Recalling Gallantry on Ireland’s South-East Coast

In February 2000, I travelled to England in the company of long-serving Dunmore East lifeboat volunteer, Brendan Dunne, from Dunmore East RNLI, we visited the RNLI College in Poole, Dorset. Our purpose was to view the records of the Dunmore East lifeboats held by Ms Hayley Whiting, the RNLI’s Heritage Archive and Research Manager, as our research continued in preparation for the publication of the history of the Dunmore East lifeboat station, Dauntless Courage, which was due to be launched later that year.

On arrival, we were both immediately impressed by the imposing RNLI Memorial at the entrance to the College. The memorial, unveiled in 2009, contains the famous words of Sir William Hillary, RNLI founder, “With courage, nothing is impossible.” The memorial is described as a beacon of hope and honours the courage of all those lost at sea, around the coasts of the United Kingdom and Ireland, while endeavouring to save the lives of others. While many brave and selfless lifeboat and rescue personnel are remembered with pride in their own local communities, the memorial in Poole is the only place where every one of them is named together. It is a reminder that people who volunteer to conduct selfless acts of heroism to help others will always be remembered for their sacrifice. Seeing all the names on one memorial is a very moving experience.

The lifeboat stations where volunteers were lost are listed in alphabetical order on the memorial and it was easy for us to pick out the name of Philip Boucher, who we knew sadly lost his life in 1893 in Waterford Harbour. The names of the nine crewmembers of the Fethard lifeboat Helen Blake, who were drowned in 1914 when attempting to save the crew of the Norwegian schooner Mexico, were also easy to identify. Subsequent research of all the names on the memorial, which can be searched online, showed that a total of thirty names of persons from Counties Wexford and Waterford, the two counties on either side of Waterford Harbour, are on the memorial.
https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/rnli-memorial/names

The Lifeboat Service in Ireland — Station by Station by Nicholas Leach (2012) tells us that in 1859 the RNLI established a lifeboat station, and a lifeboat house was built on the north side of Dungarvan Bay. This completed a chain of seven stations on the south coast of Ireland; two years before this there were no stations on this stretch of coast. Four years later, in 1863, the lifeboat house was rebuilt at Ballinacourty and was in use until 1900.

Up until the establishment of the RNLI station, rescue attempts to save the lives of shipwrecked sailors in Dungarvan Bay and surrounding coastline fell to local fishermen and boatmen from HM Coastguard to venture out, usually in difficult conditions. One such rescue attempt took place on April 24th, 1852, and sadly for the entire Dungarvan community, it had a disastrous outcome.

The Freeman’s Journal of April 25th, 1852, reported as follows:

MELANCHOLY LOSS OF LIFE AT SEA
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT)

Dungarvan, April 25. – Yesterday morning the schooner Harry King, from Runcorn, with coals, was driven onshore in our harbour. Nine men from this town proceeded in a whale boat to the wreck, for the purpose of lending assistance; but melancholy to relate, the boat on her return was capsized by a squall when crossing the bar, and eight of the poor fellows lost their lives. One of the men had sufficient presence of mind to seize an oar, and thus providentially got to land. The following are the names of the men who were lost, all of whom bore the highest character, and, as it will be perceived, nearly all of them were the support of a numerous family: Mr Maurice Duggan, a shopkeeper, left a widow and four children, found; Mr Laurence Lenihan, Lloyd’s deputy agent, left a widow and nine children; Thomas McNamara, a boatman, left three orphans without father and mother; Michael Raher, a fisherman, left a widow and four children; John Maher, a fisherman, left a widow and three children; Thomas Crawford, boatman, the support of an aged parent; John Whelan, shoemaker, single man; Maurice Mulcahy, a young man, the chief support of a helpless family, found; Patrick Mulcahy, a young man, the chief support of a helpless family, found. Patrick McNamara was the brave young man who escaped from a watery grave.

The Waterford News on Friday, April 30th, 1852, brought a more detailed account of the dreadful tragedy in Dungarvan Bay. The nine local men who went to the assistance of the Harry King discovered when they reached the stricken vessel that the crew, who had abandoned it earlier when it grounded, had returned and refused any offer of help, which made their mission of mercy even more tragic. The Waterford News concluded its report as follows:
“Dungarvan has not received such a shock of calamity for many years. All the sufferers are deeply regretted; they were all in the prime of life, and five of them left families – Mr Lenihan a wife and nine children; he has been for many years a faithful and most efficient officer of this port, as Clerk of Customs; his death is deeply and deservedly deplored, as is also Captain Maurice Duggan, a man greatly esteemed by a large circle of friends. Since his marriage, about five years ago, he retired from a seafaring life and confined himself to his industry at home.”

The people of Dungarvan reacted swiftly to the tragedy and, in the same edition of the Waterford News, a report of a meeting held on April 28th to commence a relief fund for the victims.

DUNGARVAN – April 29th, 1852
(From Our Correspondent)

A most influential public meeting was convened at the hour of 12 o’clock, at the Court House, on the 28th instant, to enter into public subscription for the relief of the Widows and Orphans of these eight brave men, whose valuable lives became a sacrifice to the fury of the waves, on their return from boarding a vessel in distress, named the “Harry King.” The names of the gentlemen who assembled on the occasion are as follows: Rev. Dr Hally PP, Chairman; Rev. G. Giles; A. Carbery Esq.; Doctor Anthony; Doctor Coman; Edward Orme Esq., RM; Robert Howel Esq., JP; Hawkins Esq., Port Surveyor; Mr Boland; Mr O’Brien; John Barron Esq.; Edward Shaw Esq.; Captain Cureen; Captain Hanly; A. Brennan Esq.; Mr John Foley; Mr John Cleary; Mr Hedker, &c., &c., and after some preliminary proceedings on the part of the meeting, the resolutions were entered into, which we publish elsewhere.

The Freeman’s Journal of Saturday, July 24th, 1852, carried a report that on the previous Thursday a meeting of the committee of the Royal National Institute for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck was held in London, with Thomas Wilson Esq., late MP for London, in the chair. It was agreed that a grant of £20 would be made in aid of the local subscription for the widows and orphans in Dungarvan.
The report ended as follows:
“By this lamentable catastrophe, four widows and twenty orphan children have been deprived of their all, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that, had there been a lifeboat at Dungarvan, their great bereavement would, in all human probability, have been spared.”

