Tom MacSweeney column: Ships come and ships go, but leave their mark on any port

Tracing ships, their names, and their connections with Cork gives fascinating insights into Leeside’s maritime history.

Queenstown is best known as the former name of the town Cobh, before Irish independence, but there is another Queenstown, south of New York, in Lancaster County in the US.

In February 1883, a ship arrived there, leaking badly. She was named the Light Brigade, of 1,200 tons, and her condition was such that she was condemned and sold off, to be converted into a hulk for coal storage.

The ship, which was previously owned by the Black Ball Line, of James Baines & Co., Liverpool, had carried British troops and cavalry to war zones, among other voyages, and had taken emigrants to Australia and New Zealand.

The Light Brigade was bought in 1875 by Achilles Wood Wright & Co., and registered in Cork. 

In 1876, the Cork Harbour Docks and Warehouses Company bought the vessel, reducing its masts and sailing rig in size to that of a barque.

Two years later, Achilles Wood Wright owned her once again. In 1891 she was still listed as a coal hulk. Light Brigade was also the name of the British cavalry that charged Russian forces at the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War in 1854, suffering horrendous loss of life. Another vessel connected to Cork, because it went aground on the county’s coastline, was the British cargo ship, SS Messina.

Bound to Antwerp carrying grain, it sank in the North Atlantic in a severe storm on December 13, 1919. Just over a year before that, during the First World War, in October 1918, she had escaped from a German submarine that tried to sink her in the Atlantic.

And in the previous year, February 1917, she had been at the centre of a rescue on the East Cork coastline, after running aground near Knockadoon.

It took three days and the blowing-up of some rocks for three tugs to pull her off.

A ship named Miami, built in 1904, was torpedoed without warning by German U-boat UC 51, south of the Fastnet on June 22, 1917, also during World War One. No lives were lost.

The crew abandoned ship into lifeboats and were picked up later by a Royal Navy vessel.

The cargo, according to reports, was mainly bananas and tropical fruit. The wreck was discovered on the seabed in the 1990s, and described as ‘reasonably intact.’ German submarines had lain in wait off the Atlantic coastline for ships headed for Cork, but also suffered their own problems.

They had also laid mines around the entrance to Cork Harbour.

On September 10, three months after the torpedoing of the Miami, the German minelaying submarine, UC-42, was destroyed by her own mines when they exploded aboard off Guileen. All the crew were lost.

On November 17, the submarine U-58 was scuttled by her crew outside Cork Harbour, after she had been badly damaged by the US warships Fanning and Nicholson and could not control her depth. Two crewmen died during the scuttling.

Two days later, on November 19, the armed Royal Navy trawler, HMT Morococala, was minesweeping outside Cork Harbour when a mine exploded, sinking her almost immediately.

The entire crew of 13 were killed.

The maritime history of Cork is extensive.

GLEANN A’ PHÚCA FINALE

The Glen River Park is an “ecological, cultural, industrial and historical heritage that hovers within this ancient glacial valley and urban park on the North/East of the city,” according to the Gleann a’ Phúca group, which will hold a ‘culminating event for the year-long Creative Climate Action Arts Project, with public sharings and findings’ at the Park from 1.30pm to 2.30pm on Saturday.

Developed by visual artist Julie Forrester, who lives on the edge of the park, the project began in 2020, taking its name from the once-used description ‘Glen of the Spooks.’ The day includes dance performances, film and animation screenings, and the launch of the Fuaim Mná audio trail.

There will be a presentation of new works from Gleann a’ Phúca Artists, screenings, performances, and reflections at The Glen Resource Centre from 7pm to 9 p.m.

PROTECTING PEARL MUSSELS

Coillte, the State-owned commercial forestry agency and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, are to co-operate in “restoring nature at scale”, to meet the requirements of the EU Nature Restoration Law.

Among threatened species to be given special attention are freshwater pearl mussels, categorised as critically endangered in Ireland and across Europe. 90% of all freshwater pearl mussels died out across Europe during the 20th century.

Owing to its threatened status and decline, the freshwater pearl mussel is listed on the Habitats Directive.

The Blackwater and Bandon Rivers in Cork are among the special areas of conservation (SACs) to be included in the nature restoration project.

• ‘My Maritime Seascapes Podcast’ is at: tommacsweeneymaritimepodcast.ie;
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