Category Archives: Extant waterways

The music of the Shannon steamers

On my page about PS Erin-go-Bragh I’ve provided a link to a performance of the song of that name. It would be wrong, therefore, to omit Garryowen. There is a “Fantasy on Dover Castle” by David Fanshawe, the African Sanctus chap, but I can’t find a free legal recording.

Dick Gaughan and John Grantham …

… both had an interest in Erin-go-Bragh,

Ballycorick

I’ve updated my page on Ballycorick to take account of information provided in a Comment by Kenin Murphy, to whom I am grateful.

More Mississippi

Here.

Some new things arise

First, I’ve checked all the linked sites listed at the bottom of the right-hand column and removed some that have died. If you know of others to which I should provide a link, do please let me know.

Second, I’ve added a link to the excellent Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, and I take the opportunity to draw it to the attention of folk interested in who made what. I have received much useful information from its volunteers and I have been able to contribute photos of a few artefacts. It’s well worth exploring. I have also added a link to the Railway and Canal Historical Society.

Third, I am glad to see that the Irish Times‘s conversion to the benefits of civilisation continues: yesterday it featured an Intel Pentium chip from 1994, which provided the basis for an essay on Ken Whitaker’s 1950s report, globalisation, television, women, Northern Ireland and Viagra. If only some more of the nineteenth century industrialists, entrepreneurs, engineers and modernisers had been covered.

That, fourth, reminds me that I came across a couple of interesting articles by Roy Johnston on the Victorian Web site: they’re under the heading Science, Technology, and Politics, on this page, which has several articles about Ireland. They include articles on whether Ireland was a colony, although I must confess that I have yet to be persuaded that that is a question in which I should take an interest.

 

 

 

 

Foreign parts

News of barge traffic on the Mississippi, a river in the United States of America, and of a floating hostel in Britain.

From Kilrush to Carlingford …

ferry interesting news.

The Rideau Canal

The Cedar Lounge Revolution has an article about those who worked on the construction of the Rideau Canal in Canada in the 1820s and 1830s. Readers will, of course, recall that Charles Wye Williams compared the Rideau and the Shannon in his 1835 […] speech on the improvement of the Shannon: being in continuation of the debate in the House of Commons, 12th May, 1835, giving a comparative view of the navigation of the Rideau Canal, in Canada, and the River Shannon in Ireland, with observations on the value of a connection by steam packets, with British America.

Some updates

Very often, when I’m visiting a waterway site, I take as many photographs as possible of anything that catches my eye, without worrying [at the time] about what an artefact is or what it does. Then, when I get back to my computer, I try to work out what everything was. Sometimes I find that the camera has recorded something I didn’t notice; sometimes I find there are aspects I just don’t understand (not being at all a technical person). In such cases, I put photos on this site and make it clear that I don’t understand them.

My hope is, of course, that a knowledgeable person will explain them, and that very thing has just happened with some pages on waterways of Ulster and thereabouts. John Ditchfield has very kindly explained several aspects of the machinery shown; I have inserted his explanations into the text on these pages:

I am very grateful to John for taking so much trouble and for sharing his expertise with me and with all who read these pages.

SESIFP

Read about the draft Strategic Integrated Framework Plan (SIFP) for the Shannon Estuary here. You can comment on it up to 15 February 2013.