Réamhrá Foreword

Ba mhaith liom moladh a thabhairt don leabhrán seo a théann I would like to commend this booklet which accompanies Faces le Faces from our Maritime Past, taispeantas sealadach de chuid from our Maritime Past, a temporary exhibition at and Iarsmalann an Iúir agus Mhúrn, a dhíríonn ár n-aird ar shaol Mourne Museum, which focuses on the lives and careers of agus shlí bheatha na mairnéalach trádála áitiúila. local Merchant Seamen.

Tugann an taispeantas seo, a bhaineann go príomha le cártaí The exhibition gives a flavour of what life at sea was like for a aitheantais na mairnealach ó 1918 – 1921, tugann sé léargas Merchant Seaman in the 20th century and centres on identity dúinn ar shaol an mhairnéalaigh trádála ar muir le linn an 20ú cards of seamen from 1918 – 21. This is complemented by aois. Cuireann cuimhne ghrinn na loingseoirí leis an taispeantas, the vivid recollections of seafarers which range from stories of réimse leathan de scéalta eagsúla faoi choinniollacha oibre ar working conditions on local coal boats to poignant memories of bháid ghuail agus béalaithris choscrach ar dhaoine a bhí caillte tragic losses at sea. amuigh ar na tonnta báite. I would like to congratulate the staff of Newry and Mourne Ba mhian liom comhghairdeachas a dhéanamh le foireann Museum for their work and thank all those who contributed Iarsmalann an Iúir agus Mhúrn agus buiochas nach beag a chur information, artefacts, memories and photographs to this in iúl le gach rannphairtí a bhronn eolas, earraí, cuimhní cinn project. agus grianghraif ar an togra seo. Councillor Colmán Burns An Comhairleoir Colmán Ó Broin Mayor – Newry and Mourne District Council Méara – Comhairle an Iúir agus Mhúrn Map of east and c.1570. © Crown Copyright TNA MPF1/89 Introduction

Th e proximity of the sea has defi ned the historic and economic development of the Newry and Mourne area from early times up until the present day. Over the centuries an important maritime economy has grown up around Carlingford Lough centred at “And for freighting a boat which carried the diff erent times on Carlingford, Newry and . Th e king’s treasure from Downpatrick to Carlingford 20th century, in particular, was a defi ning era for the region. Th e 3s”. early part of the century saw the growth and development of Irish Pipe Roll, 1211 - 1212 local shipping fi rms, while the years after the Second World War witnessed their decline and ultimate closure in the face of increasing international competition.

Th is exhibition and booklet explores the contribution made by local merchant seamen to the local maritime economy. Based around CR10 cards from 1918 – 1921, which recorded the issue of identity cards to merchant seamen, the exhibition and booklet look at what life was like on the colliers which operated out of Newry. Th e stories of families and individuals connected with coastal trade are told and the impact of tragic losses at sea on the local community are assessed. Th e aff ect of the sweeping economic changes of the later 20th century on local seafaring brings this survey up to the present day.

Th e story of the merchant seaman is only one facet of the maritime history of the Newry and Mourne area. More can also be learned from the perspectives of the dockers, railway workers, local shipping magnates and emigrants, the history of which have yet to be chronicled. A Creek up from Carlingford: Another major shipping entrepreneur in the area was Joseph Fisher. A farmer’s son from Kilkeel, Joseph Fisher established a the emergence of the Port of Newry ship broking business in 1852, and in 1867, he invested in ship

owning when he purchased shares in three locally owned sailing Th e seafaring tradition in the Newry and Mourne area stretches ships. As a coal importer, Fishers’ was one of the fi rst local ship back to at least the 9th century when the Vikings established owners to invest in steamships with the purchase of the Kilkeel a longfort, an overwintering base, near Annagassan in County in 1892. Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd became one of the most Louth. Carlingford Lough derives its name from Cairlinn’s signifi cant shipping owners in the , building up an Fiord, a Viking word for a steep sided sea inlet and the Vikings important fl eet of steam colliers trading with most of the major used the areas a base from which to raid as far as Armagh. ports in Britain and and the north coast of France.

