Hello and welcome aboard this week’s edition of your maritime programme Seascapes ...(scroll down to listen) this week maritime historian Sean Rickard writes about the Shannon Turf Boats; we have a report from the recent Fishermans Friend Irish Mens Shed Association Awards held in the National Maritime Museum we’ll be hearing from Barry Sheridan, CEO of the Irish Mens Shed Association and Martin Stimson from Fishermans Friend, we’ll also meet Adrian Holden and Ray Byrne of the Cooley Peninsula Mens Shed Group members of the Irish Mens Shed Association who were overall winners of The Fishermans Friend Award ........first this week to Youghal where Ron Coveney went along for Seascapes to visit Safehaven Marine who are designers and builders of Pilot boats; patrol boats; crew transfer vessels; hydrographic survey catamarans and military craft, the company was established in 1996 and is based in Youghal and Little Island, they have built over one hundred and ten vessels and have supplied craft to over twenty six countries worldwide and are leaders in their field ..............we hear about one of their unique designs “The Barracuda“ as Ron Coveney spoke to Managing Director Frank Kowalski ..........
Frank Kowalski, Managing Director of SafeHaven Marine in Youghal talking to Ron Coveney for Seascapes ... you can see and read more on the Seascapes webpage and also you can visit the SafeHaven Marine website
Next here on Seascapes to the Shannon and its riverine heritage Sean Rickard has this account of The Shannon Turf Boats...
“ Even before the arrival of the Vikings, the River Shannon was used by indigenous people as a local highway for traffic serving the various communities and villages along its banks. Traffic only crossed at opposite sides of the river but also served to transport goods and people along great stretches to opposite ends of the river system. This riverine traffic increased significantly in the late 18th Century on the expansion of regional metropoli like Limerick Kilrush and Ennis and following the construction of the canals that linked the Shannon with Dublin. Much of the traffic remained regional and here we examine the historic turf trade on the lower part of the Shannon Estuary.
Like all maritime transport, using a waterway was smoother, safer and more efficient throughout history than the alternative use of terrestrial transportation . Who would build and maintain roads and protect them from Highwaymen? So riverine traffic at this section of the river remained very popular, particularly at serving the city of Limerick and conversely the rural hinterland well into the 20th Century largely attributed to the proximity of a large bog at Poolnasherry one of the main suppliers of turf to Limerick and as a regional port of convenience to transatlantic trade. Indeed, Limerick enjoyed a similar with Shannonside towns as Galway city has with the nearby Aran Islands.
During the riverine turf transporting period, mostly small hookers along with other small vessels collectively plied the River Shannon .....Though Cots, Gandelows, Curraghs, Gabbards and other vessels ran turf along the Shannon, by far the most popular vessel in the trade from the 18th Century to its demise was the Shannon Hooker.
These vessels were generally very similar if not identical to the modern replica “Sally O’Keefe” itself built in Querrin near Scattery Island, many vessels in the trade....as the shipwrights that built them would attest had a close resemblance to the Galway Hookers such as Leath Bhads; Gleoiteogs and Pucans with obvious differences in construction.
In 1845 an average turf boat normally employed a boatman and a boy or indeed two men and a young lad for the larger vessels and they normally earned about £200 pounds a year. They transported turf which was in the main landed at Arthurs’ Quay in Limerick City and these vessels often returned with a variety of cargoes sourced at Limerick. Turf boats were predominantly owned by the prominent merchants in their respective communities but were also owned by turf dealers in the city of Limerick.
Over the centuries there were several tragic losses and tall tales about turf boats kept alive in folk memory and handed down as part of the oral tradition of the riverine communities. All traditional sea and riverine faring often invoked a strong belief in the supernatural . One custom among the Shannon boatmen was described by local writer of the period Gerald Griffin in 1833 who wrote ...
“ .......it is perhaps, not generally known, even in Ireland, that the Shannon, which derives its name from its patron, St Senanus, is yet further honoured by the countenance of two minor spiritual dignitaries, Saints Margeret and Martin.
