The 1920s Herring Boom

Dunmore East and the Herring Boom of the 1920s:

There was a time in the 1920s when Dunmore East seemed to move to the rhythm of the herring fishing. During the height of the season, the quiet harbour village was transformed into one of the busiest fishing centres on the Irish coast, crowded with boats, buyers, labourers, fish workers, coopers, carters and traders from Ireland and abroad.

Major Lloyd, then harbourmaster at Dunmore East, described the developing industry as “the biggest thing around the coast of Ireland.” It was a bold claim, but anyone entering the village during a busy herring season would have understood what he meant.

The small, rockbound harbour was packed with steam drifters lying timber to timber along the pier. Their masts, spars and rigging rose in such numbers that even the lighthouse and its beacon light could be difficult to pick out beyond them. Orders were shouted from boats and the quayside, winches were raised and lowered, baskets of fish were swung ashore, and nets were carried aboard or spread out on land. Men hurried in every direction while, further back, rows of women stood over large wooden troughs, cleaning, salting and packing the catch.

Behind them, new barrels were stacked several feet high on the headland, waiting to be filled.

The activity spread far beyond the pier. Buyers sampled the fish and struck their bargains, lorry drivers carried loads along the roads, coalmen supplied the steam drifters, coopers made and repaired barrels, and labourers found employment in the many smaller jobs created by the season. Dunmore men worked with horse-drawn carts, while motor lorries travelled back and forth from Waterford throughout the day.

It was said that there were more than a hundred different kinds of work connected in some way with the fishing industry. At the height of the trade, approximately one thousand people were drawing weekly wages from it, with much of that money being spent in Dunmore East and Waterford.

A Harbour with an International Trade:

For a small Irish village, Dunmore East had become remarkably cosmopolitan. German, American, Norwegian, English, Scottish and Irish buyers gathered there to compete for the catches brought ashore each morning.

Among them was Mr H. D. Kile of the Scottish-American Herring Company, which had connections with Hamburg and Hoboken, New Jersey. The trade stretched far beyond Ireland. The steamer Lady Belle of Dungarvan once sailed from Dunmore for Hamburg carrying almost 4,000 half-barrels of fish. The steamer Zealous was expected to follow soon afterwards with another large cargo.

The herrings landed in Dunmore were therefore not intended only for nearby towns or Irish markets. They were being sent to feed the populations of European cities and, in some cases, towns and cities in the United States.

Several firms were represented in the harbour during the season. Local businesses included Shipsey and McKee, and McGrath of Dunmore East. Ivory and Millar came from Passage East, while Scottish firms included James Flett and Sons of Buckie, W. and J. Slater, J. J. Cooner of Wick, J. G. Ross, and J. and J. Durbor of Fraserburgh. W. McBirney of Annalong in County Down was also involved.

The list is not complete, but it gives some idea of the scale and geographical reach of the business.

The Growth of the Dunmore Industry:

One reason Dunmore East had become so important was the development of a successful method of curing herrings as Matjes, using a lighter salting process than was common in Ireland at the time.

After being cleaned, the fish were placed in barrels, with coarse salt spread lightly between each row. The process had not previously proved widely successful in Ireland. Shipsey and McKee, two enterprising local businessmen, had begun experimenting with it several years earlier. They reportedly lost money season after season, but continued with the venture.

Eventually, their persistence was rewarded. Buyers were attracted to Dunmore, confidence in the product grew, and the trade expanded to a level never before seen in the village.

Only a few years earlier, the Department of Fisheries had found little use for even one kippering house in Dunmore. By the time the industry reached its height, five such houses were operating.

During one particularly busy period, about fifty steam drifters were packed into the harbour. Their presence brought not only fish but a large seasonal workforce.

The Herring Girls:

Around 150 women were employed in cleaning and packing the herrings. Approximately three-quarters of them came from Donegal, while the remaining quarter came from Scotland.

Their working day began early. Each morning, as the convent bell rang the Angelus at six o’clock, the women made their way down to the curing stations. Apart from short breaks for dinner and tea, they remained standing over the troughs until dusk.

They generally worked in crews of three. Two women gutted the fish while the third packed them into barrels. A skilled crew could complete as many as thirty barrels in a day.

