The waves covered the quays in some places to a depth of three and four feet, and rolled in to the adjoining streets with resistless fury. Shannon-street, Charlotte’s Quay, and the Mall were completely inundated, and in the corn stores on Honan’s-quay, Harvey’s quay, &c, the water reached a height of four feet in some instances.
I already had a page about the floods in Limerick in November 2009; here is an account of the floods in Limerick in 1850.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, Safety, Shannon, shannon estuary, Sources, Steamers, The grain trade, waterways, Weather
Tagged estuary, flood, hurricane, Ireland, Limerick, Lough Derg, Shannon
FINAL SALE
Of the Extensive Stock of Woollen and other Shop Goods, including Blankets, Flannels, and Stuffs, Cotton Cords, Hosiery, Muslins, Trimmings, &c, &c, all more or less injured by fresh water, caused by the sinking of Boat No 49, at Moyvalley, on the Evening of Monday the 9th instant, by the Night Passage Boat.
TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, Store No 6, Royal Canal Harbour, Constitution Hill, on THIs DAY (Friday), 20th Nov, 1846 (weather permitting), for account of whom it may concern, the residue of the large Stock of partially damaged Shop Goods, in Lots suitable to purchasers.
Sale to commence at half-past Eleven O’Clock.
The Sale will finally close To-Morrow. There are a quantity of Pack Sheets and Boxes to be disposed of.
JOHN LITTLEDALE, Auctioneer,
9, Upper Ormond-quay.
The Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser
20 November 1846
The Canal & River Trust have a useful PDF Boater’s handbook available for download, free of charge, from this page; there is also a video thingie.
The handbook naturally concentrates on British inland waterways, with narrowboats on canals and rivers but not on lakes, but there is nonetheless much useful material. Even experienced boaters might find it of interest, if only for briefing any non-boaty friends they’ve invited along for a trip.
The successful air transport company Harbour Flights, which had a base at Mountshannon, announced some time ago that its level of success was such that it was suspending operations but that it would be back early in 2014, “fully operational again” with a fleet of aircraft “operating from [sic] destinations nationwide”.
Alas, my request for reports of sightings of the fleet produced neither information nor photographs and my own visits to Mountshannon in 2014 did not coincide with any aircraft movements. And now the website at http://www.harbourflights.com/landing.php has disappeared.
Surely nothing can have happened to the firm.
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Safety, Shannon, Tourism, Uncategorized, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged aircraft, amphibian, Clare, float plane, Harbour Flights, Ireland, Lough Derg, Mountshannon, Operations, seaplane, Shannon, Waterways Ireland
Marine Casualty Investigation Board report Investigation into the loss of the Sail Training Passenger Vessel STV Astrid on 24th July 2013 PDF here. Very long but, apart from the photos, the meat is in the first part. At the end you can read angry letters from Dutch authorities.
Direct link amended, but just in case here’s a link to the page on which you click to download. And in case that falls over, here’s the page listing all MCIB reports and here’s the MCIB home page.
Posted in Engineering and construction, Ireland, Operations, Safety, Sea, Water sports activities
![Turf boat above Killaloe: Admiralty Surveyors' sketch 1839 [by kind permission of the UK National Archives]](https://irishwaterwayshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/turf-boat-above-killaloe.jpg)
Turf boat above Killaloe: Admiralty Surveyors’ sketch 1839 [by kind permission of the UK National Archives]
Houlagan swam to the shore, but it was so dark he could not find his way; he got inside a sheltered ditch from the inclemency of the night, but was found, in the morning, a lifeless corpse.
Northern Whig 26 November 1840 quoting the Nenagh Guardian
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Safety, Shannon, Sources, The turf trade, Uncategorized, waterways, Weather
Tagged boats, Derry Castle, Galway, Houlagan, Ireland, Killaloe, Lough Derg, Operations, Quin, Shannon, sinking, storm, Tipperary, turf, turf boat, vessels, waterways
A Railway Wanted. — On Thursday week the fly-boat on the Grand Canal was so crowded with passengers returning from Ballinasloe fair, that between Tullamore and Philipstown they sat nearly up to their knees in water. Not liking the comfort afforded by such a mode of conveyance, many of the passengers left at the latter place and took cars, and the boat proceeded to Dublin without accident.
London Standard 28 October 1845 quoting the Longford Journal
Posted in Canals, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Safety, Sources, The cattle trade, waterways
Tagged Ballinasloe, boats, canal, Daingean, Dublin, fly-boat, Grand Canal, Ireland, Philipstown, Royal Canal, Tullamore, water level, waterways
On Tuesday morning, Mr Ounsel, of Portland near Portumna, left Killaloe at 6 o’clock, to walk down the bank of the Canal to O’Brien’s Bridge, there to meet the packet boat — he took with him a long gun for the purpose of shooting ducks. As no account could be had of him at O’Brien’s Bridge, it was supposed he fell into the river, and in the course of the day a hat, and a book belonging to him were found on the shore; there is no doubt but he has met a watery grave — to-day several boats are searching for the body.
Clonmel Herald Wednesday 3 February 1830 quoting Limerick Chronicle Saturday 30 January 1830
Irish waterways history 