Note: The Institution was renamed Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 1854.

On January 25th, 1858, the French brig La Capricieuse, carrying a cargo of coal and sailing from Llanelly, Wales, to St. Malo in France, with a crew of seven, encountered trouble in Tramore Bay. Six courageous fishermen from Brownstown set out to rescue the shipwrecked French sailors. Tragically, two of them, John Fitzgerald and Thomas Crotty, drowned in the attempt. The loss of these two local fishermen, who had gallantly sacrificed their own lives to save the crew of the ship, sent shockwaves through the local community and a committee was subsequently set up to collect money to assist the families of the two men. Members of this committee also wrote to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, asking them to consider setting up a dedicated lifeboat station in Tramore. This campaign was successful and Tramore received its first RNLI lifeboat at the end of 1858.

A fuller account of the story of Thomas Crotty and John Fitzgerald appeared on Tides and Tales on May 18th, 2023:
https://tidesandtales.ie/how-two-brave-brownstown-fishermen-changed-the-course-of-lifesaving-in-tramore-bay/

One year after the blog was published, I was delighted to see — and very appreciative — that John Walsh and his local committee had also inscribed the two names on the Lost at Sea Memorial in Dunmore East, in addition to being remembered at Poole. The Waterford News and Star of May 13th, 2024, carried the story, written by reporter Darragh Murphy:
https://www.waterford-news.ie/news/two-heroic-names-added-to-lost-at-sea-memorial-wall_arid-17050.html

The monument was commissioned by the people of Dunmore East in remembrance of loved ones — those lost in local waters and those lost at sea.

All from HM Coastguard Station Curracloe. RNLI records these men under “Courtown” — it being one of the stations involved in the rescue of the crew of the R.H. Tucker.

In 1852, in the very first issue of THE LIFEBOAT journal, in listing the number of lifeboats around the coast of England and Wales, it added that:

“In Ireland, with an extent of 1,400 miles of coast, there are eight lifeboats, and they are inefficient. Yet there is no part of the United Kingdom in which wrecks are more frequent than on the coast of Wexford; and when we consider that, in addition to the cross-channel trade, the whole of the foreign trade to Liverpool, Glasgow and Belfast passes through the Irish Sea, the frequency of wrecks on the east coast of Ireland need not create surprise.”

Taking cognisance of this assertion, the RNLI established a new lifeboat station at Cahore in 1857 and a further one at Courtown in 1865. Another overdue move, to alleviate the threat of drowning from shipwreck on the Wexford coast, was also made in 1857: the placing of a lightship on the Blackwater Bank.

In the nineteenth century, sailing vessels making voyages — particularly from Liverpool to Boston and New York — would exit south, through the Irish Sea and the St. George’s Channel. This southern exit proved to be most treacherous for many sailing ships. The first task was to steer a course past Tuskar Rock, which lies off the south-east corner of Ireland, and then set course for America. Given the vagaries of weather, it was not certain that the course set down the Irish Sea could always be maintained. Ships could be driven dangerously more westerly than anticipated by some navigators. This fact was certainly a major contributing factor in the loss of so many vessels on the chain of shallow sandbanks that are situated just a few miles off the coast of County Wexford.

One such vessel was the R.H. Tucker of Wisconsin, United States, commanded by Captain Rundlett, which struck the Blackwater Bank on the evening of September 7th, 1868, and on the following day was destroyed by fire. The fire broke out in the ship’s galley and spread rapidly through her masts, rigging and hull, consuming all the cargo that was of an inflammable nature. The vessel burned down to the waterline. The Cahore lifeboat, Sir George Bowles, put off early in the morning of September 8th, and took five persons from the ship and placed them on board the steam-tug Ruby. The Cahore lifeboat later took off a further eight of the vessel’s crew, landing them in safety. The lifeboat stationed at Courtown also went off and remained by the vessel all day, and when the ship caught fire, she took off the remainder of the crew, fourteen in number, and brought them safely ashore.

At daybreak on the 8th, the R.H. Tucker was also seen aground by William Smith, Commissioned Boatman of the Curracloe HM Coastguard Station, who reported the circumstance to Mr Flinn, Chief Officer. At five o’clock the coastguards had their whaleboat lowered and manned by six brave men and set off for the Blackwater Bank. The wind was strong and the sea rough at the time and, when they had gone four miles in the direction of the distressed vessel on their errand of mercy, the chief officer, seeing the surf becoming heavier and feeling the force of the increased wind, directed the men to put back. They had almost returned to their station when a huge sea filled their boat, and a slap of the following wave capsized her.

The six coastguards were not wearing their cork jackets, so each was left to his own unaided resources to save his life. Joseph Regan succeeded in swimming to the beach, and William Conway was fortunately washed ashore, though in a state of insensibility. Four coastguards were drowned: Chief Officer Richard Flinn, Chief Boatman Joseph Randall, and Commissioned Boatmen William Smith and Samuel Henry Jenkins.

The Freeman’s Journal of September 10th, 1868, reported:
“It is fearful to contemplate the feelings of the wives and families of these men as they saw husband and father sink into the waves within a few perches of home, and few can fathom the depth of the sorrow that fills the homes of these heroic men.”

Chief Officer Richard Flinn left a widow and eight children. Boatman William Smith left a widow and six children, with Boatman Samuel Jenkins leaving a widow and three children. Chief Boatman Joseph Randall left a widow and three children. His widow, Mary, gave birth to a fourth child in April of the following year, at which time the family had moved to live in Tiverton, Devon.

