The Life and Times of the Lily Doreen
The Last Sailing Pilot Cutter
Stationed in Waterford Harbour.
by David Carroll

"In this article, David Carroll traces the journey of Lily Doreen, a Brixham trawler that would later serve as the Dunmore East pilot boat. Built in 1921, she was neither the fastest nor the finest of her kind, but her story reveals the practical realities of wooden sailing vessels in an age of transition.

Through fishermen, yachtsmen, and eventually pilots, Lily Doreen adapted to shifting fortunes—surviving near-disasters, economic strain, and the upheaval of war. Her decline mirrors the fate of many working sail craft, yet her legacy endures in Ireland’s maritime memory.

This is not a sentimental tribute but a functional account of why such vessels mattered. Drawing on first-hand sources—from Gary MacMahon’s restoration work to Cormac Lowth’s research—Carroll documents a fading tradition. The result is a clear-eyed examination of the boats that connected communities and the people who kept them afloat."

Brixham harbour as it looks today. Photos: Fr Ivan Tonge. 

Gary MacMahon, who spearheaded the project to repatriate and restore the historic wooden ketch Ilen, which is now used for community-based sailing and educational projects, describes Brixham trawlers as follows:

The sailing Brixham Trawlers were purposeful wooden vessels that combined strength, seaworthiness, and a powerful rig to propel them at celebrated speeds. The characterising design of the Brixham trawlers evolved to exploit rich fishing grounds off the Devon Coasts. Their fine hull lines, propelled by a tall gaff ketch rig, made them fast and weatherly for long passages to and from where they set their nets. That robust ketch rig of deep red sails also provided the motive power for towing large trawls through Atlantic waters, even in broken weather. The success of the Brixham Trawlers ensured that the aquatic technology they exemplified by other fishing communities on British coasts was soon adopted, allowing them access deeper fishing grounds with speed and safety.

After the Napoleonic Wars, a number of Brixham fishermen, their families and boats settled in Ringsend at the mouth of the Liffey. It has been said that the Rev HF Lyte, the composer of the famous hymn, Abide with Me, may have been instrumental in encouraging the Brixham fishermen to migrate to Dublin. The Rev Lyte had been educated in Ireland and ministered briefly here before moving to Devon.

For one hundred years, from 1818 until 1919, there was a large fleet of sailing trawlers based in Ringsend, over two hundred and fifty in total. At its height, there were about seventy of these vessels in Ringsend. Many of the crews settled in Ringsend and intermarried with the locals and their descendants still live there today. A great many of the subsequent fleet were built in Ringsend in the boatyards on the Dodder built to the same specifications as those built in Brixham.

The Lily Doreen was built at the yard of JW & A Upham in 1921. Upham’s  was the most well-known of all the boatyards in Brixham, situated on Berry Head Road, and was easily identified by all visitors to the town until its eventual closure in 1976. Uphams had being building ships in Brixham since 1818. Such was it famed reputation, around twenty years before its closure and using the skills of the elderly traditional workmen, it built a close replica of the 17th -century ship Mayflower, based on research and one that could sail the Atlantic. The original Mayflower was celebrated for transporting the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620. The vessel was gifted to America.

Lily Doreen had a gross weight of thirty tons. Her Official Number was 139426 and was listed as BM 115 – BM standing for Brixham. Her first owner was Mr John Prowse Holland Jnr, with an address at 71 New Road, Brixham.

The 1911 Census records John Prowse Holland as being twenty-three years of age and described as a fisherman. His wife, Lilly Maria is twenty-one years old, and they have one daughter, also named Lilly, who is just three months old. The spelling has two ‘l’s’ in the name. When John Prowse Holland had his new smack built by Uphams in 1921, he chose the name ‘Lily Doreen’ in celebration of his two daughters, Lily who would have been ten years old at that stage and his second daughter, Doreen, who was born in 1918.

The Western Guardian newspaper of February 17th, 1921, reported:

“The new smack Lily Doreen (Mr J Prowse Holland) having completed her outfit in the Inner Harbour, proceeded to sea this week.”

In the aftermath World War One, fishermen had to contend to deal with an extra hardship as many of the traditional fishing grounds were littered with shipwrecks.

Fourteen years after hostilities ended, floating mines continued to be a threat to mariners off the coasts of England and the Liverpool Journal of Commerce on leap year’s day, February 29th, 1932, in a miscellaneous column, reported the following:

“Floating Mine. – Smack Lily Doreen, BM 115, reports floating mine, position seven miles NNE Empress of India Buoy, 4am. Feb. 27; colour buff, four horns and bar showing. (Brixham, Feb. 27.)”

