the son of a local farmer, but not being first born had to make his own way. He married into a coal merchant business at John Street (His wife was Catherine Lyons, daughter of a coal merchant, who later inherited the yard).

Madcap and Zayda moored off Coal Quay (just to the east of the Clock Tower) Photo via Michael O’Sullivan (Waterford History Site)

A coal merchant was at the mercy of all kinds of middle men unless the business could import its own coal and so Geoffrey bid on a decrepit old ship called the Oriental when it came up for auction in the city. The ship was so bad that his was the only bid. With the profit from this first vessel, he reinvested in expanding his fleet and other ships followed including the Arrow, Caradoc and the Olga. I read that he was also part owner in the SS Silkstone that sank in the river by Ferrybank and was a total wreck. The Caradoc sank following a fire off the Coningbeg and the Olga grounded at Duncannon 20^th April 1895 and was a total loss. I’ll need to do more digging into the others.

The Zayda was a brigantine and was built at Bideford in 1869. The Madcap was also a brigantine and was built at Brixham in 1871. As far as I can tell they were built specifically for Geoffrey Spencer and both entered into the coal trade. Both ships would have been painted green which was the colour that Spencer chose for his ships. (a detail I’m indebted to Brian Cleare for this detail) The norm was to bring pit props or other heavy cargo from Waterford to Wales and then return with coal. The ships feature regularly in Lloyds list and seem to have made a steady income.

During the Great War both ships were requisitioned, armed and staffed with a naval crew. There is one account that because the Madcap was so well known the admiralty fitted another ship out in her likeness to act as a Q ship and sunk five submarines in this role (Q ships were armed to the teeth, but disguised as ordinary merchantmen. U Boats didn’t like to waste torpedoes on them, so they surfaced and ordered the crew to evacuate the ship prior to sinking them with the deck gun. Q ships would take this opportunity, drop the deck disguise and fire upon the sub).

Although the regular sailing time between Cardiff and Waterford was given as 19 hours, in 1921 it took the Madcap just a bit longer!. Under Captain Furniss she departed the Cardiff Roads in February 1921. She ran into her first difficulties at the Barrels and having shed her canvas limped into Fishguard. Following repairs she departed, getting as far as the Tuskar before a hurricane of wind forced them to run ahead of it up the Irish Sea, eventually making shelter at Belfast Lough. Her third trip was no better, this time managing to find shelter at Kingstown / Dun Laoighre. It was April before she finally arrived back in her home port, two months later.

Zayda, a Poole photo originally via *Michael O’Sullivan (Waterford History Site)*

Madcap and Zayda were victims of progress however. Ships such as these had to be loaded and emptied by hand, a slow and grueling job. Industrial techniques were advancing however and metal grab cranes could drop a bucket into the hold of a steel built ship and quickly and cheaply empty them. Joseph Spencer, Geoffrey’s heir , decided to tie the sailing ships to the quay (by the Clock Tower) and there sat for several years and, like any unused craft, fell into decay.

At 5am on June 8^th 1928 they finally left Waterford’s quays under tow by the tug Eastleigh of Bristol. The ships had been sold to a ship breakers yard in Appledore. Behind the tug came the unmanned Zayda, and at the rear was the Madcap with a temporary crew of four under Captain Cox. As if she had no wish to leave her natural home, almost immediately the Madcap started to make water and the crew had to man the pumps constantly to keep her afloat. Although they crossed the Irish Sea, off the Welsh coast the winds freshened from the south’ard and the Madcap started to settle in the water and became unmanageable. The crew struggled to maintain her, but an inspection below confirmed the worst, and using a small tender they got away just in time, and were fortunate the tug was nearby.

When the Madcaps temporary crew eventually arrived back to Appledore their families stood on the quayside waiting and prayers of thanks were offered by the local vicar for their safe return . I’ve no doubt the people of Waterford were relieved to hear of the crews deliverance, but I’d imagine there was a certain satisfaction too, to think that the Madcap had went to the watery element, rather than being stripped and possibly hulked to end her days as a floating pontoon.

As I celebrate four years of blogging each Friday I am going to mark the occasion on June 8th, all welcome

I used several newsreports in todays blog.
Waterford Standard – Saturday 05 December 1936 page 50-51
Western Morning News – Monday 11 June 1928 page 5
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette – Friday 15 June 1928 page 14
I also used an article clipping by the Munster Express’ Michelle Clancy (It was cut from the paper and passed on to me several years back but with no page or date – I think it might have dated to the Tall Ships 2011)