Disembarkation-
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Five years later, in 1879, there were 212 boats registered in the Port of Wexford and 799 men and boys were crewing them; there were a further 83 boats, 80 sailing and 3 steam registered under the Merchant Fishing Act.
In the same year, 639 sail vessels and 123 steam vessels entered Wexford while 652 sail and 165 steamers cleared the harbour in the coastal trade. A further 20 entered from foreign ports while 3 sailed from here to foreign ports. The tonnage imported of foreign and colonial merchandise amounted to 78,222 tons.
A further census taken on April 3rd. 1881 showed 40 vessels at anchor in Wexford on that night. Of these, 1 was in Government service, 6 were pleasure craft and 33 were involved in the coastal trade. The number of persons on board these boats amounted to 111.
Classed by occupation, the maritime element of the Wexford population was composed thus;
Naval Officers - 5;
Naval Seamen - 37;
Navy Pensioners - 13;
Barge or Lightermen - 13;
Merchant Seamen - 321;
Pilots - 20;
Ships Steward/Stewardesses - 2;
Boatmen on seas - 6;
Harbour/Dock/Wharf/Lighthouse service - 53;
Ship/Boat/Barge builder - 6;
Shipwright/Ships carpenter 39;
Ship Rigger/Chandler/Fitter - 3;
Sailmaker -4.
This shows an increase of 40 seamen and of 9 pilots in 10 years but a decrease in boatmen, sailmakers and ship-builders/shipwrights.
There were also 494 fishermen.
The main ship owners were still Devereux, Gaffney, Lambert & Walsh and Allen, but changes in the fortunes of Wexford port were on the horizon.
The Dublin-Wicklow-Wexford Railway had reached Carcur in 1870 and 4 years later, the present station at Redmond Place had been opened. Over the next few years the railway changed the very fabric of Wexford Harbour. The Woodenworks or Pilewharf was built parallel to the quays at a cost of around
£20,000, to carry the railway past Wexford to Ballygeary, Rosslare. This gave merchants and importers/exporters the first real alternative to carriage by sea and in many minds this was the beginning of the end for Wexford Port.
On December 27th 1881, another part of Wexford maritime history ended.
The "Hantoon", a barque belonging to Richard Devereux, one of the stalwarts of the foreign grain trade, was on a homeward voyage from Galatz when a steamer in the Bay of Biscay ran it down. Four of the crew were killed in the collision; John Neill, John Garret, John Carley and John Kelly, a boy on his first deep-sea trip. As is common among seafarers, people were quick to point out the sad co-incidence that, in a tragedy, which occurred on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, all crewmen named John died.
It was at this time also that sailors began to become more organised. In 1887 the National Amalgamated Sailors and Fireman’s Union of Great Britain and Ireland came into being with members in 60 ports including Wexford. Its aims included the establishment of reasonable hours of duty at fair rates of pay.
They also set out to improve conditions on board ships, to establish proper homes for seamen in ports, to obtain compensation for accidents and to provide legal assistance. The union also endeavoured to protect members from crimps and other pests while in port. Another aim was to eliminate the situation whereby unscrupulous publicans duped men and merchants who offered to cash their pay dockets but charged a large commission for the service.
With 80 hours as a normal working week, payment averaging 50/= per month, and food of variable quality and quantity provided by the shipowners, the unions were very much a necessity. A measure of their effectiveness was that they were forced into liquidation within about 10 years, due to opposition from a Federation organised by the shipowners. The union was later resurrected as the National Sailors and Fireman’s Union. One of the major achievements of unionisation was the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1897, a step on the road to social security whereby compensation for personal injury could be claimed. This was particularly welcome for those in the hazardous occupation of sailing. Unionisation also secured an increase in wages.