Joseph Randall had led a most adventurous life, and his story is one deserving of far greater detail than the scope of this blog. He had been born in 1821 at Johnstown, Co. Wexford, and joined the Royal Navy in 1837, serving on several ships before joining HMS Herald on March 5th, 1845, and setting off on what would become a six-year voyage that would take him around the world, including three trips to the Arctic. The 26-gun frigate Herald was under the command of another Irishman, Captain Henry Kellett, from Co. Tipperary. Initially, Herald took part in a hydrographic survey mission, the primary objective of which was to survey the coast of the Americas. In 1848, Captain Kellett was temporarily reassigned to join the search for Sir John Franklin. Franklin led HMS Erebus and HMS Terror and 129 men on a voyage in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The expedition’s disappearance shortly after became one of the great mysteries of the age of Victorian exploration. Apart from Herald, a number of British ships were sent to search for the expedition from 1848 to 1859 without success. During their time in the Arctic, Herald discovered an island in the Chukchi Sea, which they named Herald Island after the ship. In September 1850, Herald set sail for home, reaching England in April 1851. Joseph was awarded the Arctic Medal for his services. It was during the search for the Franklin expedition that the Northwest Passage was discovered by another Wexford-born sailor, Captain Robert McClure.

Next, Joseph joined HMS Vengeance, serving from June 1851 until April 1855. In June 1852, Vengeance joined the Mediterranean Fleet outside the Dardanelles before the start of the Crimean War. During the war, Vengeance took part in the bombardment of Odessa and assisted with the transportation of the Army across the Black Sea to the Crimea and took part in the Battle of Alma in September 1854 as well as the siege of Sevastopol. Joseph was awarded the Crimea Medal 1854–1856. In April 1855, Joseph joined the gunboat HMS Hind and took part in the Baltic campaign attached to HMS Cornwallis, receiving a Baltic Medal. In January 1856, Joseph re-enlisted in the Royal Navy for an additional seven years. He became an HM Coastguard Boatman at Beresford in Kent, before moving to other stations, including Whitehaven in Cumberland. In 1866, a short time before he was sadly drowned, he transferred to Curracloe in County Wexford, close to his birthplace.

Joseph is buried with his mother, Jane, at Ardcolm Old Cemetery, a short distance from Curracloe. The inscription on his grave reads:
“Joseph Randall, Boatman of the Coast Guard Station Curracloe, who was drowned at Curracloe in the gallant act of duty on the eighth day of September, in the 47th year of his age.”

*Footnotes: Many thanks to Olivia Murray for her continued assistance with meticulous research with all matters relating to Coastguards of Yesteryear. Olivia also contacted Ms Daphne Wilson, living in Canada and a descendant of Joseph Randall, who provided much information to compile this blog. Olivia discovered an interesting news item from the Liverpool Daily Post of September 18th, 1868, which carried a copy of a letter from Francis Herbert, Inspecting Officer CG, addressed to the merchants of Liverpool seeking funds for the relief of the bereaved families. Liverpool was the port of departure of the R.H. Tucker for Boston. Olivia Murray, in her research of the other members of the HM Coastguard who were drowned at Curracloe, discovered that there is a memorial erected at Screen Graveyard (Screen is a short distance from Curracloe). The memorial reads: “Erected by Johana Flynn in memory of her husband Richard, Chief Officer of Curracloe Coast-guard Station, who was drowned in the execution of his duty, Sept 8th, 1868, aged 43 years.” This would suggest that “Flynn” rather than “Flinn” is the correct spelling for the Chief Officer. There is a record of another coastguard called “Flinn,” so the records may have become conflated.

My book Dauntless Courage – Celebrating the History of the RNLI Lifeboats, their crews and the Maritime Heritage Community of the Dunmore East Community was dedicated to the memory of Philip Boucher, who was only twenty-two years of age when he was sadly lost in Waterford Harbour as a crew member of a relief lifeboat that went to the assistance of the barque Allegro on December 13th, 1893.

On December 13th, 1893, a relief lifeboat, replacing the Dunmore East RNLB Henry Dodd, was launched, under the command of George Bliss, a member of HM Coastguard, and headed out into very heavy seas and a severe SSW gale after the barque Allegro had been reported to have been in difficulty off Dunmore East. The assistance of the lifeboat was not required, so the lifeboatmen set off back towards Dunmore. Suddenly the lifeboat was struck by an exceptionally heavy sea and capsized. The boat righted itself and all but one of the fifteen members of the crew got back on board. The exception was Philip Boucher, a young man, son of a pilot of the same name, and he was swept away and drowned. The lifeboat was unable to reach him. Amongst the crew was the Harbour Master, Thomas Dunn, who was also a committee member and had been a member of HM Coastguard at Arthurstown. Another crew member was Thomas Sutcliffe, who had been awarded a silver medal in 1888 whilst being a sergeant in the RIC. Thomas Sutcliffe was to become Dunmore East Harbour Master in 1895. The Waterford News of December 30th, 1893, reported that “they understood that some of the volunteers were old men, almost beyond their labour, whilst others were artisans, who knew little or nothing about rowing a boat, not to mention managing a lifeboat.” Another contributing factor was that it was a relief lifeboat, replacing the Henry Dodd, and the crew may not have had experience handling her in heavy weather. An Official Inquiry was held into the tragedy. An account of the Inquiry, transcribed from the Munster Express of December 23rd, 1893, can be found in Dauntless Courage.

Philip, born in 1871, came from a Dunmore East family with a proud seafaring tradition. His father, also named Philip, had been a seaman and later became a Waterford Harbour pilot. Records show that Philip Senior served on SS Gipsy, a ship belonging to the Waterford Steam Navigation Company. A record from 1883 shows him in a list of pilots, along with some names that continue to this day to be familiar ones in Dunmore East and district. There were also Boucher families living in Waterford, engaged in the commercial life of the city, with some of them being granted Freedom of the City honours.

Philip, who was lost in 1893, had a younger brother named Nicholas (born 1879) and he named his eldest son Philip Nicholas Boucher, born in 1914, in his honour. This lovely tradition of honouring Philip Boucher has continued to the present day, the eldest son being named Philip in his memory. Philip Boucher Senior died in 1919, aged seventy-six, and his wife, Bridget (née Morrissey), lived until 1935 and was ninety-five years of age when she died. Philip Boucher (born 1943), who is a grandson of Nicholas Boucher (born 1879), and his own son, Philip (born 1984), came to Dunmore East in April 2018 to research and learn more about their family.

