Category Archives: Engineering and construction

The purity of the ladies of Limerick

Posted on Friday 13 May 2016 | Leave a comment

The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company have kindly given the use of the Dover Castle, steamer, to the Ladies of Limerick, for Friday next, when the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the New Docks will be performed. A band will be on board the steamer.

Limerick and Clare Examiner 4 July 1849

Immediately alongside the spot where the stone was to be placed floated the Dover Castle steamer, filled principally with ladies. The excellent Band of the 74th Highlanders was also on board, and contributed much to the delight that animated many a countenance. Several boats and barges were also provided for the accommodation of ladies. Most of the spectators were invited by Cards issued from the Office of Public Works.

Limerick Reporter 6 July 1849

Loud cheering attested the joy that pervaded every bosom at the prospect of employment, which the ceremony held out. The Dover Castle, moored within a few yards of the large platform, was, as a matter of course, the most attractive appendage. It was occupied by the ladies of Limerick. They, too, evidenced by waving their white handkerchiefs (the symbol of their purity, their virtues and sympathy for the suffering poor) how sincerely they felt the importance of the occasion. A stream of music was then poured forth by the beautiful brass band of the 74th, which was quite in keeping with the general harmony.

The proceedings of the day were then brought to a pleasing and chearful close. The military filed off; the Artillery withdrew; the masts and pinnacles became deserted; the groups, about the ground, dissolved; the Corporate functionaries retired; the mace-bearer beat a modest retreat; the ladies were led off by their attendant squires; the people wended their way homewards, the boats disappeared, and the Dock works and ground were left to the sole possession of their ordinary occupants.

May we not hope — at all events, let us pray, that yesterday was an auspicious day for Limerick.

Limerick and Clare Examiner 7 July 1849

From the British Newspaper Archive run by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited, in partnership with the British Library.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Passenger traffic, Sea, Shannon, shannon estuary, Sources, Steamers, Waterways management

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Gondolas

Posted on Wednesday 11 May 2016 | 2 comments

A superb boat or gondola has been recently finished at the Grand Canal, and is painted and decorated in a most elegant manner. It is of a smaller size than the packet boats, and intended for convenience or pleasure of the directors of that great national and useful undertaking, in order to make occasional excursions therein on the different lines of that navigation — it now lies in one of the harbours near the city Bason.

Saunders’s News-Letter 20 April 1795

The elegant gondola which we mentioned to be lying at the Canal Harbour, and to be intended for the use of the Directors, we learn is not for the use of those Gentlemen, but to carry passengers from and to Portobello, to and from the first lock to meet the passage-boats (as lately advertised) and to gratify with a short voyage on the Canal, from Portobello to James’s-street Harbour, such persons as, having no call of business or pleasure towards the county of Kildare, have not otherwise an opportunity of enjoying that gratification, which latter use of the boat is now making by many persons every fine day.

Saunders’s News-Letter 23 April 1795

From the British Newspaper Archive run by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited, in partnership with the British Library.

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Posted in Canals, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Historical matters, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Waterways management

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Cardboard and paper

Posted on Tuesday 3 May 2016 | 1 comment

Some folk have been sailing on the Thames in a boat made of cardboard.

Over two hundred years ago, Isaac Weld navigated the lakes of Killarney in a boat made of brown paper:

Whilst engaged in illustrating the scenery of that beautiful locality, Mr Weld derived additional pleasure from the occupation, in introducing a young and amiable wife to scenes so familiar to himself. To facilitate their rambles, and profiting by his Canadian adventures and his skill as a “voyageur“, he constructed with his own hands the model of an Indian canoe. In the absence, however, of birch bark, he had recourse to successive layers of stout brown paper, creating a sort of papier-maché boat, sufficiently roomy for two. In this paper skiff he actually had the hardihood to intrust himself and fair companion in sundry adventurous voyages on the Lakes.

That is from “Mr Foot’s Memoir of the late Isaac Weld, Esq” in The Journal of the Royal Dublin Society Volume I 1856–57 Hodges, Smith & Co, Dublin 1858. Wikipedia offers a shorter account of the life of the remarkable Mr Weld. His Statistical Survey of the County of Roscommon, Royal Dublin Society 1832, is an invaluable source of information about the Shannon and the Royal Canal, but Mr Weld is also notable for his voyage, along with his equally adventurous wife, on the steamer Thames [originally Argyle] from Dublin to London in 1815. There are brief accounts of the journey here and here; the captain, George Dodd, wrote a book An Historical and Explanatory Dissertation on Steam-Engines and Steam-Packets; with the evidence in full given by the most eminent engineers, mechanists, and manufacturers, to the Select Committees of the House of Commons; togerther with the Committees’ reports, distinguishing and defining safe and unsafe steam-engines, and their proper management: comprising particulars of the fatal explosions of boilers at Norwich, Northumberland, Wells-street, and in America: concluding with a narrative, by Isaac Weld Esq, of the interesting voyage of the Thames steam-yacht, from Glasgow, in Scotland, to Dublin and London [published for the author, London 1818] available here, and Isaac Weld’s account is available here. Mrs Weld may have been the first woman to take an extended sea voyage in a steam vessel.