During the middle ages an important port fl ourished at the town of Carlingford. Th is was eclipsed in the laterth 16 and 17th centuries by the commercial development of Newry by Sir Nicholas Bagenal and his descendants. Th e maritime importance of the town was enhanced by the completion of the Newry Canal in 1742 and by the building of a ship canal in 1767, which provided a navigable channel to Carlingford Lough. By the late 18th century, the port at Newry had trading links with the West Indies, Newfoundland and Riga. Silting of the Newry River, however, had always been a major problem for maritime traffi c using the port and facilities were improved further by the construction of a new ship canal between 1842 and 1850. Larger vessels of up to 500 tons were also able to use the port at Newry after the opening of the Victoria Lock and the Albert Basin in 1850. For nearly a century Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd gave employment, and the chance of a seafaring life, to generations of men from the Newry and Mourne area until its closure in 1966. Th e mid 19th century saw the emergence of Warrenpoint as a port. During and after the Great Famine, Warrenpoint was a place of embarkation for emigrants to Liverpool and onwards Map of Newry c.1570. Boats are shown on the river, with an accompanying note ‘Into thys place maye come a barke or a to North America and Australia. Goye off tenne or twelve tonne at a spring tyde’. © Crown Copyright TNA MPF1/82 We could get away to see the world: occupation requiring constant vigilance especially during bad weather when the Captain was continually on the bridge. Some life on the colliers of his duties would have been delegated to the First or Chief Mate who would have had responsibility for day to day running The long history of Newry as a centre of shipping and maritime of the boat. The Chief Engineer maintained the engine assisted trade led many local men to see seafaring as an exciting by the Firemen who kept the steam up by stoking and tending occupation and a way to see the world. Economic conditions the boilers. There were also Able Seamen and Ordinary Seamen in the area in the early part of the 20th century meant that who carried out general duties assisted by a Deck Boy or Deck employment was at a premium and wages in some local Mate. A Lamptrimmer was in charge of the navigation lights. industries were comparatively low. A merchant seaman was Before cooks were introduced after the Second World War, better paid than a local mill worker. However, it was a more the Ordinary Seamen would sometimes have cooked for the hazardous occupation and often involved being away from Captain and First Mate. home for long periods of time.

Living conditions were very basic. The Captain and First Mate Most local men usually started their career on coastal trade, usually had their own accommodation under the bridge which visiting ports in the Irish Sea, south and east coast of England was relatively comfortable in comparison to the quarters for the and northern France. Newry was a major entry point for rest of the crew. The Engineer had his own quarters off from imports into southeast . In the early to mid 20th century the engine room. The rest of the crew lived in the forecastle or imports included coal, maize, flour and general cargo. Coal was foc’scle which was heated with a stove or bogey which often by the far the most important import being a primary fuel for produced fumes and smoke and could not be used in rough local industries and households. Exports were low compared weather. The foc’scle contained bunk beds, usually a plank to imports. Goods exported included cattle, timber, potatoes, of wood with a mattress. Before the Second World War the herrings, Mourne granite and scrap metal. Timber from the crew brought their own bedding on board. The mattress was a Fathom area was also exported to Wales to be used as pit- sack filled with hay and straw and was known as the ‘donkey’s props in the coal mines. In the 1960s and 1970s the Walnut breakfast’. They also supplied their own cooking utensils, food belonging to Fishers went as far as Finland to import timber. In and weatherproof clothing. The ships were equipped with the early decades of the century fishing boats from Kilkeel were galleys, but crew members often cooked their own meals on the sometimes involved in coastal trade. stove in the foc’scle. The ‘fiddley’, a grating over the boiler, was

used for drying clothes. Prior to 1940 the bridge was open to The crew of a typical collier consisted of nine or tenmen the elements on nearly all the vessels, and members of the crew, responsible for navigation, keeping watch and maintenance. chilled from being on watch, often warmed themselves on the The Captain or Master was in over all charge of the ship ‘fiddley’. and accountable if anything went wrong. It was a stressful Personal experiences Matt O’Hanlon (at top of steps) pictured on SS Opepe with a cargo of tomatoes. Courtesy of T. O’Hanlon

[c.1914] “. . . I was working here in one of the spinning mills here in the town [Newry] . . ., my wages there were 6s.6d. a week . . there was another chap . . . him and I was working together and I just says to him, ‘Paddy’, says I, ‘I’m thinking of leaving here altogether . . . we could get away to see the world . . .I’ll go and see the Superintendent at Fishers’ . . . the following evening at quarter to fi ve, there was word came to the mill that I was wanted at Fishers. So I went to sea at a quarter to eight. So that was the end of my time then on the shore here.”