Christmas Eve 1895 saw a tale of tragedy and heroism being played out in Dungarvan Harbour. The Moresby was a three-masted, iron-hulled, full-rigged sailing vessel built at Whitehaven, Cumberland, in 1882 by the Whitehaven Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. The ship was 223.5 ft in length with a breadth of 36.1 ft. She was classed 100A1 at Lloyd’s. She was well found and properly fitted and equipped in masts, spars, gear and tackle. The vessel had passed her third survey for Lloyd’s in July 1894 at Liverpool. The Moresby was owned by Dodd & Co. of Liverpool.

On December 21st, 1895, the Moresby left Cardiff, between 08.00 hrs and 09.00 hrs. The ship was carrying a cargo of 1,778 tons of coal and was bound for Pisagua in Chile. She carried a crew of twenty-three and was under the command of Captain Caleb Francis Coomber, from Faversham, Kent. The master’s wife and young daughter were also aboard. A tug left the Moresby about eight miles to westward of Lundy Island at about 17.00 hrs with the weather moderate and a fine fresh breeze from E to ESE. All sail was set, and a westerly course was steered.

On December 23rd, the Moresby met rough weather and at about 13.00 hrs, following the schooner Mary Sinclair, she sought some shelter in Dungarvan Bay. Both vessels were seen to be in distress by the Ballinacourty lighthouse keeper as they headed towards the beach. The Mary Sinclair was run aground at Clonea, but the Moresby changed course and was steered towards the lighthouse. The master of the Moresby was under the impression that he was entering Cork Harbour, with most of the land being obscured by the rain, hail and mist from the gale which was blowing.

At 14.30 hrs, she succeeded in setting two anchors, paying out sixty fathoms to starboard and forty-five fathoms on the port chain. This was about ¾ of a mile off the lighthouse.

At 16.00 hrs, the lifeboat stationed at Ballinacourty, the RNLB William Dunville O.N. 104, was launched. The lifeboat had been stationed at Ballinacourty since 1887 and Mr Michael Cummins, one of the Ballinacourty coastguards, was coxswain and had charge of the boat. The lifeboat rowed out to the Moresby to give assistance to the distressed vessel and to ascertain if the crew wished to be taken off, but none of them did. It was reported that the master refused to allow them to leave the vessel. It could not be confirmed if the coxswain of the lifeboat advised the master of the Moresby of the dangerous position she was in or pointed out, because of her draft, that it would be impossible to run into Dungarvan Harbour.

The Moresby carried two lifeboats, a cutter, and a gig. They had been passed by the Board of Trade surveyor in Cardiff in December 1895 and were more than double the provision required by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894.

The lifeboat crew returned to Ballinacourty after their offer of assistance had been rejected by the Moresby crewmembers. They mustered again at about 19.00 hrs to get the boat ready to go out again that night should this be necessary. Some of the crew said they would not go out again that night but would wait until morning. By 20.00 hrs, most of the crew had dispersed, leaving the Moresby lying to her anchors in Dungarvan Bay with a steadily increasing SE gale blowing.

The coxswain then sent a message to Mr John Cullinane, Hon. Secretary of the local lifeboat committee in Dungarvan, informing him that the crew were not prepared to go to sea again that night. Mr Cullinane appears to have made no effort to inform any other member of the committee of the position or arrange for a standby crew in Dungarvan to meet any emergency.

The schooner Mary Sinclair was now playing a part in this unfolding drama. This was the vessel that the Moresby followed in Dungarvan Bay. When it was first seen in difficulties, from about noon on December 23rd, her movements had been observed by John Sampson of Bonmahon Coastguard. The Mary Sinclair went ashore about 23.30 hrs at Clonea Castle and the crew were safely rescued by rocket apparatus, about one hour later. The Ballinacourty coastguards were also present at this wreck. During the night, however, the weather worsened, and at around the same time that the Mary Sinclair went ashore, the Moresby sent up rockets. As soon as these were seen by the lifeboat coxswain, he sent up maroons summoning the lifeboat crew. Only a few members answered the call.

About 04.30 hrs on December 24th, the Moresby’s anchor broke and the ship went over on her side. The captain and his wife and child, together with eleven of the crew, were forced to seek safety in the rigging of the mizzen mast. The remaining eleven crewmen were forward. The tide was now flooding. At 05.30 hrs, the starboard anchor cable parted and at 06.00 hrs, the Moresby struck the Whitehouse Bank. Soon she was broadside to the seas running into the harbour. One of the very first seas to go over her carried away her boats. When the lifeboat coxswain received an inadequate response to his maroons, he went to see if any of the rocket crew were returning from Clonea, but it appears that a lot of time had been lost tidying up after the rescue of the Mary Sinclair crew and the rocket apparatus did not arrive at the Moresby wreck until 06.30/07.00 hrs on the 24th.

When the lifeboat coxswain had been told that the Moresby had been dragging and gone ashore, he again fired maroons to call the lifeboat crew, but only nine men turned up and it was clear that lives were going to be lost if the lifeboat was not launched; no effort appears to have been made to muster the remainder of the crew. The coastguards also had a boat that could have been launched but, for whatever reason, no effort was made to launch it.

With the Moresby taking a pounding on the bank, her crew had taken to the rigging, which was getting closer to the water. The vessel was about three hundred and fifty yards from the shore at this stage. Of the six rockets which were fired at her, only one went over her, and the line broke.

After the last rocket had been fired, Mr Sampson, the officer in charge of the rocket apparatus, and the lifeboat coxswain called for volunteers to man the lifeboat and, although there were over one hundred people on the shore, only one — a coastguard — responded to the call.

By 11.00 hrs, the Moresby’s masts were close to the water, and she was clearly breaking up. The crew had waited in vain for the return of the lifeboat but saw no sign of assistance coming to their rescue and they decided to swim for shore. Capt. Coomber jumped overboard with his daughter, and the mate accompanied the master’s wife. Other crewmen followed them, but there was an ebb tide, and this swept them away from the coast.

At about 10.15 hrs, a Captain John Veale arrived from Dungarvan. When he reached the lifeboat house, he saw the coxswain and about two hundred people and asked why the lifeboat had not been launched, and the coxswain told him he could not get a crew. Captain Veale suggested sending a message to Dungarvan, and it appears that this had just been done by Mr Cullinane, the Hon. Sec. of the lifeboat, who arrived around the same time. Soon a car arrived with men from Dungarvan, and the lifeboat was launched under Captain Veale.

