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THE SINKING OF THE 'LONGFORD' CANAL BOAT,
NOVEMBER 1845
Caroline McCall, MGSI
This article was originally printed in the
Journal of the Genealogical Society of Ireland
in 2006, Volume 7 No. 2.
The Royal Canal, which begins in Spencer Dock on the River Liffey, was built when a former director of the Grand Canal Company set up a rival company to build and manage a canal linking Dublin with the Shannon in County Longford. Work on the Royal Canal commenced in 1790 and finished in 1817. From the outset, the construction of the canal was beset with financial problems and by the time the canal had reached Kilcock, only 20 miles from Dublin, about £200,000 had been spent. One of the most costly items in connection with the Royal Canal was the aqueduct at Leixlip, which cost £30,000. Hotels were built at Broadstone in Dublin and Moyvalley in County Kildare to cater for the travellers' needs. A file mile branch line to Longford town was completed in 1830.
The average canal boat speed was between three and four miles an hour. Passenger fares were 10s 10d, for the fore or 1st class cabin, and 5s.111/2d, in the aft or 2nd class cabin. Meals were available on board, usually boiled meat, potatoes and turnips. Wine was sold only in pints, "and not more than a pint to anyone person, nor to those who do not dine on board - nor to children". No wine was sold to passengers in the second cabin - though porter was available - and the charges for meals there were somewhat lower. Only 1st class passengers were allowed on the deck. For the comfort of passengers in the rather cramped conditions "no smoaking (sic) of tobacco" was permitted on the boat. Passengers could bring their pets on board; however, "dogs in each cabin were to be paid for as passengers". Passengers, who misbehaved, whether from drink or other cause, were frequently put ashore and had to await the arrival of the next boat.
Goods traffic on the Royal Canal reached 134,000 tons by 1833, but this was far short of the business which the Grand Canal was attracting. Annual passenger numbers were 46,000 in 1837. The journey was relatively comfortable, even if the traveller had to sleep on deck. But as emigration increased during the Famine years, the boats were often overcrowded and in 1845, six passengers died when one boat capsized in Longford Harbour.
The Sligo Journal of 1831 described the journey on the Royal Canal as "cheap, secure, and expeditious travelling to and from Dublin to Sligo". The passenger journey time from Dublin to Mullingar was initially about twelve hours but was reduced to eight hours when lighter "fly" boats were introduced in 1833. The fly-boats were lightly built and sheeted with iron, very narrow, and towed by three or four horses galloping at the rate of nine miles an hour. Fly boats changed horses at stages, and could therefore keep moving at speed. In Mr. and Mrs. Hall's Ireland(1845) such a boat is described, but it is stated that it was by no means a pleasant experience. On account of its narrowness, the passengers were painfully cramped inside. It was impossible to provide accommodation for cooking on board, and short intervals had to be allowed at the companies' hotels for the necessary meals, while owing to the narrowness of this type of boat, there was no deck over the cabin, as the weight of passengers there would have rendered it top-heavy. There was also a more cumbersome vessel called a "nightboat" which travelled at a much slower rate of about four miles per hour and always at night. It was large and lumbering and was chiefly used by the peasantry on account of cheapness.
In 1835 iron fly boats were plying between Dublin and Mullingar, County Westmeath on the Royal Canal and between Dublin and Banagher, County Offaly on the Grand Canal. The boats coming to Dublin on the Grand Canal arrived at Portobello harbour, where a hotel owned by the Grand Canal Company was reputed to be one of the principal hotels in the city. The headquarters of the Royal Canal was at Broadstone Harbour, now filled in and mostly forgotten.
AN AWFUL CALAMITY
The diary of Fr. Dungan, parish priest of Blanchardstown, contains an entry for 25th November 1845 in which he referred to an awful calamity in the upsetting of the Longford light night boat. Seventeen lives were lost between the Porterstown and Clonsilla bridges on the Royal Canal.
The 'Longford Journal' described how at a late hour on Tuesday, the night boat to Longford started at 2pm with 8 passengers in the fore cabin and considerably upwards of 20 in the aft cabin. Upon reaching Clonsilla, the steersman went below to dine and unhappily committed the rudder to a boy employed on board. The boy either not knowing or not attending to his duty permitted the boat to run upon the bank of the canal which caused it to capsize and speedily fill with water.
