Tag Archives: boats

Lough Ennell and the Royal Canal

Here is an account of the background to, and the main features of, the proposed supply of water from Lough Ennell to the summit level of the Royal Canal. It does not discuss the amounts of water involved; I intend to cover that on a separate page.

A problem in trigonometry

I mentioned the other day that extensive searches of tinterweb had failed to find any data on the heights of overhead power lines above the Shannon and that I had been forced to resort to the telephone.

I am pleased to report that the ESB expert duly rang me back today, and further pleased to report that he had himself measured the height of every cable over the Shannon. Oh joy, oh happiness, I thought. But not for long.

The ESB, it seems, does not reveal the actual height of power lines above the water. This, if I understood the reasoning correctly, is because the water level varies and a boat-owner might not understand that, hit a line with a mast and then sue the ESB [where "ESB" means "electricity transmission or distribution operation"]. I have been told that a boat-owner in coastal water did just that (presumably between the mainland and an island) and that the lawyers have advised ESB to take no further risk; I would welcome information about the incident.

So, if you want to find the height of a power line, you’ll need to polish up your trigonometry (and then relate the height to Ordinary Summer Level). But the ESB does supply the information to one organisation that makes charts: the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. That’s OK for coastal charts, but the UKHO (to the best of my knowledge) has not surveyed the inland Shannon since 1839, and I don’t think its inland charts have been updated since then. It is possible, of course, that the UKHO supplies the data to other (electronic or paper) chart-makers; I have emailed them to ask.

The quest continues again. More info when I get it.

“It’s worth a bit of suffering to create some good memories”

… or why taking a boat into Dublin by canal, or to Limerick via Ardnacrusha, is a Good Thing, even if it’s a hassle at the time.

The surprising importance of the Shannon steamers in the 1830s

A short, lavishly illustrated talk in Killaloe Cathedral, Co Clare, at 6.00pm on Sunday 29 April 2012, as part of the Waterways Ireland Discover Killaloe and Ballina thingie.

 

 

A lock mystery

So what lock is this then?

 

Yes, it’s abandoned. Yes, it’s in Ireland.

The answer is here.

Power to the people

So you’re out in your sailing-boat, heading for Portumna, and you see that there’s an electricity cable crossing the waterway ahead of you, just downstream of the bridge. You think you’ll fit under it but it would be nice to know the clearance ….

Electricity is ESB, isn’t it? Well, perhaps not: it could be ESB Networks, which seems to mean distribution, or EirGrid, which means transmission. It could also be one of the other companies that sells volts, but I don’t think they run big wires.

Half an hour of searching the websites of the three bodies failed to produce anything about the heights of pylons or cables or overhead powerlines. Safety advice said not to go near them, but that’s what you are trying to do: it would help to know how near is near. Another half an hour of general googling; still no result.

So, as it’s a smallish line on wooden poles, rather than a large one on very tall steel pylons, you guess that it might be distribution rather than transmission, and thus ESB Networks rather than EirGrid.

I rang; someone will ring back within 48 working hours. The quest continues ….

What is the magic combination of search terms that will find the heights above water of all power lines over Irish waterways?

Drum on the Lagan

I was introduced to two places on the Lagan Navigation last weekend. The first was Drum Bridge; here is a page about it.

Dry docks

GRAND CANAL

At a Meeting of the Company of Undertakers of the Grand Canal, duly convened by public Advertisement, and held at the Company’s House in Dublin, on Monday, the 6th day of April, 1840,

WILLIAM MURPHY, Esq., in the chair,

The following Resolution, moved by James Pim, jun., Esq., seconded by James Dawson, Esq., passed unanimously in the afformative: —

Resolved — That the Court of Directors of this Company be authorised, if they shall see fit, to call the attention of the Government, of the Chamber of Commerce, of the Ballast Corporation, of the several Steam Companies, and of Capitalists generally, to the important advantages which the Grand Canal Company’s Floating and Graving Docks at Ringsend offer to all parties connected with the Shipping interests of the Port of Dublin, and to apprize them that this Company will at all times be ready to entertain any well considered proposition for increasing the general usefulness of these Docks, on the fairest and most liberal terms as regards the Public. Under the firm persuasion that by whatever well-arranged proceeding this important portion of the Company’s property can be best made available in increasing the Trade and promoting the prosperity of the City of Dublin, it will be rendered the most effectually conducive to the interests of the Company.

By order, JOHN McMULLEN,
Secretary of the Company.

From The Freeman’s Journal 8 April 1840.

Perhaps Waterways Ireland might follow the example of its predecessors and, rather than getting into bed with the DDDA, might consider some “well considered proposition for increasing the general usefulness of these Docks”.

 

The sluice house at Lough Owel …

… has had its windows broken. More on the Lough Owel Feeder here.

Dublin or bust

If you’re not already a reader of Barge Hawthorn’s blog, may I suggest that you start now? The account of the descent into Dublin along the Royal Canal, over three days, features mounting tension, a really superb photo of the M50 aqueduct and a happy ending when Effin Bridge lifted when required.

You can work your way backwards through earlier posts to find the how and the why.