I’m delighted to introduce this guest blog, written by Avril Harris based on the diary entries of her father-in-law Ernie Harris of Waterford city. It gives a fascinating glimpse into the country of Ireland at the start of the 20th Century and a form of river traffic that I neither have experience of, nor have featured before. I know for certain my regulars will relish it.
King Edward VII visited Waterford on Monday 1st May 1904. Ernie Harris, then 19, was working and living there at the time. Like others in the city, he hung flags out for the occasion. Four gunboats came up the river on the previous Friday. His father, mother and brother Stanley came on Saturday to see the illuminations. On Sunday Stanley, Ernie and his friend Bertie Poole went for a walk along the river and were invited to see over one of the gunboats, the Skipjack– “mums the word”, he says in his diary. The king arrived on the Monday and Ernie joined in ringing the cathedral bells. He saw the royal personage on two occasions, going on the river in the Clodagh to get a better view.

Seven years later, in 1911, the next king, George V, was to pay a visit to Dublin in July. Ernie, Stanley and Bertie Poole planned to go to Dublin for the event. However, the means of getting there was to be somewhat unusual; they planned to go via the inland waterways.
At the end of April they took delivery of a motor boat via the Great Southern, and saw her safely into the water. There was a lot to do to make Ouida ready for use and they got up early in the mornings to spend time on her before going to work. They cleaned her out first. Then they had to fit a new keel plate. After that they had to take her to a graving bank to fit the engine. It was almost three weeks before they took her for her first run. The engine gave them a lot of trouble, but eventually, they were able to rely on it enough to make leisure trips with their friends – up to Mount Congreve and down to Cheekpoint or Duncannon. On Tuesday 30th May they took out quite a crowd to watch the ‘Scratch Races’

Ernie took his holidays to make the trip to Dublin. Before setting off, however, they went to Dunmore on a steamer to ‘see the fleet’
They set out for Dublin at 6.30 am on Wednesday 5th July, travelling down the Suir to Cheekpoint and then up the Barrow, through New Ross and St. Mullins to Borris, where they dropped off a friend who had come along for the ride, and then on to Goresbridge for the night. The next day brought them through Bagenalstown to Carlow, and they overnighted there with a friend, Tom Jeffs. He came with them the next day as far as Athy, and from there they entered the Grand Canal and made their way to Rathangan. Saturday saw the final push for Dublin. However, the motor let them down and they had to get a tow from Clondalkin to the Grand Canal basin in James’s Street, arriving at 10pm.
Ernie and Stanley’s sister, Janie, was in digs in Dublin and they based themselves with her. They saw the king a couple of times on the Sunday and then went on other excursions – Ernie spent the evening in Kingstown. On Monday they had to have the accumulators charged and while that was being done they had dinner and tea in the DBC (Dublin Bakery Company?) and met up with friends in Grafton Street. Stanley decided to stay on for the Review in the Phoenix Park the next day, while Ernie and Bert set out on the return journey about six in the evening.
They went through twelve locks before stopping between Clondalkin and Hazelhatch for the night. Next day Ernie and Bert pressed on, ending up about two mile beyond Monasterevin. On Wednesday they left the Grand Canal for the Barrow Navigation and got back to Athy, where they wired their friend Tom Jeffs to send them a horse to tow them over the weirs. There is no clue in Ernie’s diary as to why they did this, rather than go down through the locks. Stanley rejoined them in Carlow where they again spent the night with Tom Jeffs and took the opportunity to have the accumulators charged again.
They took it easy the next morning. It was a hot day and they didn’t leave Carlow until 1 o’clock, still with equine assistance, getting into Graiguenamanagh late at night. Graigue was having its regatta. They planned to spend the whole of the next day and night in St. Mullins, so they made an early start, arriving at their destination before 9am. This was where Stanley and Ernie had been born and spent their early years. They had a great day there, ‘one of the best of the holidays’, meeting up with old friends and visiting around.

The last leg of their journey took them back through New Ross, where they spent an hour or so, then on down the Barrow to Cheekpoint. The pump gave them trouble there, but they finally made it back up the Suir to Waterford by 4.20pm.
The journey to Dublin took four days, while their more leisurely return lasted five and a half.
And that was 100 years ago.
Many thanks to Avril for this account, which she compiled on the occasion of the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland in 2011 based on the diary entries of her father-in-law Ernie Harris. Notes on the text: The Clodagh belonged to the Waterford Steamship Company which was later sold to the Clyde Shipping Co and was tragically lost with all hands in 1917. She was then known as the Coningbeg. The Great Southern was one of the Great Western Railway steamers that plied the Waterford Fishguard route. The reference of heading down to “see the Fleet” refers to a visit of the Royal Navy to Dunmore East in the first week of July 1911. About 50 vessels including ships of the 1st and 2nd Torpedo Destroyer Flotillas were at anchor between the village and Hook and stretched as far up the harbour as Creaden Head. I’d imagine the vessel that went down was most likely the SS Duncannon which then provided a river service from Duncannon to the city but provided special event trips too. My thanks to Avril’s son Stephen for help with the piece and to David Carroll, Liam Ryan and Walter Foley for some extra information and clarifications.
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