 In 1935, misfortune beset the livelihood of Lily Doreen’s skipper and crew. The Western Morning News and Daily Gazette on October 30th contained the following short report:

 BRIXHAM TRAWLER’S LOST GEAR

The Brixham fishing smack Lily Doreen (Mr Prowse Holland) arrived at Brixham on Monday with loss of trawling gear through parting her warp in sunken wreckage in the fishing grounds off the Berry Head. This is the fifth similar loss that Mr Holland has experienced since last April.

 Such a loss could not be sustained, and it was, no doubt, with much reluctance and heartache that Mr Prowse Holland was forced to sell his smack.

 Ownership of Lily Doreen now passed to Mr Morgan McMahon of Limerick. Morgan McMahon (1887-1970) was a prosperous timber merchant from Limerick who developed an avid passion for boating.  His late son, Brendan, compiled notes and photographs on the various yachts and motorboats owned his father.  This interesting information, forming part of Ireland’s boating heritage has been very commendably made available online for all to enjoy.

The story ‘The Second Life of Lily Doreen’ is accessed on ‘Our Irish Heritage – Documenting our history and heritage online.' https://www.ouririshheritage.org/content/archive/topics/traditional-boats-of-irelands-wild-atlantic-way-topics/remembering-our-west-of-ireland-boats/the-second-life-of-lily-doreen

Around 1926, Morgan McMahon was inspired by reading a book by another Limerick man entitled "Across Three Oceans”. This was an account of Conor O’Brien’s circumnavigation of the world on a two-year voyage in his yacht Saoirse that he designed himself and had built at Baltimore, Co Cork. Conor O’Brien (1880- 1852) was a grandson of the Young Irelander, William Smith O’Brien and he also took part in gun running in 1914, using his yacht Kelpie to collect a cargo of arms for the Irish Volunteers from a German tug in the same operation in which Erskine Childers’ yacht Asgard took part.

O’Brien’s epic voyage took him across the southern oceans, following the winds, taking him past the three great capes: South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, Australia’s Cape Leeuwin, and South America’s Cape Horn.  Saoirse would have the first boat flying the tricolour of the new Irish state to enter many ports around the world.

Morgan McMahon’s inspiration led him to have a motor yacht built like Conor O’Brien’s Saoirse at the Fishery School at Baltimore and under the same foreman to a design that would allow the boat to cruise also on inland waters. The name of the new boat was Éire.  These boats were strong and solid and based on traditional fishing boat designs. He cruised on this boat along the West Coast, on Lough Derg and twice voyaged to Dublin via the Grand Canal. In 1934, he commissioned another motor yacht, Elizabeth, designed and built in France.

Morgan McMahon next turned to sailing and he may very well have been influenced by a colleague, George Spillane, who was sailing a converted Brixham trawler, based on the South Coast of England.

Before Morgan McMahon brought Lily Doreen back to Limerick, he got Uphams to install an 18-horsepower diesel engine driving out through the quarter as a shaft through the sternpost was impractical. With a paid hand, ‘Gianty’ Fitzmaurice, who had experience of sailing on square rigged ships around Cape Horn, and members of his family and a friend, the Lily Doreen was successfully sailed from Brixham up the Shannon Estuary to Limerick Docks.

Lily Doreen in the Shannon Estuary.
Photo: Brendan McMahon

Work on conversion to a yacht to a high standard continued in Limerick. Being a timber merchant was certainly helpful. Oregon pine decks were laid over the original ones and the interior of the vessel was fitted out to an extremely high standard with oak panelling, electric lighting and gas cooking and fresh water to the cabins. An important feature was the addition of a small deck house, which was partly sunk into the original fish hatch, built in such a way as not to interfere with the main boom and allow the helmsman to see over it. The boat had been sailed home with the original tiller, but this was now replaced by wheel steering. The name Lily Doreen was retained as were her tan coloured sails.

Unfortunately, despite all the additional work being conducted, as the McMahon memoirs tell us, Lily Doreen did not make a great yacht. At sea, she needed plenty of wind to make her go to weather and with a big sea and her low trawler freeboard, she was very wet on the wind, heeling to a nice breeze. The lee deck was always awash.  She was fine for ocean cruising but too slow when day sailing near the coast.