When the lifeboat reached the Moresby, seven people were still clinging to the rigging and these were taken off. Sadly, two of them died shortly after being brought ashore. Twenty people, including Captain Coomber, his wife and daughter, were drowned.

One of those who gallantly volunteered to man the lifeboat on the second occasion, under Captain Veale, was Michael Hogan from Ballinacourty. He had also been on the lifeboat when the offer of assistance was spurned by Captain Coomber. Sadly, Michael Hogan died on January 29th, 1896, and his death was the result of the exposure he suffered during the rescue ordeal in December.

The Munster Express of February 22nd, 1896, carried the following report:

GIFT FROM THE LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION
"Some days ago, Michael Hogan, a member of the Ballinacourty lifeboat crew, died from the effects of the exposure incurred while going in the lifeboat to the Moresby on December 23rd, and also having pulled in the lifeboat on December 24th to sea, on intelligence at the station by wire that a ship was in distress off the land. A day or two after, the poor man got unwell, and he died about a fortnight ago. It was supposed his death resulted from exposure on these occasions, and Mr Craig, secretary of the lifeboat, represented the facts to the Institution, with the result that last evening he received a cheque for £100 for Hogan’s family, which consists of a widow and five young children. The gift is considered a generous one, and larger than was expected. It will, of course, be of great assistance to the poor widow and her family. Mr Craig deserves much credit for the promptitude and ability with which he took the matter in hands."

The Memorial Books commemorate people who have died on RNLI lifeboat service since the charity was established in 1824. Listed in station alphabetical order, each page is a sheet of calf-skin vellum beautifully hand-written and drawn by members of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators.

https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/rnli-memorial

The inscription reads “Heed not the stormy seas, though loudly they roar.” This line comes from a hymn by Philip Bliss (1838–1876) titled “Pull for the Shore.” The full verse, with this line, is as follows:

Trust in the lifeboat, sailor, all else will fail,
Stronger the surge dash and fiercer the gale,
Heed not the stormy winds, though loudly they roar.
Watch the “bright and morning Star,”
And pull for the shore!

The Moresby was not the only casualty of the fierce gales that lashed the Irish coastline on Christmas Eve, 1895. At Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) on the east coast, all fifteen members of the Kingstown lifeboat, Civil Service No. 7, lost their lives when the lifeboat capsized when they went to the rescue of a Finnish barque, Palme, which was in distress in Dublin Bay. The second Kingstown lifeboat, Hannah Pickard, also capsized but the crew managed to get back on board. The crew of the Palme were finally rescued on December 26th by the Irish Lights tender, Tearaght, under the command of Captain Thomas McCombie, who was awarded the RNLI Gold Medal.

A formal investigation was held in Dungarvan, beginning on January 28th, 1896, ending on February 6th, 1896, before William Orr, RN, assisted by Captain Kenneth Hore, Captain Kiddle RN, and Captain William Erskine, into the circumstances attending the stranding of the British sailing ship Moresby, of Liverpool, on the Whitehouse Bank, Dungarvan Harbour, and the failure of the Ballinacourty lifeboat to render her assistance, whereby loss of life ensued.

The Court’s findings were as follows:
• The Moresby was a seaworthy vessel and conformed to the requirements of the time when she left Cardiff.
• The service rendered to the Moresby on December 23rd was not so arduous as to render its crew unfit for further service that night.
• The coxswain made insufficient effort to assemble crew on the morning of December 24th and should have informed Mr Cullinane of the fact that the Moresby was stranded on the Whitehouse Bank and in distress.
• The Hon. Sec., Mr Cullinane, took no steps to advise the other members of the lifeboat committee of the situation and made no effort to provide a crew for the lifeboat after he was informed of the regular crew’s refusal to go to sea.
• That Mr Hare, Coastguard, could have returned much earlier from the wreck of the Mary Sinclair and render assistance to the Moresby.
• Great credit was due to Captain Veale and the volunteer crew of the lifeboat for their service.

Most of the drowned in the Moresby disaster were buried in St. Mary’s Church of Ireland graveyard in Dungarvan, the majority in a mass grave. One body was never found, and one was returned to England. The local representative for the Shipwrecked Mariners Society in Dungarvan was Mr Samuel Ruddell. He oversaw the burials under the direction of the Church of Ireland minister, Rev. Bain.

Information to compile this article was sourced from: Waterford County Museum:

https://www.waterfordmuseum.ie/exhibit/web/Display/article/344/1/The_Moresby_Disaster_Overview_Of_The_Moresby_Disaster.html

The text of a paper, ‘An Account of the Loss of the Sailing Ship Moresby in Dungarvan Harbour, Christmas Eve, 1985, ’presented by Mr Donal Walsh of Dungarvan to the Maritime Institute of Ireland in 1980 and kindly made available to me.

Olivia Murray, during her research into ‘Coastguards of Yesteryear’, discovered that Michael Cummins was pensioned in May 1896, aged 42 years, and is recorded in the 1901 Census and 1911 Census as living with his family at Queenstown (Cobh).

On Friday, February 20th, 1914, a three-masted, steel-hulled, Norwegian schooner, Mexico, bound for Liverpool from Laguna in Mexico with a crew of ten, went aground on the Keeragh Islands in Bannow Bay, Co. Wexford.

Within a short time, the Fethard lifeboat Helen Blake was launched. As it neared the Mexico, she was struck by a heavy and unexpected sea, which filled her. The lifeboat struck the rocks and the crew were thrown or washed into the sea.

Four of them eventually, with great difficulty, succeeded in getting on to South Keeragh Island, one other was hauled on board the Mexico, and nine unfortunate men perished. Subsequently a line was got from the Mexico to the Island and made fast there by two lifeboatmen, and the crew of the Mexico, along with the lifeboatman, were hauled through the water to a place of comparative safety. This was the beginning of a three-day ordeal for the survivors as three lifeboats, Fanny Harriet from Dunmore East, The Sisters from Kilmore Quay and James Stevens from Wexford, in addition to a Wexford-based tug, attempted to rescue them.