In 1888 Wexford masters skippered the following ships;
'Riot' by Moses Boggan;
'Baton' by Clem Cox;
'Shamrock' by John Hayes;
‘Atlas' by Thomas Bolger;
'Topaz' by James Murphy;
'Industry' by Ed.Tyrrell;
'Friends' by Wm. Swan, William St.;
'Tempest' by M. Foley;
'Express' by L. Murphy;
'Ellen' by John Neill;
‘Wexford' by James Blake, Parnell St.;
'Liberation' by James Redmond, New St.;
'S S Belle' by Sylvester Brien, The Faythe;
'Seabird' by Laurence Busher, The Faythe;
'Kangatira' by Patrick Doyle, Maudlintown;
'Alice Eleanor' by John Walsh, King St.;
'Vivid' by Thos. Neill, The Faythe;
'John Wade' by Joseph Murphy, The Faythe;
'Commerce' by James Murphy, Parnell St.;
'Lucinda Jayne' by Pat Carty, The Faythe;
'Samuel Dixon' by Joseph Cousins;
'Denis Carthy' by John Hutchinson, Henrietta St.;
'Charles Walker' by Michael Rouke, Coopers Terrace, (location unknown);
'Antelope' by Edward Clancy, Michael St.
In 1885 'The Antelope' became the last Wexford-built schooner. She was constructed from the timbers of an American ship of the same name that had broken up off the Saltees.
As the nineteenth century closed, the stately schooner began to die out, 'though many still retained in service and would do so for years to come.
Wexford, too, was changing. The various land reclamation schemes had greatly altered the face of the harbour and the railway had changed the aspect of the quays. As Seamus Delaney remarks in "Going Deepwater", no one could now fail to recognise Wexford as a major port. The very expressions of the retired mariners gave the town a "salty air. " The floor to them was always the deck and they moved astern rather than backwards.
The principal shipowners also changed. Devereux, who had dominated the schooner trade, sold many of his ships in the early 1880s, and with the death of Richard Devereux in 1883 the stage was set for the entry of a new principal player.
Into that role stepped James Stafford. He purchased his first two schooners, "Mary Gertrude" and "Zion Hill" in 1891. To these he added; "Vivid," "Glynn " and "Denis Carthy" Stafford’s were not solely involved in shipping.
Among their other business ventures were a provisions store and a coal distribution depot. Much of the property owned by them had previously been in the possession of Devereux. Stafford’s bought their first
steamships in 1919 for the cross-channel route and by the 1930s they would have one of the most modern steam-powered fleets in the British Isles.
Coasting - The Steamer Days
The opening year of the new century saw tragedy on the waters of Wexford Harbour. On September 14th, 1900, a race meeting was held on the reclaimed land of the North Slob at Ardcavan. As the only land route to the races was via the bridge then standing at Carcur, many of the trawler owners and skippers saw a means of supplementing their fishing income and they operated a ferry service from the quay. One such boat was the "Dolphin. " On one of her last trips of the day she set out from the quay at about 3.00
p.m. with 36 passengers. As there was no landing jetty at Ardcavan, the trawlers took a small boat in tow that was used to land people at the Slobs. This was done in relays and the first group of 14 people from the "Dolphin" went ashore safely at 3.30. On its next trip, 22 people crowded into the small boat and set out for land and a day of fun at the races. Tragically, in those few hundred yards to shore the boat was lying low in the water due to the large crowd on board.
Because of this, some water lapped
over her side, for some reason this caused a panic among passengers.
Someone stood up in the boat, which caused it to capsize, throwing men, women and children into the waters of Wexford Harbour. The crowds lining the bay were quick to jump to their assistance and most were rescued. On that fateful day, seven were drowned.
The dead were: Denis and Catherine Kenny, a young married couple from High Street; Twenty year old Mary Furlong from William Street who was soon to be married; William Duggan of Carrigeen Street who was the Bishops coachman; Patrick Doyle from Distillery Road; William and Martin Blake from the Faythe, both of whom sailed deep-sea from Wexford Port. It was ironic that these two men who safely sailed the oceans of the world should die in the waters of their home harbour.
