Maritime historian Cormac Lowth will present the final talk in The National Maritime Museum's winter series when he discusses the Sailing Trawlers of Ringsend on Thursday, 24th March at 7.30 pm.

For one hundred years, from 1818 until 1919, there was a large fleet of sailing trawlers based in Ringsend, moored along the Pigeonhouse Road. At its height, there were about seventy of these vessels in Ringsend.

Over the century there were about three hundred of them in all. The first of the boats came from Brixham in Devon, and many of the crews settled in Ringsend and intermarried with the locals. Many descendants still live there today. A great many of the subsequent fleet were built in Ringsend in the boatyards on the Dodder.

Cormac will be describing the arrival of the boats, their fishing activity, the people who crewed in them, wrecks collisions and losses, and much more. He will also be discussing the activities of many of the boat builders who built the trawlers in Ringsend.

Cormac will be showing a great deal of rare and interesting photographs and art images of the Ringsend sailing trawler fleet. This lecture will shed a light on a period that represents a hitherto neglected but important aspect of the maritime life of Dublin Bay.

Cormac Lowth is a retired Builder who has had a lifelong interest in the sea and maritime history. He spent several years as a merchant seaman on cargo ships and he has been a scuba diver for much of his life. He has been involved in boats since childhood and was a member of the crew of the Galway Hooker 'Naomh Crónán', based in the Poolbeg Yacht Club in Ringsend for many years. He is a member of the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association, a traditional boat group, and he presently crews on a Laurent Giles 'Hillyard 36', also based in Ringsend.

Cormac is a member of the Maritime Institute of Ireland and the Dun Laoghaire Borough Historical Society. He has served on the committees of both of these organisations, and in the same capacity for the Old Dublin Society. He has lectured extensively on Maritime matters and he has written a great many articles on diving and marine-related subjects. Cormac's book, 'The Ringsend Sailing Trawlers' is presently awaiting publication. He also has an abiding interest in maritime art and he has been known to take up a brush occasionally!

Please book at Eventbrite tickets cost €5 plus booking fee here

Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club (CYBC) will host Cormac F. Lowth of the Irish Maritime Archaeological Society who will deliver a free illustrated historic boats lecture, ‘The Sailing Trawlers of Ringsend’ this Friday, October 30th at 8pm.

'Cormac’s talk is a fascinating story of the history of boating building in Ringsend which offers an insight into the life and times of the communities, the builders and the boats they constructed', says CYBC commodore Larry Meany.

There was a thriving industry along the Dodder in the early 1800s where many of the boatyards were based and Cormac has an incredible collection of unique and rare illustrations of the vessels as well as extensive lists of the names and crews of the boats.

'Cormac’s knowledge and interest in this era of history, the boats and people who built and sailed them is incredible. He is spent several years at sea on merchant ships and is the author of many historical and travel articles. Anyone interested in boating, building, or the industry and people in Dublin in the early 1800s will find this illustrated lecture interesting, informative and entertaining says Meany.

The illustrated lecture ‘The Sailing Trawlers of Ringsend’ by Cormac F. Lowth will take place in Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club, Belvedere, Clontarf Road on Friday 30th of October.