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Passenger traffic, People, Sea, Sources, Steamers, Tourism

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Horses for towing? Bullocks!

Posted on Monday 25 April 2016 | Leave a comment

The Colthurst canals.

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Posted in Built heritage, Canals, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Forgotten navigations, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Sources, The cattle trade, The grain trade, The turf trade, waterways, Waterways management

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It hasn’t gone away, you know …

Posted on Sunday 24 April 2016 | Leave a comment

Yes, the Clones Sheugh, one of Sinn Féin’s favourite inland waterways, hasn’t gone away, although SF is now allowing FF to make the running. From the invaluable KildareStreet.com:

Brendan Smith [FF, Cavan-Monaghan]: To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the stage of the proposal to restore the Ulster Canal; the funding provided in her Department estimates in 2016 for this project; when this project will proceed to the next stage; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

I suppose he could have read the Estimates himself, but maybe that would be too much to ask. Anyway, his constituency colleague [Heather Humphreys, FG, Cavan-Monaghan] replied:

Government approval to restore a 2.5km stretch of the Ulster Canal from the Shannon-Erne Waterway to the International Scout Centre at Castle Saunderson, Co. Cavan, was granted on 24 February 2015. The project, which comprises three work phases, is being undertaken by Waterways Ireland.

Phase 1, the site investigation work, has been completed. Phase 2, dredging of the River Finn, is in progress. I have been informed by Waterways Ireland that completion of this phase has been delayed as a result of contractual issues but that efforts to resolve these matters are ongoing. It is intended that Phase 3 of the restoration work, the construction of a new bridge and canal section, will proceed following completion of phase 2.

Waterways Ireland has an allocation of €2.7m in its 2016 budget for the Ulster Canal project. This is comprised of €1m from my Department’s capital allocation to Waterways Ireland of €2.689m for 2016, with the balance coming from the organisation’s own resources.

We are, it will be recalled, pretending that the River Finn is part of the Ulster Canal, and that Castle Saunderson, that shrine of Ulster Unionism, was on the canal’s route: we don’t want to upset the shinners, so say nothing to them.

Quite why folk are expected to want to visit the scouting establishment now on site I do not know; boating does not seem to be amongst the activities offered.

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Posted in Ashore, Canals, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Modern matters, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

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Shannon Regatta

Posted on Tuesday 5 April 2016 | Leave a comment

The Shannon regatta commenced on Tuesday at Kilrush, which is crowded with visitors from Limerick, Tarbert, Ennis, and the sea coast frequenters at Kilkee and Malbay. In respect to the memory of the late Judge Vandeleur, it was supposed the stewards would defer the annual gala for a fortnight, but as several yachts had arrived from distant stations, a majority of the committee decided on proceeding. A stiff breeze from the North West, with occasional squalls, prevailed for the last three days. The prizes on Tuesday for the rival yachts were — Kent cup, a purse of £20, and two purses of £10 each.

The Cork Harbour Regatta will hold four days, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th August. The highest prize is one of £60 for all yachts.

The Marquis of Waterford’s yacht, Gem, now at Cove, is a beautiful specimen of naval architecture, and it is hard to know which to admire, the beautiful symmetry of her construction, or the perfect seamanlike manner in which she is rigged and fitted up. She is a Polacca schooner, of about 110 tons, carrying 6lb brass guns, and a swivel forward. Capt Lane RN is sailing master.

Dublin Morning Register 26 June 1835

From the British Newspaper Archive run by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited, in partnership with the British Library.

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Posted in Charles Wye Williams, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Historical matters, Ireland, People, Sea, shannon estuary, Suir, Water sports activities

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Baffled

Posted on Sunday 3 April 2016 | 2 comments

According to a story in the dead-tree version of today’s Sunday Business Post [and regarded as Premium Content, and thus gated, in the online version],

A €22 million bridge is needed to allow for the construction of 2000 homes on the derelict Irish Glass Bottle site [in Ringsend, Dublin]. […] The necessary bridge over the River Dodder needed to make the site viable will have a lifting mechanism to enable ship traffic into the Grand Canal basin and the Liffey.

The Department of the Environment etc thinks €22 million is too much and would make the houses too dear; Green Party leader Eamon Ryan TD thinks the state should pay for it, presumably to facilitate all the motorists who might want to live on the site.

The site is here. There’s an aerial photo here. Here’s the Google version.

I can’t see why a lifting bridge over the Dodder is needed, unless the plan is to run traffic along a new route from Britain Quay to York Road, which would simply jam up the city centre. Can anyone explain what this is about?