“You weren’t always running to Newry… Spud trade from Jersey running to Newhaven. Later on that year we were running tomatoes from Jersey to Weymouth for the Great Western SS Joseph Fisher pictured aground in the early 1900s. Railway Company… Th e strawberry trade Courtesy of J.D.F. Fisher ran from France to Southampton. … You’d load herrings way up in the Shetland Islands for Hamburg … ”

“… regular routes were Newry, Ardglass, Bristol, West of Ireland, Sligo, Westport …Co. Cork many times and Waterford, Newross, Drogheda and Dundalk. Also to a lot of the French Ports like Saint Malo.” Captain John McParland pictured in 1964. He started off as Th e crew of the Joseph Fisher in 1901 a Deck Boy, responsible for general duties on the Bamboo in 1951. He progressed to an Ordinary Seaman in 1952 and Owned by Newry and Kilkeel Steamship Co. Ltd in transferred to the Broom in 1953. In 1961 he became Master of 1896, the Joseph Fisher continued with the fi rm until the MV Esso Brixham. sold in 1912. It was in the Port of Newry when the Courtesy of Captain John McParland 1901 census was taken. Master – Th omas Bunning (England) aged 40 Chief Mate – John Keefe (Co. Down) aged 35 Able Seaman - Th omas Murphy (Co. Down) aged 27 Able Seaman – Patrick Keefe (Co. Down) aged 22 Able Seaman – John Hollywood (Co. Down) aged 21 Chief Engineer - Patrick Larkin (Co. Down) aged 52 Second Engineer – Felix Larkin (England) aged 25 Fireman – Felix Campbell (Co. Down) aged 45

Personal experience

[c. 1930s] “You got a straw mattress commonly known as a donkey’s breakfast …and after you had it a couple of weeks it got fl at like a pancake... Conditions at that time weren’t great…”

SS Bamboo photographed in Donaghadee Sound c. 1950 from the SS Ben Jee, a collier owned by the Ramsey Steamship “You kept watch four on (hours) and four off Company from Isle of Man. …just two on the bridge, one steering and one Courtesy Sean Patterson Collection standing by, and if you wanted to go down and have a cup of tea you could do it if it was a clear night or a clear day.” Surname . . . Rating . . . Next of Kin: number, year and place of birth, rank or rating, name and offi cial number of ship and list. Details of physical appearance and next CR10 Cards and Registration of of kin also appear. A high quality photograph of the seaman is Merchant Seamen attached to the reverse of each card issued between 1918 and 1922. From 1922 onwards CR10 cards were created without All merchant seamen were registered and issued with an identity photographs. card. Registration of merchant seamen by the Government of the United Kingdom began in 1835 and continued until 1857. Th e original CR10 cards are held in Southampton City Up to 1913 the Board of Trade relied on Agreements and Crew Archives and cover 270,000 seamen. Irish seamen were Lists to record and provide information about seamen. In 1910 included in the registration scheme even though they the Government’s Advisory Committee on Merchant Shipping were not subject toconscription. Th ere are CR10 cards for recommended the establishment of a new Central Register of 1,736 merchant seamen from the Newry and Mourne area. Seamen and a new registration system, known as the Fourth Personal experience Register. Th is started in 1913 and continued until 1941. The “I saw the boats going down the canal … My father came Th e CR10 cards issued between 1918 and 1922 are a treasure registry cards for 1913 to 1918 were destroyed in 1969. home from , he said there was a cook’s job going with us, trove of information for the local and family historian. Th ey ‘come away with me’ … On Tuesday a telegram came .. ‘Send often encapsulate details of an individual’s appearance, career Kenneth, Belfast, fi rst train, Wednesday’ . I started as a cook on and family background and the photograph is sometimes the the Bamboo”. best likeness of the seaman to survive. Since seafaring is often a family tradition, CR10 cards can reveal how many members of the same family were registered as seamen within this period and can be used to amplify and supplement information from other family documents.