In 1936, Lily Doreen cruised to Derrynane in Co Kerry for a family holiday. The following year, 1937, a longer cruise to St Malo in France was planned. The weather was unkind, but they did reach St Peter Port in Guernsey, a planned stop, and it was decided to go no further. On the return leg from there to Brixham, Lily Doreen’s original home port, she was becalmed in severe fog. The crew expected to hear a fog signal from Berry Head. They did hear something all right. It turned out to be a large German passenger liner steaming through the fog at full speed. It was quite a frightening ordeal for all on board Lily Doreen.

A more pleasant experience happened at Brixham on the outward voyage. Lily Doreen put into Brixham on a sunny Sunday afternoon. There were a number of small boats out with people enjoying the fine weather.  As Lily Doreen got inside the breakwater, there was much shouting and arm-waving from one particular rowing boat.  A lady stood up and shouted, “I’m Lily and she is Doreen.” They followed Lily Doreen into the harbour and came on board once she was safely tied up. They explained that it had been their father’s boat named after them and so overjoyed to see it again, they were in tears.

The return voyage from Brixham was delayed further as they had to shelter from a gale in Newlyn for several days. There was still a big swell from the gale when they departed Newlyn and tragedy almost struck Lily Doreen shortly after departing Newlyn as Brendan McMahon, aged thirteen-years, was knocked overboard by the boom. The dramatic accident was extensively reported upon in British newspapers at the time. The Cornish Post and Mining Times of August 14th, 1937, reported:

BOY OVERBOARD

THRILLING RESCUE IN MOUNTS BAY

A man and a boy had a very narrow escape from drowning this Thursday morning, when they were picked up by a Newlyn fishing boat off Lamorna. The yacht “Lily Doreen” was just off the Bucks rock, which are outside Lamorna, at about mid-day when Brendan McMahon, aged thirteen, was knocked overboard by a boom, which swung and struck him on the back of the head. He was flung into the sea, and his brother, aged about twenty, immediately and very pluckily jumped in after him without a lifebelt.

The “Lily Doreen,” which was once a fishing smack and has now been converted into a private yacht, at once put about. Those on board attempted to launch a punt and go to the rescue of the two floundering in the sea, but as soon as they launched it, it was swamped, and later it drifted out to sea.

While this was happening the RMS “Scillonian,” which was coming across from the Isles of Scilly to Penzance, arrived on the scene. As she approached, those on board saw a smack tacking, but took little notice of that. As they came abreast, however, they could see the man and boy in the water. The “Scillonian” came close, and an officer threw a lifebelt, which fell within three or four yards. Just as the “Scillonian” was in the act of lowering a boat, a Newlyn fishing boat – the “Forget-Me-Not”- skippered by Mr W Capps, which had been putting out to sea, came alongside.

The “Forget-Me-Not” picked up the man and boy and a wireless message was sent from the “Scillonian” to Penzance for a doctor and the Penzance ambulance to come to the quay.

The “Forget-Me-Not” put about and headed for Penzance, where on the quayside, she was met by Dr Reid, the Penzance ambulance, under Transport Officer T Cooper and PC Radford.

The boy and man were at once removed to the West Cornwall Hospital, where they were stated this (Thursday) afternoon to be in an exhausted condition.

A piece of fortuitous good luck surrounded this dramatic rescue. While sheltering in Newlyn, Mrs McMahon got in conversation with the skipper of the smack Forget-Me Not. The skipper was bemoaning the fact that he was about to lose a day’s fishing as his wife was about to go into hospital to have baby.  On Mrs McMahon’s advice, he visited his wife in hospital and then went fishing. He went to sea later than usual, and would not have come across Lily Doreen, otherwise. 

 Another gale was encountered in the Channel and that saw Lily Doreen run for the safety of Dunmore East. Much later than had been planned, Lily Doreen finally made her way home to Limerick Docks.

For 1938 and 1939, the cruises of Lily Doreen were restricted to the South-West and South Coasts of Ireland.  Each year, Lily Doreen reached Dunmore East and visited every good anchorage between there and the Shannon Estuary.  Little did people know at the time, that some years later, Lily Doreen would end up in a permanent basis in Dunmore East.