The Wexford of the early 1900s was described by Bulfin in "Rambles in Eirinn" as "a town that works and prospers. . . that enjoys life and minds its business. " He goes on to record the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the town, "a seaport for many ages." On the shipping front things were not so bright,
"There is a schooner fleet in existence but its fortunes are none of the brightest. "
The Harbour Commissioners were still hard at work despite the declining trade of the port and in the minutes of May 4th., 1905, they passed a motion that they purchase the interest in The Dockyard for
£450.
In the same year, a Mr. Hughes was fined for travelling at the incredible speed of 12 m.p.h. along Wexford Quays in his motor car.
The major industries of the town in 1906 were recorded as
The Foundries employing 600;
The Distillery with 50;
The Hat Factory with 100 employees;
Thompson’s had 50 constructing hay sheds
Dockyard still with a workforce of 60.
Cousins Mineral Water Company employing 50
In 1906 also, the structure of the Ballast Bank was
giving cause for concern and the Harbour
Commissioner engaged a diver to report on the
condition of the north end of it. His opinion was that
the current of the river was seriously undermining
that part of the bank and it needed to be underpinned
with all possible dispatch. The Commissioners set
about this repair at once.
A meeting on April 7th of 1906, granted bonuses of
1/ = to the men and 1/6 to the captain and engineer
while engaged in dredging at Spring tides, starting
work at 5 a.m. instead of 7 a.m.
The census of 1911 shows clearly that the port had already gone into decline.
On the date of the census, there were only 9 vessels recorded in the harbour, 2 in government service and 7 in the coasting trade. Despite these figure however, the sea was still very much a part of Wexford life as the following breakdown of occupations from the same census shows.
Navy officers, active and retired - 5;
Ship Stewards - 1;
Seamen, Royal Navy - 56;
Boatmen - 12;
Royal Marines - 5;
Harbour, dock, wharf and lighthouse men - 78;
Navy pensioners - 21;
Ship, boat, barge builders - 2;
Barge and Lightermen - 11;
Shipwrights, carpenters - 23;
Seamen, Merchant Service - 351;
Ship riggers, chandlers - 2;
Pilots - 15;
Sailmakers - 4.
An indication of just how much Wexford was a cosmopolitan port is the list of foreign birthplaces of people in the town at census taking time in 1911. There were people from France, Greece, Holland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Arabia, China, Sarawak, Syria, West Africa, Argentina and The United States of America.
As well as all of these people of foreign birth living here, persons of Wexford origin were also scattered throughout the world.
On a more localised travel note, there were direct sailings every second Tuesday from Wexford to Tenby in South Wales in the summer months; the trip took 7 hours each way.
On the labour front, 1911 was a traumatic year for Wexford. In June of that year the National Union of Seamen and Firemen called a simultaneous strike in all ports of the British Isles.
On July 15th., 1911, the "People" newspaper, published in Wexford announced;
"The strike fever has at last gripped Wexford and the action of the seamen and dock labourers which has for some time paralysed the trade of many of our largest ports was brought into effect on Wexford quays on Saturday morning. About half past nine the strike started on a steamer discharging coal for the Dublin and South Eastern Railway at the upper jetty. The men claimed 3d. per ton for wheeling, which was Id.
extra, and Id. between four men for filling. "
The strike spread rapidly throughout the port and soon affected the steam colliers "Delorian" and
"Mayflower" as well as sailing coasters "Mary Agnes", "Glynn", "Margaret and Mary", "Esperenza”
and "Perseverance".
Negotiations between the men and the Railway company superintendent, Mr. Cross, went well and the increase was agreed but talks broke down on the matter of back payment. At a meeting held in the Bullring, it was stated that much of the cargo being unloaded at Wexford was being transhipped to Dublin by rail to thwart the efforts of striking dockworkers in that port. Mr. P. O'Connor of the ITGWU
who were supporting the NSFU also stated that many captains and seamen of the Wexford fleet had that day agreed to join the ITGWU. The Dock labourers demands were: 1. An increase in wages.