The former is looked up to in all cases of peril on the water, and every good boatman preserves a faithful copy of her remarkable life about his person, as an infallible talisman; offering up occasionally a few paters and aves to win more special regard. St Martin however, on the contrary, seems to win their homage and attention in some countries, rather out of fear than out of respect.
A holiday is kept to honour him once a year and they seem to understand his temper so well, that if chance, or accident, should blow them out of harbour during its tedious lapse, they anticipate, with no little degree of certainty, some unprecedented calamity. With such prepossessions, it was no wonder it should have excited the astonishment of all boatmen on the river, to see, on one of those festivals of rest, the Coobah, a handsome cutter rigged turf boat, off Ringmoylan, beating up against a strong easterly gale, which was every hour becoming more formidable ...”
As Sean Rickard writes such stories as this by Gerald Griffin would vanish in a lifetime, as the Shannon turf trade ended at Limerick City shortly before the Great War, and though efforts had been made to revive it, it has passed into the realm of our cherished maritime heritage. The Story of the Shannon Turf Boats by Sean Rickard – you can read this and see a photo of the Sally O’Keefe on the Seascapes webpage......
Well from the River Shannon to the National Maritime Museum where a few weeks ago the Irish Mens Shed Association and the Awards sponsor Fishermans Friend held an exhibition of artworks created by Mens Shed groups throughout the island of Ireland to encapsulate the essence of what the Mens Shed concept represents Seascapes spoke to Barry Sheridan, CEO of Irish Mens Shed Association and Marin Stimson of Fishermans Friend....
Well from the background of the event to the overall winners the Mens Shed Group from the Cooley Peninsula, we can hear from Ray Byrne in a moment first to Adrian Holden of The Cooley Peninsula Mens Shed Group...
The MOD 70s, Musandam – OmanSail and Concise 10 have registered as entrants to the 2016 Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race.
Ned Collier-Wakefield will bring Concise 10 to Wicklow in June after having picked up his weight in rum as the prize for winning the Grand Prix Multi Hull event and smashing the all-time course record in the Mount Gay Rum Round Barbados Race in March.
Musandam – OmanSail holds the record for a circumnavigation of the island of Ireland under sail, achieved in May of last year and the team are looking forward to beating this record in a race setting. The Omani team in 2016 will be much the same as last year, with their skipper Sidney Gavignet. However, we are excited to see that Kerryman Damian Foxall, a Round the World veteran, will return to their team for the 2016 Volvo Round Ireland.
The official race record for a monohull is held by Mike Slade who completed the race in 2 days 17 hours 48 minutes 47 seconds in ICAP Leopard 3 in 2008.
National award for new Doolin Pier development
The new Doolin Pier development has won the prestigious Irish Concrete Society Award for Infrastructural Projects delivered during 2015.
The award was presented this week to Clare County Council, the contractor L & M Keating Ltd; consulting engineers Punch Consulting, Malachy Walsh & Partners and the main material suppliers for the €6m project, namely Banagher Precast Concrete, Cairealacht Chill-Bhride Teo, Ryan Bros. (Ennis) and McGrath's Quarry.
Among the other shortlisted projects which competed for the Infrastructure Award were the Corrib Tunnel Infill in Co Mayo, the Cloghran AIS Substation in Dublin, Dublin Airport Concrete Apron, Carrigtwohill Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cork and Bridge Projects in Donegal, Sligo and Tyrone.
“Thats all for this weeks edition of Seascapes, on the sound desk this week Bryan Fitzpatrick, next Friday night we meet Dennis Crowley, a scientist at The Marine Institute in Galway ; Sara Murphy takes Seascapes listeners on a visit to Valparaiso, the World Heritage site in Chile a place and a port that resonates with the giants of Irish maritime history from Bransfield to Halpin, Admiral Guillermo Brown to Bernardo O’Higgins .....and we have a report from Ventry where this weekend a special ceremony takes place to mark the centenary.
