Cymric (schooner)
Cymric
| |
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | Cymric |
Builder | William Thomas and Sons |
Launched | 1893 |
Ireland | |
Owner | Captain Richard Hall of Arklow |
Acquired | 1906 |
United Kingdom | |
Acquired | c.1915 |
Ireland | |
Owner | Halls of Arklow |
Acquired | c.1919 |
Fate | Vanished with all hands in 1944 during World War II |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Iron barquentine |
Tonnage | 228 grt |
Length | 123 ft (37 m) |
Beam | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
Draught | 10 ft 8 in (3.25 m)[1] |
Propulsion | Sail, Auxiliary motor fitted in World War I |
Sail plan | Three masted |
Cymric was a British and Irish
After the war, she returned to the British and, later, the Irish merchant service. In
Arklow schooners
Early career
Two Arklow schooners, Cymric and Gaelic, were built by William Thomas in Amlwch. Cymric was launched in March 1893.[9] Gaelic was launched in March 1898.[10] They were built as barquentines,[i] In Arklow, the preferred sail configuration was the double top sailed schooner.[5] In 1906, Cymric joined the Arklow fleet and was rigged as a schooner.[ii]
Cymric was an iron
In the new century, 1900, there was an expansion in the Arklow fleet, as larger iron-hulled schooners were purchased. Job Tyrrell purchased Detlef Wagner and Maggie Williams, while Job Hall acquired Patrician, Celtic and Cymric. In the main, all of these ships engaged in the Spanish wine trade until Detlef Wagner was sunk[14] by UC-72 on 28 May 1917[15]
First World War
Three Arklow schooners were
Post-war analysis did not confirm these claims. After the war, it was concluded that Q-ships were greatly over-rated, diverting skilled seamen from other duties without sinking enough U-boats to justify the strategy.[18]
Cymric sank a submarine in what is now called '
Between the wars
After the war, she was disarmed and returned to Halls of Arklow. The auxiliary engine remained. By now large steamers were more profitable than sailing ships for ocean voyages. However, within Ireland transport was becoming more difficult. The neglect of the networks during World War I was compounded by destruction during the war of independence and the subsequent civil war.[22][23] It was more cost-effective to transport goods by sea around the coast rather than using internal road or rail. Cymric had a new career: transporting malt from ports such as Ballinacurra, New Ross and Wexford to Dublin.
It was on one of these voyages that she collided with a tram. Cymric was waiting for Mac Machon Bridge, a bascule bridge, at the entrance to the Inner Basin of the Grand Canal Dock 53°20′33″N 6°14′17″W / 53.342369°N 6.23795°W to open, when a gust of wind propelled her towards the bridge.[iii] and her bowsprit speared tram number 233. There are many versions of this story. Details differ, including the date, which varies from 12 February 1927[13] or 1928[25] to 21 December 1943[26] Research by Dr Edward Bourke established that there were two separate incidents: on Tuesday 29 November 1921, Cymric did, indeed, collide with a tram. On 21 December 1943, Happy Harry, a different Arklow schooner, collided with the same bridge.[27] No one was hurt in either incident.
On 22 August 1922, Cymric struck the Brandy Rocks and was beached at Kilmore, County Wexford. She was refloated on 24 August 1922.[28][29]
Cymric was witness to a sad event that would change the way
On Christmas Eve 1933, Cymric grounded on a
Second World War
At the outbreak of
Cymric was charted by Betsons to travel to Portugal. Betsons imported agricultural equipment and fertilisers from America. In November 1939,
In October 1943, she had a total refit in Ringsend Dockyard. On what was to be her final voyage, on 23 February 1944, she left Ardrossan in Scotland, where she loaded a cargo of coal for Lisbon. She was sighted off Dublin on the following day – that was her last sighting. No wreckage was ever found. She might have hit a mine, been sunk by a U-boat, or been driven by a gale into the 'prohibited area' of Bay of Biscay and been attacked and sunk by Allied aircraft enforcing the blockade.[38] MV Kerlogue was fortunate to survive such an attack by the RAF in that area.[39][40]
Neither the Cymric or her crew of eleven was ever seen again.[41] When Dublin's docklands were redeveloped, a new residential street was named 'Cymric Road' 53°20′42″N 6°12′55″W / 53.345°N 6.21514°W.[iv] It is not far from where she collided with the tram. On the third Sunday of every November, those who lost their lives on neutral Irish ships, including the Cymric, are remembered.
See also
- Mary B Mitchell Arklow schooner
- James Postlethwaite Arklow schooner
- MV Murell Arklow ship
- MV Tyrronall Arklow Schooner
- Irish Mercantile Marine during World War II
Footnotes
- ^ They were built as barquentines; that is there were square sails on the fore-mast and fore-and-aft sails on the other two masts.