Identity card of Brian Hollywood (1951), from Newry, Master of the Poplar.

During the First World War, the National Union of Seamen, resisted attempts to make merchant seamen liable for conscription. To ensure that all registered seamen went to sea and did not use the registration system to avoid conscription, the Government introduced identity cards. CR10 cards were CR10 card of Patrick O’Neill, Lamptrimmer, from Fathom, created to record the issue of a seaman’s identity card and near Newry. include information such as name and forename, discharge Courtesy Southampton Archives

Personal experience

“I saw the boats going down the canal … My father came home from Belfast, he said there was a cook’s job going with us, ‘come away with me’ … On Tuesday a telegram came .. ‘Send Kenneth, Belfast, fi rst train, Wednesday’ . I started as a cook on the Bamboo”. People of the Sea: died c.1965, received the M.B.E. for his service in the Merchant local maritime families Navy in 1949. His son, Peter, was an engineer on the MV Oak, owned by Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd in Newry. CR10 cards illustrate that many local families have had a long association with the sea. Sometimes generations, including grandfathers, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles and cousins were employed by local shipping fi rms. Often family members would work on the same boat. Prominent local maritime families included Carr, Casey, Crummey, Duff y, Fearon, Hollywood, McArdle, McKeown, McParland, Markey, Mullan, O’Hanlon, O’Neill, O’Keefe and Rice. Th e families came from Newry, Fathom, Killevy and Jonesborough.

CR10 cards of Bernard Murphy and Felix Murphy, who were In some instances it has been possible to link the individuals fi rst cousins. featured on the CR10 cards with information about their later Courtesy Southampton City Archives careers.

Bernard Murphy Born in 1889, Bernard Murphy from Ballymacdermot, Cloghogue, near Newry, originally worked as an engineer for the Great Northern Railway (Ireland). By 1918-21 he had gone to sea and was serving as a Chief Engineer. He was later Chief Engineer on the Dorrien Rose owned by Richard Hughes & Co Ltd, a major shipping fi rm based in Liverpool. Th eDorrien Rose was one of the many small ships from Britain which took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940. Making two Bernard Golding trips across the English Channel, it rescued over 1600 men Rated as a Chief Engineer on the CR10 card, Bernard Golding including 600 from the stricken personnel ship, Queen of the started his working life in Bessbrook Mill and then became a Channel, amidst continual aerial bombardment. Chief Engineer seaman on Fisher’s colliers. He was following a strong family Murphy, along with the Captain and Terry O’Hanlon, the First tradition, with his uncles and cousins also working on the boats. Mate, who was also from Newry, received Distinguished Service He lost his life on the 27th October 1941, when the Walnut Medals in recognition of their bravery. Bernard Murphy, who disappeared in the Irish Sea with all hands. Chief Engineer CR10 Card of John McParland, Ordinary Seaman. Newspaper cutting from Armagh Down Observer c.1980, Courtesy Southampton City Archives ‘Man of the Sea: Brian O’Keefe’ Extracts from an article profi ling Brian O’Keefe, who had a long CR10 card of Bernard Golding, Chief Engineer. and distinguished career as a merchant seaman with Joseph Fisher & Son Ltd. from 1928 until 1970. Courtesy Southampton City Archives

“Th e townland of Fathom to the south of Newry is one of those communities that might rightly be called “People of the Sea”. All the families there have at least one member who has the sea in Captain James Boylan, originally from Drogheda, on the bridge his blood, particularly the Hollywoods and the of the Jasmine in 1932. He had previously commanded the SS Mango and the SS Poplar. O’Keefes”. Courtesy of Marie Haughian and the Boylan family “I became Captain of the SS Olive in March 1934 and had her until August … the Walnut in August 1934, the SS Th orn from 1937 until 1948 .. Th e SS Ebony until 1951, the SS Rowan until 1953 and the MV Oak until 1963. …I took the MV Olive … She was 1070 tons and was the fi rst new ship … I had her up until 1970 ...”