In addition to their ordinary wages, the women received one shilling per barrel. It was hard, wet and unpleasant work, but it could be profitable during a good season.

Few local Dunmore women were said to have worked among the visiting crews. One exception attracted particular notice. She stood over a pile of herrings, gutting fish as quickly and determinedly as the women beside her, even though her father owned three trawlers. Her example was used to make the point that, where worthwhile wages were available, the work was considered neither too hard, too dirty nor too demanding.

The visiting workers brought a distinctive character to the village. Their days were long, their work physically exhausting, and their surroundings filled with the smell of salt, fish, smoke, timber and coal. Yet their labour was central to the success of the entire trade.

The Night Fishing Routine:

The drifters usually put to sea during the afternoon in search of the herring shoals. Early in the season, some travelled as far west as the Old Head of Kinsale. As the weeks passed, however, the fish often moved nearer to Dunmore, allowing the boats to spend more time fishing and less time travelling.

After securing their catches during the night, the drifters returned to the harbour between eight and ten o’clock the following morning, depending on the weather, the location of the shoals and the distance they had travelled.

The arrival of the fleet marked the beginning of the market.

Buyers waited on the quayside to see what the night had produced. Samples were examined, prices argued over and bargains completed. Once the sales had been agreed, unloading began. Baskets of shining herring came ashore in a continuous stream and were carried to the troughs, barrels and curing houses.

Then the entire process started again.

Two Very Different Fleets:

For all the excitement and prosperity, the scene also revealed an uncomfortable contrast.

The Scottish steam drifters and the Irish boats were easily distinguished as they lay in separate groups within the harbour. The Scottish vessels were large, powerful and well equipped. Some could carry catches of sixty, seventy or even one hundred cran of fish, with roughly one thousand herrings reckoned to a cran.

These boats could remain at sea in rough weather and were capable of working efficiently under difficult conditions. In the hands of experienced crews, they were considered economically sound and highly productive.

The Irish vessels, by comparison, were generally smaller, motor-propelled boats with limited carrying capacity. They were less suited to rough weather and were not equipped with the same modern fishing methods. Their crews faced greater danger at sea and could not compete on equal terms with the larger cross-channel boats.

Even the engines created financial difficulties. The working life of a motor engine was often estimated at only about five years, meaning that Irish boat owners had to continually provide for replacement and depreciation.

The contrast was especially painful because foreign vessels were profiting from fish found in Irish waters. While the Department of Fisheries had done much for Dunmore East and for the fishing industry generally, there remained a strong feeling that Irish fishermen had been left at a disadvantage.

They could see the improved methods being used around them, but without better vessels, equipment and financial support, they were unable to match them. Much of the most profitable trade was therefore carried away before their eyes.

Industries That Might Have Grown

The herring trade had the potential to support far more than fishing alone.

There was employment in barrel-making and in producing wooden boxes for the kipper trade. Coopers were already busy during the season, but a larger and more secure industry might have supported them throughout the year.

Fish waste also offered possibilities. In England, the discarded guts and remains of the fish were processed into useful manure. In Ireland, much of this material was simply buried or thrown back into the sea.

With sufficient development and State assistance, these related industries might have grown alongside the fisheries, creating additional employment and ensuring that more value remained within the country.

Yet such businesses could only remain secondary activities while Irish fishermen lacked the equipment and resources needed to compete effectively. The fishermen themselves were willing and capable of taking their share from the wealth of the sea, but willingness and skill alone could not overcome the disadvantages under which they worked.

A Village Transformed

For the duration of the herring season, Dunmore East became a village unlike any other.

The harbour was filled with steam, smoke, shouting voices and the creak of ropes and winches. Horse carts and motor lorries moved constantly along the roads. Barrels stood in great piles, boats crowded the piers, and buyers from several countries negotiated beside workers from Donegal, Scotland, Waterford and the surrounding district.

The trade brought prosperity, employment and an international importance that must have seemed extraordinary for such a small coastal village.

Looking back a century later, the scenes described from that period offer a glimpse of Dunmore East at one of the busiest moments in its fishing history. It was a time when the harbour stood at the centre of a vast seasonal industry, when the shoals of herring drew fleets and workers from across Ireland and Britain, and when the fortunes of an entire village rose and fell with the boats returning from the sea.