- ^ A schooner has fore-and-aft sails on all masts, as depicted in the painting of Cymric on this page
- ^ The bridge is now a fixed bridge, originally called Victoria Bridge.[24]
- ^ Cymric Road in Google Maps [1]
References
- ^ Forde 1988, p. 68
- ^ "The Cymric in Peace and War (The extraordinary story of a small ship acquired by the Royal Navy as a Q-Ship during WWI and achieved notoriety by colliding with a tram in Dublin and sinking one of its own submarines)". Medal Society of Ireland. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- JSTOR 30104169.
the unique accident which occurred at Ringsend in 1928 when a D.U.T.C. tram was in collision with a ship The Arklow schooner, Cymric
- ^ Forde 1988, p. 11
- ^ a b Forde 1981, p. 9
- ^ Forde 1988, p. 43
- ^ "Arklow Shipping". The Wind of Change. Arklow Shipping. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
- ^ Ashmore, Jehan (15 November 2011). "New Arklow Bulker Docks in Dublin". Afloat. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
- ^ "Amlwch History". Ship Building. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
- ^ "Amlwch History". Vessels built in Amlwch. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
- ^ Eames 1973, p. 306
- ^ "Amlwch History". Cymric. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
- ^ a b Cooke, Jim. "Irish Ships and Shipping". The 'Cymric' A Seafaring Tragedy. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
- ^ Forde 1988, p. 41
- ^ Lettens, Jan. "Detlef Wagner". Wreck site. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
- ^ Noonan, Dix. "Lot 1244, 7 Dec 05". Lot details. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
quoting London Gazette 16 February 1917, and 11 August 1917
- ^ "Mary B Michell – A Terror to U-boats". Daily Leader. Associated Press. 13 January 1919. p. 7. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
Sailing vessel sank two submarines in one day during the war
- ^ Preston 1982, p. 58
- ^ "Submarine Losses 1904 to Present Day". Page 8. The Royal Navy Submarine Museum. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
- ^ Akermann 1989, p. 162
- ISBN 0-86138-011-8.
- ^ O'Halpin 2008, p. 27: "widespread destruction of roads, bridges, and railway lines".
- ^ Wills 2007, p. 34: "Ireland's roads were amongst the most dangerous in Europe".
- ^ "MacMahon Bridge" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
- ^ Delany, Ruth (1996). The Grand Canal Docks 1796 – 1996. Inland Waterways Association of Ireland.
Available from the Waterways Visitor Centre Grand Canal Quay, Dublin 2.
- ^ Kennedy 1998
- ^ Bourke, Edward. "Tram and schooner collide". Retrieved 2 November 2015.
- ^ "Casualty reports". The Times. No. 43117. London. 23 August 1922. col D, p. 11.
- ^ "Casualty reports". The Times. No. 43119. London. 25 August 1922. col F, p. 14.
- ^ Forde 1988, p. 155
- ^ "In Committee on Finance. – Vote No. 59 – Marine Service". Oireachtas Debate. 23 April 1931. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
the wreck was entirely due to the bad lighting arrangements on the coast. A lightship, which had been stationed in that vicinity, was taken away by the British Government
- ^ "Constitution". About CIL. Commissioners of Irish Lights. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
- ^ "From Sail to Steamship to Motor". Follow the Fleet. Irish Maritime Development Office. 2007. Archived from the original on 7 November 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
Two famous sailing ships Cymric and Mary B. Mitchell brought vital supplies from overseas during the war years.
- ^ Burne 2003, p. 537
- ^ Forde 1988, p. 216
- ^ Spong 1982, p. 7
- ^ Share 1978, p. 101
- ^ Forde 1981, p. 19
- ^ Fisk 1983, p. 319
- ^ Kennedy 2008, p. 254
- ^ "Remember". Cymric and 11 crew. Maritime Institute of Ireland. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
Bibliography
- Akermann, Paul (1989). Encyclopedia of British Submarines 1901–1955. Penzance, Cornwall: Maritime Books. ISBN 1-904381-05-7.
- Burne, Lester H (2003). Richard Dean Burns (ed.). Chronological History of U.S. Foreign Relations: 1932–1988. Vol. 2. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-93916-4.
- Eames, Aled (1973). Ships and seamen of Anglesey, 1558–1918. Anglesey Antiquarian Society. ISBN 978-1-84527-352-1.
- Fisk, Robert (1983). In Time of War. Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-7171-2411-4.
- Forde, Frank (1981). The Long Watch. Dublin: New Island Books. ISBN 1-902602-42-0.
- Forde, Frank (1988). Maritime Arklow. Dún Laoghaire: Glendale Press. ISBN 0-907606-51-2.
- Kennedy, Walter (1998). Shipping in Dublin port, 1939–45. Pentland Press. ISBN 978-1-85821-539-6.
- Kennedy, Michael (2008). Guarding Neutral Ireland. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 978-1-84682-097-7.
- O'Halpin, Eunan (2008). Spying on Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-925329-6.
- Preston, Anthonu (1982). Submarines. London: Bison Books. ISBN 0-86124-043-X.
- Share, Bernard (1978). The Emergency. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-7171-0916-6.
- Spong, H. C. (1982). Irish Shipping Ltd., 1941–1982. ISBN 978-0-905617-20-6.
- Wills, Clair (2007). That Neutral Island. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22105-9.