Th ere’s the last of her: local maritime losses There’s the last of her: Newry. Sam Hanna’s brother Joseph, an Ordinary Seaman, was local maritime losses drowned.

The Irish Sea has always been treacherous for shipping. Natural Bad weather led to a number of collisions between shipping in rd hazards such as dangerous currents, sandbars and rocky Carlingford Lough. In a fierce gale on the 3 November 1916 coastlines exist in many places and these difficulties are often the Connemara, a passenger steamer travelling from Greenore compounded by storms and fog. Busy shipping lanes and ports to Holyhead collided with the SS Retriever, a collier owned by also pose navigational problems for Captains and Pilots. Prior the Clanrye Shipping Company, just a few hundred yards from to World War Two ships did not have modern navigational aids Cranfield Point. The two ships sank in only ten minutes, with such as radar and radio. The narrow entrance to Carlingford the loss of ninety-four lives. The only survivor of the disaster Lough was especially dangerous. A major threat to shipping in was James Boyle from Warrenpoint, a twenty-one year crew the 20th century was enemy attack in wartime. For a relatively member of the Retriever from Warrenpoint. small maritime community, Newry sustained a high number of shipping losses. Between 1900 and 1942 seventeen vessels The 1930s saw several of the vessels owned by Joseph Fisher & belonging to Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd were lost. These include Sons Ltd involved in collisions - two of them with each other. the Clonallon 1904, the Upas 1915, the Mango 1933, the Alder The Pine and Olive collided on 21st November 1936. The Pine 1937, the Privet in 1940 and the Walnut in 1941. A major sank, but was later salvaged and returned to service by Samuel wartime disaster that affected Newry and the Carlingford area Gray of Belfast. was the sinking of the RMS Lusitania during World War I. The Captain of the Pine, Robert Campbell from Kilkeel, was The first disaster in the 20th century to affect Joseph Fisher & also in command of the Alder, which was struck in the early Sons Ltd was the loss of the Cloughmore in Lough Swilly in morning of the 4th April 1937 by the Lady Cavan, a Newry- 1902. The next loss was the Clonallon which disappeared in Liverpool cargo steamer, while anchored in fog in Carlingford 1904 on route from Swansea to with a cargo of coal, Lough. The only fatalities were on the Alder including the followed by the Orior which disappeared with all hands in Captain and his wife. Of the nine crew members, there were March 1908. A further loss was the sinking of the Upas on the only three survivors. Two were from Fathom, near Newry, James 18th March 1915 off Ballyhalbert. She left Ayr for Warrenpoint Hollywood and Michael McNeill, and the third was William with a cargo of coal. Her cargo shifted in a fierce gale causing Cahoun from Carrickfergus. TheAlder was raised and beached the boat to list, rendering her unsteerable. Only the port lifeboat at Greenore in March 1938, but unlike the Pine she never sailed could be launched, but this capsized throwing those on board again. into the water. There were only two survivors, Sam Hanna, First Mate, from Kilkeel and James McShane, Second Mate, from In both World Wars Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd lost four ships Personal Experience possibly due to enemy action. Th e Karri was severely damaged when it hit a mine in the River Mersey in 1942. One crew A witness on shore who saw the sinking of the Upas member, James Brennan, subsequently died. Both the Privet and the Walnut disappeared in the Irish Sea with all hands; it is not “…people that were living near Ballyhalbert known if this was a result of enemy attack. During the Second saw the men on her but they could do nothing for World War some coasters carried guns to protect themselves them at all. No small boat could have lived in the from enemy attack and their wheelhouses were protected with sea at that time.” concrete, possibly aff ecting their stability, particularly in bad weather. Personal experience of crew member on the Upas

