Disembarkation-

by Nicky Rossiter

  The worldwide travel of Wexford sailors and ships is demonstrated by the following descriptions.

  The 'Forth' a 200 tonner owned by Allen and the 'Selskar' of 81 tons also owned by the Allen Brothers sailed the 'grain route' to the ports of the Black Sea. The 'Undine' carried fruit from Patros (now Patra) in Greece and Myrna (now Ismir) in Turkey. The Devereux-owned 'Hantoon', and Allens' 'Saltee' sailed to Canada regularly for timber and the "Wexford" carried emigrants via Liverpool to the Southern United States returning with cotton for the Lancashire mills. The older

  'Menapia' (not to be confused with a 20th century vessel of the same name) sailed regularly to West Africa, trading trinkets for palm oil. Her crew of Wexford sailors often fell prey to malaria or blackwater fever.

  The wages paid to those involved in this important trading had increased unevenly in the previous 50

  years as this comparison shows:

  The payments are per month.

  1790

  1846

  Master

  £10-0-0

  £10-0-0

  Chief (First) Mate

  £ 3-5-0

  £ 5-5-0

  Second Mate

  £ 2-5-0

  £3-10-0

  Carpenter

  £ 3-5-0

  £ 5-5-0

  Cook

  £ 2-7-6

  £ 3-7-6

  Seaman

  £ 2-0-0

  £ 3-0-0

  Boys

  12/-

  £ 1-5-0

  There would also have been apprentices on board some of the ships. These could have been aged from 12

  years upwards. The boys were taken on to learn the trade of seamanship but at times were used more as a source of free labour.

  In 1854 an act was passed allowing the Poor Law Guardians to apprentice boys to sea, provided the boys agreed. Such boys would otherwise have been sent to the Workhouse (or Poorhouse): There are no records of boys from Wexford being apprenticed in such circumstances and this may be attributable to members of existing seafaring families apprenticing their own sons under the supervision of relatives.

  A harbour record from 1831 shows that 583 ships berthed at Wexford in the previous year. Of these one was a foreign ship, 146 were coasters and 442 were British registered (this would have included those for whom Wexford was the home port). The number of these ships weighing over 40 tons was 435 with the remaining 148 under 40 tons.

  There was 4,327 tons of ballast delivered to ships by cots and gabbards in that year before the construction of the Ballast Bank.

  In the middle of the nineteenth century, Wexford was dominated by a number of influential families, all of whom were involved to some degree in the harbour or its trade.

  The Devereux Family

  This was perhaps the most important family as

  far as the port was concerned. Richard

  Devereux had been successful in business and

  shipping at the turn of the century and his sons

  John Thomas and Richard continued to build

  on his success. The family owned numerous

  barques, brigs and schooners which were

  employed in the Mediterranean fruit and grain

  trades and also on coastal and cross channel

  routes. A number of ships of the Devereux

  fleet were built in the family's own yards. The

  first of these was a little wooden schooner, "The Sidney" of ninety tons, which was launched in 1837. In 1846 Richard Devereux, bought the Sunderland built schooner, 'Vision' of 143 tons and it was with this ship that he entered the Black Sea grain trade. His boats 'May Queen' 'Saltee' and 'Hantoon' were principally involved in the Canadian timber trade.

  Among the other Devereux ships, which sailed under his own flag of a white D on a blue background, were 'Alert', 'Dispatch', 'Commerce', 'Dart', 'Star', 'Princess' and 'Mary Agnes.'

  The log of the brig 'Alert' is printed below.

  The Devereux family also owned a large amount of property, particularly on the Wexford seafront. Most of the buildings along Paul Quay and Lower King Street were theirs and co-incidentally another shipping family, the Stafford’s, later owned these. Richard Devereux was a great benefactor of clergy and religious orders and was a strong supporter of education. He introduced a number of teaching orders to Wexford including the Christian Brothers. It is interesting to note that among the subjects taught in their schools were trigonometry and navigation. When Richard Devereux died in 1883 he was worth over a quarter of a million pounds.

  Allens

  These were brothers, Richard, Maurice and Robert Allen. Their trade extended to four continents from offices near the present North Station. Most of their vessels were built in Canada and they too were involved in the fruit and grain trades, Galatz in Rumania being one of their destinations. Their barque

  'Wexford' of 307 tons, bought in 1851 carried emigrants to Savannah or New Orleans, returning with cotton for Liverpool. A captain Codd commanded her.

  Other Allen ships were 'Forth', 'Selskar', 'Menapia', 'Esperia', 'Rapid', a schooner 'Annie' skippered by Big Ned Reilly and another called 'Spray' under Jemmy Storey.

  Gaffneys

  They had offices and a coal yard where Dominic Kiernan now operates an Auctioneering business at Commercial Quay beside Oak's Lane. They had 9 or 10 schooners all carrying coal.

  Lambert and Walsh

  They were involved mainly in the timber trade with St. John's, Newfoundland, supplying their own timber yard. Among their ships were 'Saltees', 'Jasper' (named after Jasper Walsh), captained by a Clancy and

  'Antelope' the last ship to be built at Wexford Dockyard. They owned the dockyard at the time.