While at anchor and enjoying the beauty of Glengariff, on evening in late August 1939, the McMahons realised that something ominous was taking place. The Irish Lights tender, Isolda was sounding her siren repeatedly in short blasts before a hurried departure. Next morning, news of the impending World War became known. Lily Doreen also left Glengariff and safely reached Limerick just before Neville Chamberlain came on the radio and declared war on Germany. Her coastal cruising days were over.  She would not be suitable for day sailing on the Shannon. As a timber merchant, who had experience of trading through Word War One, Mr McMahon’s priorities lay elsewhere. 

The memoirs of the McMahon family note that the Lily Doreen was sold, without any great delay, to Waterford Harbour Commissioners as a pilot boat.  The Munster Express of Friday, June 12th, 1942, reported that a pilot cutter arrived in Waterford from Limerick under the command of Captain Stubbs, a Waterford native. However, it was November 14th, 1942, before Lily Doreen came on station as a pilot boat at Dunmore East. Dunmore was where the pilots, who took ships up the River Suir to Waterford Port and also ones bound for New Ross Port as far as Cheekpoint, were stationed.

Pilot Master, Captain Andrew Doherty efficiently logged, on a twice daily basis, the weather conditions in addition recording the vessels that picked up pilots to enter Waterford Harbour on their voyage to Waterford Port or New Ross or to take off pilots from ships sailing outbound.  He also meticulously recorded the times that the engine was run as well daily pumping from the bilges.

 Captain Doherty came from Coolbunnia, Half-Way House, Waterford, before moving to live in Cheekpoint. Like most men of the area, he learned his trade as a young man drift netting for salmon in Waterford Harbour before going to sea and returning to accept duty as a pilot.  He retired in 1947.

 Trading conditions were very difficult during the wartime years.  It was mainly auxiliary schooners and small coastal vessels that arrived at the mouth of Waterford Harbour. Names such as the Arklow schooners, Happy Harry and De Wadden and the Antelope from Wexford are to be found in the logged records.  These heroic Irish ships and their gallant crews should still be remembered fondly as they braved marine warfare to keep Ireland from starvation. Their only defences were their neutrality markings.

Another vessel, whose name crops up frequently in the records of the Lily Doreen is the SS Carnalea. Dr Michael Kennedy, in his book Guarding Neutral Ireland, states that this Belfast registered collier was attacked by a German aircraft, while outward bound from Waterford Harbour on July 28th, 1940. The same aircraft had earlier attacked the SS Rockabill, the Clyde Shipping vessel four miles north-west of the Saltee Islands. Because it was outside Irish territorial water, the British registered vessel was able to open fire with her own anti-aircraft gun.  The bombs missed and the Rockabill made it safely into Waterford.

An early 1944 list of Waterford Harbour Pilots from the log book of Lily Doreen.
(National Archives)

Life was also tough for the pilots during the war years. In May 1944, because of the downturn in trade and revenue, Waterford Harbour Commissioners laid off a total of six pilots until further notice with two more being redeployed in Waterford.  One pilot would be on duty at the station in Passage East and the memorandum from Pilot Superintendent, Captain RJ Farrell, Waterford Harbour Master, went on the read:

The pilot boat is to be moored in the Dunmore Dock with her anchor down well ahead and a wire leading from aft to the lower link of one of the chains on the quay wall. Captain Doherty and Pilot Fitzgerald are to maintain day and night watch between them, keep the vessel, in good order, and Pilot Fitzgerald is to be available for pilotage duties whenever required. The Port Control have instructions to notify the pilot vessel of the arrival of vessels at the entrance to the harbour, and to lend a hand in the pilot punt.

In June 1947, the Secretary of Waterford Harbour Commissioners informed his committee that on the night of April 1st, at 9pm, the steam trawler East Coast of Milford Haven, when entering the harbour at Dunmore East, collided with and damaged the Lily Doreen and had informed the skipper of the trawler and had wired and written to the owners that they were responsible for the damage caused. He went on to say that he had contacted Mr Tyrrell of Arklow to survey the damage and the estimate for repairs would be £450, if they were conducted by Mr Tyrrells’s firm in Arklow, but they could not start before three months. A letter was read from the Don Steam Trawling Company, the owners, saying that as a pilot was on board, they declined to accept responsibility. The instruction from Mr O’Connor, Law Adviser to the Commissioners, was that having a pilot on board would not exonerate the steam trawler from responsibility.

On October 17th, 1947, the  Waterford News printed a report of a meeting held on July 27th, at which, Mr O’Connor advised that had received a letter from a firm of solicitors intimating that the owners had admitted liability and that they were  examining the account of cost of repairs.