A loss of international importance to impact on the Newry “My last sight of the Upas was when I was on and Carlingford area was the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on the Craig’s boat . . . Marks said to me . . . ‘Sammy, the 7 May 1915, by a German U-boat off the southern coast there’s the last of her’ . . . She just seemed to slide of Ireland. Of the 1,195 passengers and crew who perished, a down back into the sea and then there was an signifi cant number of the crew was originally from the Newry explosion of some sort. I think it was the air in area. Th ey included two Lamptrimmers, Patrick Loughran the hold, with the pressure, blew the hatches off .” and Michael McGuigan from Newry and three Firemen, Michael Corboy, Newry, Francis McAteer from Warrenpoint and Edward Ryan from Burren. Others from this area had Newry Reporter Tuesday April 6 1937 lucky escapes. Th e regular master of the ship, Captain Dow, from Warrenpoint was on leave at the time of the disaster and “Shipping Disaster in Carlingford Lough Andrew McKindrey later said he owed his life to the fact that Th e news fell upon the ears of the horror stricken he had learned to swim on the ‘track line’ in Newry. people of Newry, Kilkeel and the surrounding districts like a bombshell, shattering the peace In February 1916 the Dingle of Liverpool sank after striking of a Sunday afternoon. Six lives lost in the space a mine. All of the crew, with the exception of the Captain, of a few minutes! In war- time such a calamity, were from the wider Newry area. Th ere was only one survivor, although evoking the sorrow of a people prepared Edward McParland, from Fathom. for the like, would count for comparatively little … Homes have been rendered fatherless, and in one case parentless. A father and mother have been snatched away from their children”. First World War recruitment poster depicting the sinking of the RMS Luistania in 1915. © National Library of Ireland

Th e SSMango was wrecked off the coast of Donegal in February 1933 while on route from Sligo to Coleraine. © John Clarkson

Th e SS Upas, owned by Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd from 1913 until1915. She sank in a storm off Ballyhalbert in April 1915. Courtesy of Glasgow University Archives DC101/1609 Courtesy of Marie Haughian and the from Newry to improved port facilities at Warrenpoint.

Boylan family.Everyone did their best: When Fishers stopped trading, many seamen went to Liverpool the Post War period to work on the Mersey, especially on dredging boats. Others found employment with some of the larger shipping fi rms Th e years after the Second World War were a time of change for operating out of Warrenpoint. Seafaring and shipping still the men who worked on the coasters and for the local shipping contributes much to the local economy, historic links between fi rms. Living conditions on the ships were improving. Seamen Carlingford Lough and other major ports in Britain and no longer had to provide their own food but were obliged to Ireland have been maintained and expanded to include ports make a contribution to the purchase of provisions. In the early throughout the world. 1950s a deck boy paid 2s. 6d. and the other ratings paid 7s. 6d. to the cook. Bedding was now provided on the boats and Personal experience of an Ordinary Seaman changed once a fortnight. On the larger motor vessels purchased by Joseph Fisher & Sons in the 1950s, accommodation for the [c.1960] “During the four hours on watch, you crew was of a higher standard than on the old steam colliers. did lookout, steered the ship, kept the galley Living quarters were aft rather than in the foc’scle. Each crew (kitchen) fi re alight and importantly kept the member had his own cabin and there were also improved kettle fi lled and on the boil. If the weather was facilities for recreation and dining. good in daylight hours you did a bit of painting or washing down paintwork or polishing the brass Trading conditions were good in the late 1940s for Joseph in the wheelhouse. …” Fisher & Sons Ltd due to a shortage of cargo ships. Increasing international competition, however, and the introduction of large sea-going vessels from the mid 1950s onwards, eventually Personal experience led to the amalgamation of Fisher’s in 1966 by Cawoods Holdings Ltd. Other factors contributing to the closure were “ Th ough it was hard and diffi cult work I enjoyed the decline of the coal industry, the growth of land transport it, I learned to respect the sea and the weather. I and the limitations of the Newry Ship Canal. Although Fishers enjoyed the comradeship and teamwork, everyone attempted to remain competitive with the purchase of three did their best”. large motor vessels, the Oak in 1953, the Walnut (2) in 1955 and Olive in 1963, these measures were not enough to stave off competition from foreign shipping companies. Cawoods continued to operate Fisher’s remaining ships until the early 1980s. By the mid 1970s all shipping trade had been transferred The Port of Newry in the 1960s. © John Matthews The Port of Warrenpoint 2006. © William McAlpine