2. An end to nighttime working.
3. The working day to be shortened to 10 hours.
Meanwhile the newly organised sailors also put their demands to the ship owners, while also pledging support for the dockworkers. The ship owners of the coastal sailors conceded to an advance of 5/ = per month but not on the issue of extra food money. By July 22 compromise had however been reached.
Most of the schooners were back at work and the steam colliers were being discharged. It was principally the shipowners and merchants who had paid the extra rates. Then the ball fell into the court of the Harbour Commissioners, their labourers demanded an increase of 1 ½ d per ton for loading or unloading ballast. The first ship to become involved was the "Wave". The Commissioners stood firm and eventually it is thought that the ships captain paid the extra cost. No further details were found on this particular episode and it is unclear what the overall result of the action was.
Some weeks of relative calm followed but elsewhere in the town workers were organising. In the foundries particularly, the men saw the advantages of being a member of a union and many joined the ITGWU. This led to dismissal in Pierces, a company that had built up international trade through
Wexford Port since the early 1800s and now employed 400 men. On December 9th the schooner "Alice T" arrived at the quay with a cargo of coke for Pierces. The dock labourers refused to unload the coke until all of those locked out of the Wexford foundries were re-instated. Scab labour was eventually used to discharge the ship and also to take coal to the foundry at Mill Road from Stafford yard. Such action led to dockers stopping work on Staffords ships in support of their locked out colleagues. The lockout was to last for many months at the foundries and bring police re-enforcements onto Wexford streets to protect the scab labour, with sometimes tragic consequences.
Despite enormous hardships, the men held out. In the end both sides claimed victory with a new union being formed in compromise, but within a few years most of the foundry men had joined the union of their original choice.
In 1913 a proposal was made at a meeting of Wexford Harbour Commissioners, which was to be re-echoed over the subsequent decades. A committee was formed to discuss the question of a grant "from the Roads Board in connection with filling in the Crescent." It was stated that many prominent Wexfordmen were in favour of the proposal, which would allow a road to run straight along the q
uay. As a requirement before any such filling could take place, the Commissioners were required to advertise their intention in the local newspapers and in the Irish Times. A limit of £3 was put on the overall cost of such notices.
Discussion raged for many meetings concerning the materials to be used, objections from the railway company and the unhealthy state of the Crescent but no action was taken. Such lack of action left the way clear to similar proposals later and to one common Wexford story of a local politician supposedly suggesting that the Crescent be dredged and filled with freshwater and a gondola placed thereon to which his colleague is said to have replied "Sure couldn’t we get two and let them breed."
May of 1914 witnessed great celebrations in Wexford with tar barrels and bonfires blazing and all the ships in the harbour festooned with bunting to celebrate the passing of the third reading of the Home Rule Bill in the Westminster Parliament. A chief promoter of the bill was Wexfordman John Redmond who at the time was leader of the Irish Party.
Earlier in the year other Wexfordmen had been made worthy of celebration when the tug "Wexford" had gone out in violent storms to tow the Rosslare Fort lifeboat on a rescue mission off the Keeragh islands.
That was in the famous episode of the "Mexico" which had gone aground and 9 of the 14 crew members of the Fethard lifeboat drowned during a rescue attempt.
As the trade within the port had declined, unemployment, which had been almost unheard of 40 years previously, was then becoming a problem. We find in 1914, men being recruited at the Wexford Labour Exchange and ferried to Fishguard to work on the new pier and docks.
With the outbreak of World War 1 in August 1914, Wexford sailors found themselves once again in the frontline of battle and they became the saviours of many people by their brave efforts to keep supplies moving into and out of the port. Two Wexford boats, "Joseph Fisher" and "Nanny Wignall" owned by J.J. Stafford were sunk by U-boats in the Irish Sea during the conflict.