In July 1950, came news that sounded the end for Waterford’s last sailing pilot cutter. It was reported that Messrs John Tyrrell and Sons of Arklow had under construction a new pilot boat for Waterford with twin-screw diesel engines.

The new boat, which was fifty feet in length, was launched on Wednesday, October 3rd, 1951, at Arklow and underwent trials on the same day. The christening ceremony took place on the following day and was performed by Miss Betty Breen, youngest daughter of Mr MS Breen, Harbour Board Chairman and the boat was named Betty Breen in the presence of a representative gathering, including the Mayor of Waterford, Alderman T Lynch.

Shortly afterwards, the Lily Doreen was put up for sale and notices appeared in local and national newspapers.

Very soon, there was wide coverage in newspapers that two young sailors had inspected Lily Doreen. The Irish Times of December 12th. 1951, carried the following news story:

Two of Ituna’s crew plan new adventure.

It was learned in Waterford yesterday that Anthony Jacob and John Kenny, two of the crew of the yacht Ituna which crossed the Atlantic last year, are seeking a vessel in which to embark on a new adventure.

They intend to go a voyage to the Caribbean Sea and with others, have inspected Waterford Harbour Commissioners’ pilot cutter Lily Doreen with a view to purchasing it.

 The story of the yacht Ituna was an amazing one. Built originally during the First World War for two Naval Officers, it had fallen on hard times and was in a neglected state when it was bought by four young Irish students for £150 and they refurbished the 36-foot yacht completely and sailed it successfully from Ireland to New York in 1950 to much acclaim and attracted worldwide attention.

They set out from Rosslare on June 6th 1950 and arrived safely, via Madeira, in New York, 108 days later.  The name Ituna in Greek mythology means ‘The Goddess of Sky and Storms.’  Three of students, Anthony Jacob of Wexford, John Kenny of Tipperary and Dermot Dalton of Dublin travelled on from New York to Wisconsin, where they continued to pursue their architectural studies for a year. The yacht was brought back to Ireland on the deck of the Irish Pine, accompanied by the fourth sailor, Kevin O’Farrell of Dublin. The Irish Hospital Sweepstakes subsequently bought the yacht and it was placed in a lottery, confined to all the yachting and sailing clubs in Ireland and Great Britain. The successful winners were the Redcliffe Yacht Club in Wareham, Dorset. The arrival of the yacht to Wareham was reported in the Irish Times on August 16th, 1951:

Ituna Gets Salute from New Club

A seven-round salute greeted the Ituna skipper, Tony Jacob, and his crew as they put into Wareham, Dorset, headquarters of the Ituna’s new owners, Redclyffe Yacht Club, reports the Irish News Agency.

Jacob said: “We had a particularly good trip, indeed, in good sailing weather, but to me it was not as enjoyable as the New York trip, and it was more dangerous. I prefer to be sailing away from the land.”

When a bystander asked Jacob if he was sorry for parting with the Ituna, he replied: “Not at all. We will get another one, and it will a bigger one next time.”

We do not know if Mr Jacob did buy a bigger boat, but one thing is certain it was not the Lily Doreen.  Instead of spending the last chapter of her life in the warm clear waters of the Caribbean Sea, sailing from island to island, Lily Doreen would remain, in a forlorn state, moored to a hulk in Waterford, close to the harbour office, for several years more years, with the mud as her only companion.

In August 1953, came news that the Waterford Company of An Slua Muirí, the Naval Reserve, were very anxious to purchase Lily Doreen to be used for training in seamanship and navigation.

The report went on to say that for many years, the company had no boat of their own, which was a handicap when practical instruction was required.  They felt that the boat would be ideal for their needs and in that regard, an appeal was being made to the citizens of Waterford for funds to go towards the cost of purchase, and a collection was being organised for August 22nd.

The Munster Express on October 2nd, 1953, reported that the purchase price was £700. On February 2nd, 1954, the Waterford News reported that only £100 remained to be collected to purchase the vessel and to that end a dance was being held in the Olympia Ballroom, Waterford on that night to endeavour to collect the elusive £100.  In the course of a lengthy article, the paper went on to pay tribute to the local members of the Maritime Inscription who had served during the war years, or as commonly referred to ‘The Emergency.’ An Slua Muirí was now performing that role of training part-time naval servicemen.  