Two of the crew of the Mexico, named Paulsen and Smith, managed to get into the ship’s lifeboat and were swept by the gale onto Cullenstown Strand, where they were hauled ashore in an exhausted condition. As soon as news of the disaster reached London, RNLI Chief Inspector of Lifeboats, Commander Thomas Holmes, RN, was instructed to proceed to Fethard. He left London on the Saturday night and arrived shortly after 15.00 hrs on Sunday.

At about 09.00 hrs on the Saturday, information was received at Dunmore that the lifeboat was urgently required, and at 09.30 hrs, the Fanny Harriet was launched and set off under coxswain Walter Power with a crew of thirteen men into what was described at the time from the service return as a full gale. She arrived off the Keeragh Islands about 13.00 hrs, approached close, and backed into shallow water. There was a big wash running from the waves onto the shore, and it was found impossible to communicate with the men on the island, which itself is one of two small rocky pieces of land rising from the sea in Bannow Bay. The lifeboat remained at anchor for some three hours and then, as nothing further could be done, proceeded to Fethard and remained there. At 16.00 hrs on Sunday, the weather had moderated, and the Dunmore lifeboat left Fethard, this time with Commander Holmes on board, but again the Fanny Harriet could not reach the survivors and returned to Fethard. A third attempt to rescue the survivors was made on Monday morning. An effort was made to send an unmanned dinghy to the island, but the boat was smashed, and then a connection was made with the island by means of a rocket and line. Two of the Fethard lifeboat men, John Kelly and John McNamara, were then hauled through the water by means of this line and a lifebuoy. The Dunmore lifeboat had succeeded in the rescue of two of the stranded lifeboat crew.

One of the crew of the Mexico, António Luis da Cunha, a twenty-two-year-old Portuguese sailor, had died on the island from exposure to the freezing cold, hail, sleet and rain. The Wexford lifeboat also arrived back on Monday morning, towed by the tug, and brought a strong punt, belonging to the tug. Two of the crew of the Wexford lifeboat, William Duggan and James Wickham, volunteered to work the punt.

They got close enough into the rocks to get hold of two men and dragged them on board the punt, which was then hauled back to the lifeboat; by this means, during five trips, all the survivors, ten in number, were conveyed to the Wexford lifeboat. During the second trip the punt was driven on to the rocks and a hole was stove in her. They stuffed the hole with a loaf of bread and some packing, and, undeterred, they gallantly continued the work of rescue. Eventually, as soon as all the men were safely on board the lifeboats, the tug took them in tow; the five Fethard men together with the Chief Inspector were landed at Fethard and the Fanny Harriet then re-joined the tug, which proceeded to Waterford, dropping the Dunmore East boat off at her station and taking the Wexford boat and seven men belonging to the Mexico up to Waterford, where thousands lined the quays to welcome them.

The dramatic events of February 21st, 22nd and 23rd, 1914 attracted world-wide attention and contributions were made to the relief fund set up for the widows and orphans of the lost men from as far away as Norway, where King Haakon and Queen Maud made personal donations.

At the GAA Annual Conference of 1914, a motion was passed that, in recognition of their bravery, specially struck GAA gold medals be presented to William Duggan and James Wickham of the Wexford lifeboat. This remains unique in the history of the GAA, for never previously or since have the GAA presented gold medals for an achievement other than on the field of sport. It is worth noting that it was the intention of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to withdraw the sailing and pulling lifeboat at Fethard once a motor lifeboat was stationed at Dunmore East, which was to have a greater range of service. If Dunmore had received a new boat prior to February 1914, then the Helen Blake would not have been there to put to sea and Fethard may not have been dealt such a devastating blow that has reverberated to this day. Such is fate.

Footnote: The text for this segment has been extracted from Dauntless Courage, which was composed from several sources, including books by local historians Liam Ryan and Brendan Power. RTÉ’s Nationwide featured the Helen Blake Disaster on Monday, February 17th, 2025.
https://www.rte.ie/player/series/nationwide/SI0000001172?epguid=IH10008772-25-0018
Fethard-on-Sea historian and writer, Liam Ryan, is featured.

Further Reading:
The Awful Tragedy of the Helen Blake Lifeboat, Fethard, Co Wexford 1914 (2010) by Liam Ryan.
Heroes of the Helen Blake, by Brendan Power, Hibernia Heritage (2019).
The Helen Blake – the last Fethard life-boat, by John Doyle, self-published, date unknown.

This account is a précis from a chapter titled “False Alarm” in the late John Power’s history of Kilmore Quay RNLI — Above and Beyond the Call of Duty.

The RNLI prides itself on its record regarding loss of life amongst its voluntary crews, when you consider that most demands on volunteers are made in the most hazardous weather conditions. One of the things that lifeboat crews dread the most is being called out in poor conditions when it turns out to be a false alarm. Thankfully, such shouts do not happen very often. However, one such false alarm happened on Christmas Eve, 1977, in the most ferocious conditions at sea, when the Kilmore Quay lifeboat, Lady Murphy, was called out.

At 01.15 hrs, a call was received by the Hon. Secretary of Kilmore Quay RNLI, Mr John Sutton, from a duty officer at Wexford Garda Station telling him that they had a report of a distress call — four red flares off Bannow Bay and towards the Saltees. Maroons were fired to summon both the launch and lifeboat crews. The Secretary knew from the howling winds that he encountered on his way to the station that it was going to be a difficult night for Coxswain Tom Walsh and his crew, but the coxswain had vast experience of the troubled waters on this treacherous coastline. With difficulty, the launching crew, drenched by spray and struggling with breakers, got the lifeboat in the water and at 01.50 hrs, the lifeboat left the harbour. The wind was now a west–south-west gale to strong gale. On board the lifeboat with Coxswain Walsh were John Devereux, Acting Mechanic; brothers Dermot and David Culleton; Eugene Kehoe; Fintan Sinnott; and Acting Second Coxswain Joe Maddock.

The lifeboat was unable to maintain its usual radio link with Fishguard Coastguard in Wales, which was a handicap, but later was able to contact the Coningbeg lightship, which then acted as a relay to shore. The lifeboat reached the Keeragh Rocks and searched towards Bannow Bay and, despite all on deck keeping a close watch out, there was not the faintest sign of any vessel in distress or any explanation for the four red flares that had called out the lifeboat. At 04.00 hrs, a call came advising the lifeboat that, if they were satisfied that there was nothing to find, they should return home.