  Redmonds

  The Redmond family were not great ship owners but were involved in land reclamation in Wexford Harbour and it was they who opened the dockyard at Trinity Street where a number of Wexford vessels were built.

  Apart from the major shipping families, there were a number of people, usually ships masters who owned single vessels. These men usually spent a lifetime sailing 'deep-sea' and used their savings in later life to purchase a ship of their own to ply the coastal or cross channel routes.

  Among such owner-operators were these master mariners:

  Edward English who owned 'Lerwick' from 1856, he sold her to Laurence English, also a master mariner.

  John Hore of Wexford who owned 'Lawshipping'.

  Patrick Quirk registered 'June' in 1848 and later sold her to Robert Sparrow, shipbuilder of Wexford.

  'Criterion' was co-owned by James Hughes, master mariner, with four other people including a Mary Dalaou. He also co-owned 'Charlotte', which was later sold to Richard Devereux.

  John and James Carr, both master mariners, shared ownership of 'Swift' with John Cullen. The shares passed to each mans wife upon their deaths so that by 1862 the ship was owned by Margaret and Mary Carr and Mary Cullen.

  'Wave' was owned by John Murphy, master mariner, and John Barrington, merchant, in 1837.

  An interesting ownership of the time concerned three ships, 'Rambler', 'Atlas' and 'Lucinda Jane'. Rev.

  George Whitty, C.C. of Castlebridge, wholly or partly owned all three. Laurence Kirwan next owned all three also a C.C. The 'Atlas' and 'Lucinda Jane' later appear registered to Michael Warren, Bishop.

  Another interesting registration is that of 'Hope' owned by John Thomas Devereux in 1836. She later passed to James Patrick Devereux and then to John Smithwicks of Kilkenny.

  Other Wexford owners included Captain Morris of Monck Street who had a small schooner called the

  'Jane Hughes’, which traded mainly to North Wales carrying slates. Captain Morris later retired from the sea to open a public house in Monck Street and to build Leinster Terrace in King Street.

  The Hutchinson brothers of Henrietta Street owned the 'Reliance'.

  Jem Murphy owned a ship called the 'Economist', so called because it was designed to require no ballast thus reducin
g its running costs. Murphy was also a publican and owned what was later to become The Shamrock Bar in Anne Street, a pub much favoured by seafarers.

  Tommy Morris from Carrigeen owned a small schooner named the 'Alice T.'

  Larry Murphy from William Street was another owner/skipper. His vessel was called the 'Express'. It was lost off the Arklow Bank and Larry, his brother Johnny and Myles Furlong died in the tragic incident.

  Life at Sea

  From the recollections of Captain Richard Delaney, expertly related by his son Seamus in the pages of

  'The Past' we may obtain a vivid picture of the life of a sailor in days gone by.

  The first step to a career at sea involved shipping as a First Boy. He worked mostly in the galley but was called to assist almost any other crewmember. Although not officially put on watch he often assisted others on their duty and thus earned experience. He spent two years at sea before becoming Second Boy

  , which saw him, taking his place on deck, having a watch and performing all the duties of a sailor. After a further two years he became an A.B. or Able-bodied Seaman.

  The wages per month on a Wexford schooner by the late 1800's were.

  Master

  £4-10-0,

  Mate

  £3-15-0,

  A.B.

  £3-10-0.

  Second Boy

  £1-0-0

  First Boy

  15-0.

  While at sea, the crew were fed by the company and provisions varied according to the generosity of the owners or the mood of the skipper.

  Devereux's ships were usually very well stocked with barrow loads of pork and beef available from their own farm at Ballynagee. This was stored on board in large casks of pickle.

  A typical menu consisted of:

  Breakfast: Cold meat from the previous day, tea and ships biscuits (a kind of thick, hard, coarse cream cracker).

  Dinner: Meat (beef or pork), vegetables and potatoes.

  Tea: Similar to breakfast.

  Work on the schooner began at 6 o'clock when in port and could continue until 9 at night. The breakfast break lasted from 8.30 to 9.00 and dinner from 1.00 to 2.00. The main task of the day was the unloading of cargo. This was usually done with a hand winch. Coal was the most common cargo and it took about two and a half days to unload 160 tons in this way, thus giving the sailors two nights at home.

  When the ship was empty and was to sail light (i.e. without an outbound cargo), it had to be ballasted. To carry out this operation the ship anchored at the Ballast Bank. A small boat carried a rope to that man-made island and secured the bow. The vessel was then hand winched towards the Ballast Bank and made fast (secured). The ballast men then wheeled approximately 20 tons of sand on board and trimmed the ship to balance properly, without any listing. The sand for ballast came from up the Slaney in big open boats called gabbards. The ship then waited for the tide in order to clear the bar.

  If the weather prevented sailing, the men worked the usual hours, painting, cleaning and making and mending nets. In the more difficult times, crews would be paid off at the end of a voyage and only resigned when the ship was ready to sail. In bad winter weather that could mean weeks without pay.