"Mention of the “Lily Doreen” brings to mind some of the stalwarts of the past who served on her for spare-time training with the pilots during the uneasy days of the emergency. These were the men of the Maritime Inscription, the big sister movement of the present Slua Muirí. Names spring readily to mind: George Goodfellow, Rickard Farrell, Dick Madigan, Billy Boyce, Paddy Barry, Billy McCarthy, Jack Egan, Douglas McBride and a host of others now left the city or completely retired."

Another paragraph in the same article, read as follows:

Soon, Will Be “Up Anchor”!

At last our dreams are nearing reality. On Monday night next a work party may be seen as they start “sprucing-up” operations on “The Lily Doreen.” Yes, at last she is ours and, as soon as the last £100 debt which remains to be paid is met with, we can with pride really call her our own. When at last she is spick and span, we will have the official Take-Over Ceremony and if rumour is right this will be one of the most colourful pageants ever seen in Waterford. The bands will play, the flags will fly, and public dignitaries and officials will be there in all their colourful costumes – so roll on the work parties.

Sadly, the final voyage of the Lily Doreen from Waterford did not live up to the great expectation that the funding efforts and preparatory work to make her seaworthy, had promised.  It was very much an anti-climax. 

On Friday, May 13th, during the following year of 1955, Lily Doreen made her last voyage.  Long considered a harbinger of bad luck, Friday the 13th was not the best choice for her departure. The Munster Express on the following Friday, May 20th, carried a rather colourful report of her departure from Waterford. The report was written by a correspondent, who styled himself under a nom de plume as ‘Salty.’

Lily Doreen’s Gallant Effort

Naval Occasion Marred by Storm

Everything seemed set to go as planned. At 9a.m. on Friday morning last, the 13th inst., the “Lily Doreen,” at the Harbour Masters wharf, presented a busy scene of bustle and excitement. Members of the company who had been selected for the trip to Cobh, Co Cork, hurried on board. Under the eagle-eyes of Warrant Officer Steve Wadding and Chief Petty Officer Tom Doyle, last minute stores were shipped, moorings “singled up,” covers lashed down and men stationed. Down below, Stokers Forde and Dalton were busy under Engineer Officer Lieut. Espey, with adjustments here, oiling there, and general preparation. Up the river like a grey ministering angle came corvette “Maev,” to act as escort. With the signal “Are you ready, Doreen?” flashing she swung in a huge arc and stood off to wait. With Lieut. Gower and Ens. Chapman on board the “Let Go” rang out and “Lily Doreen” moved out slowly and gracefully into midstream. Thanks to the men below, the engine that had been giving trouble all along, responded immediately and she was soon lashed along-side “Maev” for the trip down-stream. When they reached Passage East, they met the first of the Atlantic swell. There was a consultation between both skippers, Lt. Gower and the captain of the corvette, Lieut. Commander Whelan, as to whether the conditions prevailing warranted “help” sailing on her own or not. Before anything could be done, a heavier squall than usual struck, parted the lashings, and ripped away part of our ship’s forward bulwarks. It was only the presence of mind of our own men that saved her from more severe damage.

In spite of this it was decided to proceed to sea, but at the Hook conditions worsened and it was decided to turn back. It took a superb piece of seamanship to keep the boat on a level keel that night as she fought her way back to the haven of Dunmore. But at last, she was inside the sheltering wall and could listen, quietly to the wind howling across the top, as she slowly recovered.

Sailors are notedly superstitious and now they are saying that we shouldn’t have sailed on Friday the 13th with 13 on board. Nor should we have carried that red-headed deck-hand. All were apparently very bad omens!!

SALTY.

The Cork Examiner, of Friday, June 22nd, 1956, carried a report that much interest was aroused in Waterford by the visit of the corvette Maev, which had arrived on the previous Wednesday.  The report said that the crew would remove the ballast from the Lily Doreen, which had been berthed for several months near the Harbour Master’s office. It had been decided to remove the ballast as the cost of putting the vessel into serviceable condition would be prohibitive.  The report said that, on the previous evening, the ship was being dismantled by a group which included officers and men of the local Slua Muirí and the understanding was that the vessel would be scrapped.

John Walsh for many years the Pilot Master on the Betty Breen and also Coxswain of Dunmore East Lifeboat, RNLB St Patrick from 1984 until 1996 informed me of the final outcome of the vessel, which he could recall, growing up as a teenager in Passage East.  His father, Val Walsh, who was also a pilot bought the hull of the vessel for a nominal amount from Captain Farrell, Waterford Harbour Master. The mast and riggings had already been removed and all that was left was the bare hull, which was described as being ‘rotten.’  John told me that he helped his father to break up the hull on the slipway at Passage East. It was only fit for firewood.  There would have been many a cosy fireside in Passage East during the following winter.