The return passage to the lifeboat station was made at a reduced speed, the heavy swell frequently causing the lifeboat to shudder and list until the swell levelled out again. They knew that the sea conditions of Ballyteigue Bay would be different from the shallow waters around Forlorn Point and the approach to Kilmore Quay harbour — with the harbour itself in total darkness, the lights having gone out. This was not going to help the lifeboat and Coxswain Walsh.

A thundering wave curled above the lifeboat at a fearful speed. All that the lifeboatmen could do was to wait and brace themselves for the impending impact. When it hit, it capsized the lifeboat. When the lifeboat righted itself, Joe Maddock was missing. An amount of damage had been caused to the lifeboat, but a man overboard was the main priority and concern for the other crewmembers. Thanks to the expert seamanship skills of Coxswain Walsh, he managed to find Joe Maddock in the water before one of those dangerous breakers emerged again, and he was successfully hauled on board.

The coxswain, with experience of navigating these waters for many years, sensed that it was now time to steer north for the harbour entrance. But the worst was about to happen. A second exceptionally heavy sea hit the lifeboat on the port beam, capsizing it to starboard. On righting, only the coxswain, John Devereux and Eugene Kehoe were left on board. David Culleton was close to the stern, was hauled on board, and next there were shouts on the starboard side from Dermot Culleton, hanging onto a grab line, and he too was taken on board. Joe Maddock was picked out by the searchlight. Remarkably, the engines had started again without trouble. Fearing that they could drift towards the dangerous breakers on St Patrick’s Bridge, Coxswain Walsh had to navigate with exact precision to enable Joe Maddock to be held onto by crewmember John Devereux and subsequently saved for a second time. The crew were completely exhausted at this stage, but it did not deter them from continuing to search in vain for Fintan Sinnott, who was missing. Sadly, he was not found.

After almost four hours of being battered by heavy seas, Coxswain Walsh brought the damaged lifeboat safely alongside the quay in Kilmore harbour, but with one member of the crew missing. Two members were taken to Wexford County Hospital. With a new crew, the lifeboat left Kilmore Quay at 08.10 hrs to continue the search for Fintan Sinnott along with a helicopter, which had joined the search. At 10.00 hrs, the body of Fintan Sinnott was washed ashore at Neamstown.

The late John Power, in his book Above and Beyond the Call of Duty, added an extra chapter where he recorded a wonderful tribute to Fintan. Fintan had gallantly volunteered to join the lifeboat on that ill-fated night when they found that there was one crewmember short.

A RNLI Silver Medal being awarded to Coxswain Thomas Walsh on January 25th, 1978, from the chairman of
the RNLI committee, Major-General Ralph Farrant at a ceremony in the Royal Festival Hall, London.
John Devereux, Acting Mechanic received a Bronze Medal.
Photo: RNLI Heritage

In the run-up to the RNLI 200 celebrations, marking two hundred years of lifesaving, the RNLI transmitted podcasts of two hundred voices telling true tales of how their lives have been touched by the RNLI — and how they have played a part. Ireland’s foremost Marine Correspondent, Tom MacSweeney, took part in Episode No. 127, released on December 22nd, 2023. It was called Voices of the Sea. Tom, Ireland’s voice of the sea, speaks most poignantly about the story of the loss of Fintan Sinnott on the fateful Christmas Eve night when RNLI Kilmore Quay volunteers left their loved ones to respond to a call-out in their lifeboat, which turned out to be a false alarm.

Please listen at this link: https://rnli.org/magazine/magazine-featured-list/2023/december/200-voices-tom-macsweeney

Thursday, July 1st, 1999, was to be a landmark day for search and rescue (SAR) services on Ireland’s south-east coast. It was the inaugural day of 24-hour service for the region, based at Waterford Airport and provided by the Irish Air Corps. Prior to this, the Air Corps cover had operated only in daylight hours, with an Air Corps Alouette III helicopter being deployed since the previous July to Waterford Airport for daylight-only SAR. At that stage it had not been possible to deploy the night-capable Dauphin helicopter, due to a shortage of experienced crews.

A new Dauphin (SA 365F) helicopter, known as Rescue 111, left Casement Aerodrome on the morning of July 1st and flew to Waterford Airport. There was a crew of seven: Captain Dave O’Flaherty, the pilot, from Lucan, Co. Dublin, aged 30; Captain Mick Baker, co-pilot, from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, aged 28; Sergeant Paddy Mooney, winch operator, from Stamullen, Co. Meath, aged 34; Corporal Niall Byrne, winchman, from Killiney, Co. Dublin, aged 25; and a three-man technical crew. It was an exciting day for the crew, being the first people to participate in the very first day of a new service. At Waterford Airport, amongst the VIPs to greet them was the Minister for the Marine, Dr Michael Woods, and their immediate boss, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Brigadier General Patrick Cranfield.

RTÉ cameras were on site in Waterford to film footage of the events for broadcast on the news that evening. The helicopter took off for a 35-minute publicity flight for RTÉ. After that, Rescue 111 conducted various training exercises during the afternoon, including one out over the sea, and a reconnaissance of the landing facilities at Waterford Regional Hospital.

Later, the helicopter was refuelled and towed into a hangar. At that time, Waterford Airport operated a limited service, closing at 17.00 hrs, Monday to Friday, including the control tower, and there were no aerodrome Flight Information Services Officer personnel on call after those hours, or at weekends, for night search and rescue operations. The out-of-hours service was to be provided by the Air Corps. The Air Corps personnel then left Waterford Airport and travelled to Dunmore East, where temporary accommodation was being provided.

At 20.00 hrs, a locally owned, 4.5-metre yellow fibreglass boat named the Realt Ór left Dungarvan Harbour for a fishing trip. On board were four men and a young boy. The boat had only two life-jackets for five people and no anchor. It did have a VHF marine radio, but no one on board knew how to use it.

While they were out at sea, the weather deteriorated, and the crew became disoriented and lost in thick fog that had descended on the area. Unable to find their way back to harbour, the crew placed a call via mobile phone to the Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES), asking for help. (It would be the following year when the name of the organisation was changed to Irish Coast Guard or Garda Cósta na hÉireann.)