  In the hey-day of the port vessels were lined three deep for the length of the quays and outbound ships were grouped at anchor off the Dockyard waiting for the tide or the weather to clear. In fair weather they sailed down the harbour, otherwise they were towed, often three at a time, by the tugboat.

  Except in extremely favourable conditions, all ships had to be towed over the sandbar both leaving and entering port.

  At that time there was a pilot station at the Fort in Rosslare as well as a customs station. The pilots from Rosslare would meet all incoming ships and sail on board them to the Bar where the Customs Officers boarded and searched if necessary. The Harbour Board tug then brought the vessel over the Bar and up the channel to the quay. The pilots boat from Rosslare followed and returned the pilots to the Fort. Most of the Rosslare pilots were Wexfordmen.

  On the outward trips, Harbour Pilots, usually retired sailors, guided the ships down the channel to the Bar where they were taken off by the tugboat or Fort pilot boat and quite often they walked the 7 miles back to town along the edge of the harbour. Only the Fort Pilot could bring ships up the channel.

  In the boom time of Wexford Port there was relatively little unemployment in the town. The sea trade spawned numerous other enterprises from home based flax twine-making to the shipwrights of the dockyards. Wexford was virtually self sufficient in those days. Flax was grown on the South Slobs and given to women to spin in their own homes into twine for establishments such as Hugh McGuire's ships chandlers shop. In a loft over his shop on the quay six or more men were employed making sails for the Wexford fleet.

  Wexford barques carried timber from St. John's Newfoundland for the shipbuilders of the dockyards were shipwrights turned rough 80-foot logs of pitch pine into masts. Also in the dockyards were the Block makers, who fashioned the pulley blocks for the ropes, the nickname 'Blocks' was often given to those involved in this trade.

  Others involved in the trade of the port were coal porters who discharged cargos, sailors in the gabbards who transhipped goods on upriver to Enniscorthy and other villages as well as bringing sand for the ballast.

  In those years Wexford was very much a maritime town with those not directly involved in seafaring, using the port as a gateway to export their produce. Before the advent of the railway in Wexford, travel by sea was the most convenient way to visit places like Dublin and many Wexford people would have been better acquainted with Bristol than with other Irish towns.

  Some interesting aspects of Wexford in the 1840s include;

  Church Lane was a narrow built up area leading onto Wigram Quay.

  There was a Shambles of 30 stalls located behind the present day General Post Office.

  This was a meat market.

  The Custom House was in Anne Street, (over the years this has been located here, at the Crescent and at Charlotte Street).

  There was a racquet ball court also in Anne Street.

  Cullimore Lane exited onto the quay from what was later called Dunne’s Car Park, as it still does today, without title.

  The Steam Packet yard was located opposite today’s Talbot Hotel.

  A reservoir was located to the north east of St. Mary’s Churchyard. This was probably owned by the Quay Corporation to supply piped water to the ships.

  Industries in Wexford in 1856 included a distillery at Bishopswater, two extensive steam mills manufacturing flour, oat and Indian corn meal and also malt. In fact in 1831, 38 Wexford malt houses produced almost 80,000 barrels of malt, mostly for export to Dublin. The town had 3 breweries, 4 tan-yards, 3 ropewalks, 3 soap and candle manufacturers, 1 tobacco factory and 1 foundry. A glance at this list will serve to emphasise the value of Wexford Port at that period.

  Although there was little foreign (British was not a foreign land at that time) export trade, imports included timbers from the Baltic and British America (Canada) and wheat and Indian corn from the Black Sea.

  The exports to Britain were grain, flour, oatmeal, malt, salmon, cattle, pigs, poultry, eggs and oysters.

  Their value in 1835 was put at £312,136. The principal imports from Britain were coal, slates, bricks, iron, tea, sugar, coffee, rice, brandy, wine, tobacco and hides, valued at £627,417 in 1835.

  The fishing industry at the time was employing 2,059 men and boys in 448 vessels. This refers to fishing along the entire Wexford coast but it is safe to assume that a large proportion of these were based in or traded through Wexford Port.

  There were 55 people employed in the collection of customs revenue at Wexford in 1849.

  The management of the harbour rested with 51 Commissioners each of whom had resided within the borough for 12 months in a house of more than £21 valuation and who had a personal estate of £500 over his just debts.

  The Harbour Commissioners,
who had evolved from the Quay Commissioners, were empowered to raise money for the maintenance and improvement of the harbour by means of various charges on those using the port. Foreign vessels paid I/- per ton. British vessels paid 5d per ton. Ballast was supplied at 1 /3 per ton and discharged at 2d per ton. Pilotage was charged at 5d per ton with cargo, or 4d if in ballast.

  Steamers paid half pilotage and only l0d per ton for ballast.

  In the Commissioners accounts for the year ended March 31st 1835 the following items appeared: INCOME:

  Tonnage or Quayage dues .................………………………………………................... £934-10-0

  Ballast .................................………………………………………………….................. £153-12-2

  Pilotage ........................…………………………………………………..........................£817-11-9

  Pilot boat sold....................………………………………………………...........................£141-0-2