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Posted in Ashore, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Modern matters, Operations, Roads, waterways

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Paging M Lartigue

Posted on Monday 14 March 2016 | Leave a comment

M Lartigue … M Lartigue … telephone call from Spain for you …. Something about a problem in Saudi Arabia, they said. Apparently there’s a lot of sand in the desert ….

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Modern matters, Rail

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Remarkable experiments in steam navigation

Posted on Wednesday 2 March 2016 | Leave a comment

The duck’s paddle

A series of experiments has recently been tried in France by the Marquis de Jouffroy, with the view of getting rid of the inconveniences of the ordinary steam paddle. The apparatus of M de Jouffroy consists of two palms, or articulated duck’s feet, placed either at the sides or stern of a vessel, having an alternate motion, so as to open in order to give the impulsion, and close again precisely the same way as the foot of a duck.

M de Jouffroy’s first experiment was made in the canoe of the jardin de la Folia St James, near the Bois de Boulogne, with the model of a frigate made on a scale of 1 foot to 37 feet, and so constructed that the common paddle or his improvement might be used at will. With the common paddle the vessel performed a distance of 130 feet in seven minutes. The paddles having performed 130 revolutions, at this time the propelling power was completely exhausted.

The common paddles were then taken off, and the duck’s-foot paddles substituted. With one hundred and thirty oscillations of these paddles, the vessel performed in the same space of time a distance of 153 feet; but what was most remarkable, was the fact, that instead of stopping short when the clockwork, which in both cases put the machinery in motion, had run down, the impulsion communicated to the vessel by the steady and undisturbed motion of the duck’s-foot paddles was sufficient to keep the vessel moving 150 feet more.

The report on these experiments by the committee of the Institute is highly favourable.

The Vindicator, Belfast 16 December 1840. From the British Newspaper Archive run by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited, in partnership with the British Library.

Perhaps this marquis was the son of that marquis.

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Posted in Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Operations, Steamers

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Mr Paterson, General Lake and Napoleon Bonaparte

Posted on Tuesday 16 February 2016 | 1 comment

Dublin

On Tuesday sennight sailed his Majesty’s gun-boat, the General Lake, commanded by Mr James Patterson; and on Wednesday the Bishop, Lieut S Dunn, an experienced officer, who had served in the Royal Navy during the whole of the American war — these, with two others now fitting out, are to join the Kingsmill and Gen Duff gun boats at Carrigahoult bay, where they are to be stationed for the purpose of defending the entrance of the Shannon, the whole under the command of Lieut Augustus Margett, senior officer of division.

The Hon Capt Pakenham, who arrived at Limerick some time back to survey the works on the river, had the boats constructed upon his own plan, and they are found to be in every respect both capable of standing the shock of cannonading, and of annoying an enemy. There is a signal post, with a proper person to conduct it, stationed on Ray Hill, a commanding eminence near Loophead, from whence there is an extensive prospect of the offing. The gun-boats are furnished with private signals, so as to communicate with the person who conducts the signals on shore, by which means friends or enemies at sea are easily ascertained, long before they can come near the shore, and regular and certain intelligence conveyed to the commanding officer of the district.

The following is a list of the gun-boats stationed in the River Shannon, with the names of their commanders, forces, and complement of men:

Vessels                 Guns  Pounders    Men    Commanders

Pakenham              1           24           19      A Markett
Kingsmill                1           18            19     J Alexander
Gen Duff                  1           18            18     — Wing
Bishop                      1           18            18     S Dunn
Gen Lake                 1           18            18     J Patterson
The Shannon         1           18            18     Geo Perry

The whole completely equipped, with every description of small arms, ordnance stores, &c.

Dublin Evening Post 6 May 1797. From the British Newspaper Archive run by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited, in partnership with the British Library.

 

Yesterday dispatches were received at the Admiralty from Vice Admiral Kingsmill at Cork, brought over in the Waterford mail. Intelligence is received by this conveyance that the River Shannon is now rendered perfectly secure from any designs of an enemy, by the judicious stationing of several gun-boats, which wholly command the entrance and port of Limerick in every direction. The Naval Agents in Ireland, it also appears, continue, by order of Government, to purchase stout ships, which are converted into floating batteries for the defence of other harbours of the kingdom in like manner.

Hereford Journal 9 August 1797. From the British Newspaper Archive run by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited, in partnership with the British Library.

The Hon Capt T Pakenham, who shortly after went to Limerick, converted some turf-boats into gun-vessels, each of which carried a twenty-four pounder, constructed to traverse on a platform, and to fire in every direction with the same facility. We are gratified to learn that the system is to be generally adopted.

The Monthly Mirror: reflecting men and manners. With strictures on their epitome, the stage May 1798 in Vol V, Thomas Bellamy, London

 

 

 

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Posted in Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Historical matters, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Sea, shannon estuary, Sources, The grain trade

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