At 22.02 hrs, the Dublin-based co-ordination and communications centre, MRCC, phoned the search-and-rescue team in Waterford. They were at their temporary accommodation in Dunmore East. Dave O’Flaherty, as captain, took the call.

The RNLI inshore lifeboat stationed at Helvick Head, Kirkees B-533, had also been alerted and put to sea to search for the Realt Ór in the dense fog. The lifeboat was not equipped with radar.

At 22.29 hrs, Captain O’Flaherty called the Irish Marine Emergency Service to inform them they were at Waterford Airport and about to take off.

At that stage, the Helvick Head lifeboat was at the general scene of the incident in Dungarvan Bay but unable to locate the Realt Ór due to the fog — a challenging task without radar. The Ballycotton RNLI Trent-class lifeboat ON 1233 Austin Lidbury was alerted at this time, a boat with sophisticated navigational aids compared to the inshore boat.

At 22.58 hrs, the Helvick Head lifeboat told IMES they had located the Realt Ór and passed on the position of the two boats — near Carrickapaine Rock — to Rescue 111 and requested them to continue to monitor the situation. All this time, the fog was getting worse. As the Realt Ór was a small craft, the lifeboat had to tow it slowly to Helvick.

At 23.50 hrs, Rescue 111 asked Waterford Airport tower if they could see the lights of nearby Tramore and they replied that they could only see the runway, about three hundred metres away from the tower. This did not bode well for the return of Rescue 111, which received a message from IMES a few minutes later that they were being released from duty and were thanked for their assistance in the successful rescue of the boat and its occupants.

Having successfully completed its mission, Rescue 111 made its first attempt to land at Waterford Airport at about 00.14 hrs. It overshot the runway due to poor visibility in the dense fog. The control tower told Rescue 111 that they had not seen them, despite their proximity. The helicopter then began the process of making a second attempt at landing but again overshot the runway.

The control tower informed Rescue 111 that, if they needed to divert, the weather at Casement Aerodrome was clear. Regrettably, Rescue 111, which had taken off carrying 600 kg of fuel — three-quarters of its fuel load capacity — had been in the air for over two hours; its fuel was now running short. Diverting to Casement Aerodrome was not an option.

At 00.35 hrs, following the two unsuccessful attempts to land, Rescue 111 advised the control tower at Waterford Airport that they were now going to carry out a “coastal approach.” During a probable go-around from this approach, Rescue 111 impacted sand dunes, some fourteen metres high, adjacent to Tramore Strand. The aircraft was destroyed. There were no survivors. There was a severe post-impact fire.

It was not only the coastal communities of Ireland’s South-East that were numbed and shocked by this horrific accident, but the entire nation was also shaken by the first crash of an Air Corps helicopter in active service in the history of the State. The Irish nation woke up on July 2nd, 1999, to the awful news, instead of reading and hearing about a report on Ireland’s progression of her search and rescue services.

President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern led the messages of sympathy to the families of the four Air Corps personnel. Mr Ahern said that the untimely death of the four men was even more poignant given that they themselves had helped to save the lives of people on a vessel in distress a brief time before the crash.

In Dublin, the Dáil stood for a minute’s silence when it met on the morning of July 2nd, in memory of the four members of the Air Corps. Speaking on behalf of the Government, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mary O’Rourke, said that the tragedy was a timely reminder of the risks that members of the Defence Forces take in performing their duties. Leader of the Opposition, John Bruton, said that by not taking unnecessary risks at sea, all citizens could play their part in ensuring that such tragic accidents did not happen again. The Labour leader, Ruairí Quinn, said that a tragedy such as this affects us all and reminds us of the dangers which face those who do such important work on our behalf.

Until the crash of Rescue 116 on March 14th, 2017, over the sea at Blackrock Island in Co. Mayo, the loss of Rescue 111 was the single biggest tragedy in Irish search-and-rescue history. All four Coast Guard personnel aboard Rescue 116 died: Captain Dara Fitzpatrick; Captain Mark Duffy; winch operator Paul Ormsby; and winchman Ciarán Smith. This tragedy resonated with the volunteers of Dunmore East as Captain Dara Fitzpatrick had spent ten years with Rescue 117 in Waterford, and the lifeboat and helicopter would have practised on many occasions. In addition, winchman Neville Murphy of Rescue 117 is also a volunteer with Dunmore East RNLI.

A salute to the bravery of Captain Dave O’Flaherty, Captain Michael Baker, Sergeant Paddy Mooney, and Corporal Niall Byrne, who were lost doing their duty protecting the lives of others.

‘Go Mairidís Beo.’

Further Reading:

Mayday! Mayday! Heroic Air-Sea Rescues in Irish Waters, by Lorna Siggins, Gill, and Macmillan Ltd. 2004.

Lorna Siggins, a leading Irish Marine Correspondent, devotes two chapters of her book to the Tragedy at Tramore in July 1999. The book comprehensively details all the events leading up to the fatal crash, with transcriptions of the radio calls made between the different services involved. It also analyses the findings of the Investigation conducted by the Air Accident Investigation Unit, regarding the various failures and deficiencies that were revealed. It also covers the grief of the bereaved families as they came to terms with their awful loss.

This is the link to Investigation Report:

https://www.aaiu.ie/sites/default/files/report-attachments/13091-REPORT_2000_011-0.PDF

Epilogue:

"The sea keeps its own counsel, but our coast keeps the memory. From Ballinacourty to the Keeraghs, from Forlorn Point to Tramore Strand, these pages have traced the wake of thirty who turned seaward when others sought shelter. Their stories do not end at Poole or on local stone; they live on in the hands that coil a line, in the glance to a barometer, in the answering of a pager on a winter night.

Lifeboats are different now—engines stronger, electronics brighter, helicopters overhead—but the covenant is the same: to launch, if needed, into whatever weather waits beyond the pier. The names change; the promise does not.

So we close the ledger with gratitude. To the men remembered here, and to those who stand their watch today, may fair winds attend you when they can, and courage when they cannot. And may the telling keep faith with the living and the lost alike."