A sad and unfortunate end to a fine sailing vessel, which had been part of the maritime heritage of three locations during it lifetime, Brixham, Limerick and Waterford Harbour.

Footnote: 

Nowadays, people might look back and bemoan the fact that greater efforts were not made to conserve more sailing vessels, like Lily Doreen, and keep them for future generations as perhaps sail training vessels. The loss of Lily Doreen, after just thirty-five years, was not unique. Only a handful of Brixham sailing trawlers remain to this day.

We are fortunate in Ireland that one of these remaining Brixham sailing trawlers, and largest, is still sailing around our coastline.  Silvery Light Sailing, based in Newry, Co Down is a Sail Training Charity that was enabled by generous funding from the UK Lottery Fund to bring Leader to Northern Ireland in 2022.

Leader was built in 1892 for William Robbens by the yard of AW Gibbs at Galmpton Creek on the River Dart, just two miles from Brixham. Leader is rigged as she would have been when first built, as a gaff ketch. She is 80′ (24m) long on deck, and 105′ (32m) overall and represents the Brixham design at its peak. Silvery Light Sailing provide  an annual programme of residential voyages that give youth and community groups an opportunity to experience and benefit from a taste of life at sea on a traditional sailing ship.

You can read about these trawlers in Cormac’s wonderful book “Ringsend Sailing Trawlers – With Some History of Boatbuilding in Ringsend.’’  Peggy Bawn Press 2021

The circumnavigation of the world by Conor O’Brien in 1923 throws up another interesting footnote link to this story. It is recalled in this story that it was Conor O’Brien who inspired a fellow Limerick man Morgan McMahon to take an interest in yachting and he went on to bring Lily Doreen to Ireland. 

When Conor O’Brien had rounded Cape Horn, he made a stop at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. The local people were fascinated by his modest boat, Saoirse, and how she had endured the vast Southern Ocean. This led to Conor O’Brien being tasked with the design, build and delivery of a larger version of Saoirse for the Falkland Islands, to operate as a cargo trader.  The new boat was called Ilen, named after the river and estuary whose mouth is at Baltimore, and was built in 1926 at the same boatyard, by the same builders as Saoirse. She was 56 feet in length overall with a beam of 14 feet. In August 1926, Conor O’Brien and two men from Cape Clear set out and delivered Ilen to Port Stanley, arriving in January 1927. Ilen stayed in service until the 1990s, operating as a transport boat, hauling sheep, people, and supplies to various island farm communities. 

That she was able to return to her country of birth for restoration is thanks to the perseverance and efforts of one man – Limerick’s Gary Mac Mahon. Enthusiastic about preserving Ireland’s maritime heritage, he travelled to the Falklands in 1997 to explore the possibility of bringing the old ketch home. Through funds provided by the Hunt Museum in Limerick, Ilen was returned to Ireland on board a Russian cargo ship, MV Angeliki, in October 1997.  Restoration work took place in Hegarty’s Boatyard, Oldcourt, Skibbereen, the last wooden boatyard in Ireland. Since the re-construction and launch in 2018, the AK Ilen, (AK standing for Auxiliary Ketch) has been described as a “much-voyaged, national icon of Ireland’s sea-going history, being a mobile ‘embassy’ of Irish maritime heritage and a practical ‘real world’ context for teaching traditional shipwright, rigging, and seamanship skills.”

The Ilen holds a special place in Ireland’s maritime heritage – she is the countries only surviving vessel of her kind. Her survival is to be cherished.

In time for the centenary celebration in 2023 of Conor O’Brien’s circumnavigation of the world, a replica of Saoirse was re-constructed at Hegarty’s Boatyard. The original Saoirse was lost in a hurricane in Jamaica in 1979.

Ireland owes a great deal of gratitude to all the people involved in the conservation, restoration, re-construction and operation of these wonderful vessels.

Acknowledgements:

I want to thank the following for their assistance in compiling this article:

Gary MacMahon, Fr Ivan Tonge, P.P., Ringsend, Cormac Lowth, Andrew Doherty, Brendan Grogan, Brendan Dunne, John Walsh, Dr Pat McCarthy, John Burke and Brian Cleare.