The fore cabin passengers were saved, that portion of boat being outside the water. The passengers in the aft cabin were plunged into the deepest part of the canal. They could not extract themselves and no help was at hand. By the time the correspondent left the scene, 16 bodies crowded the bank of the canal and the search was continuing for more.
The following day an immense crowd of people assembled on Clonsilla Bridge to view the ill-fated packet boat and the dead bodies of the passengers. The front of the deck of the 'Longford' had been broken by the inmates of the cabin underneath trying to escape.
The Freemans Journal of 26th November 1845 described the sinking as 'a deplorable calamity where helpless infancy and matron old age were crowded in one promiscuous charnel heap'. The article described 'lifeless corpses, male and female, thrown indiscriminately together on the deck of a lumber barge as it lay beside the ill fated passage boat in which the helpless victims had perished'.
The inquest was held by Henry Davis, Dublin County Coroner. His investigations were directed towards finding by what neglect - if any the disaster happened. He was of the opinion that: 'there was no necessity to examine medical men for the purpose of ratifying that the deceased persons came to the death by drowning. He would lead the inquest upon the bodies of the individuals who had been identified so that findings being had with reference to their deaths would answer for all of the others'.
In order to identify all of the bodies, descriptions of the dead were published, mostly according to the amount of money they had on their person.
- 'An old grey haired woman with a wig upon her head had with her a male child dressed in white. 1 s 4d, a brass ring and two beads'
- 'A young girl with dark brown hair and a watch key, a pink silk handkerchief, a lilac frock, 2s 7d'
- 'A young man, with fair hair and sandy whiskers. He wore a baragon dress, two vests and had laced shoe boots on. He had on his person 21 sovereigns, 15s 6d in a purse'.
- 'A grey haired man dressed in blue trousers and blue cravat had 15s in silver'.
THE PASSENGERS
FORE CABIN
Mr. Beatty, Mr. Brennan, Mr. Farrell, Messrs. Morrow, senior and junior, Mr. Reilly, Mr. Richard Savage, the Governor of Roscommon Jail, and Mr. Woods, all believed to be saved.
AFT CABIN
Mr. Thomas Bannon, Mrs. Bourne, Mr. Casey, Mrs. Clive, Mr. Cloffird, Mr. Cluskey, Mr. Connolly, Mrs. Connolly, Mrs. Curry, Mr. Deasy, Mr. Farrell, Mr. Faulkner, Mrs. Forde, Mrs. Gibney, Mrs. Hand, Mr. Hannan, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Jessop Mr. Kearney, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Terence McCluskey, Mr. McDonnell, Mr. McNiff, Mr. Miller, Mr. Michael Moran, Mr. Morris, Mrs. Mulligan, Miss Mulligan, Mr. Reilly, Mrs. Rosberry, Mr. Edward Rutledge, Mr. Sherrard, Mr. and Mrs. Traynor, Mrs. Walsh, and Mr. Winter.
THE CREW
Mr. O'Connor (Captain), James Dunne (Steerer), James Connor (Stopman), Pat Teeling (Labourer), Alexander Campbell (Cabin Boy), Mrs. Wilson, Mistress of the Boat and Jane Maney (Maid) with two children who were in the aft cabin.
THE DEPOSITION OF CHRISTOPHER O'CONNOR, CAPTAIN OF THE 'LONGFORD'
We left town at 2 o'clock. In the 2nd cabin there were 36 passengers, 2 children and 1 free passenger. In the first cabin there were 10 passengers. There are no regulations as to the number of passengers the boat may take. The crew consisted of the captain, steerer, stopman, boat mistress and maid. The regular steerer was not on board having remained in Dublin. His place was taken by the regular cabin boy James Dunne aged 18 or 20. He was deputized to steer by the regular steerer William Keatinge and I was not aware of this until we left Dublin. It is usual for a crewman to hand over his occupation to another with the leave of Mr. O'Neill, the inspector of the canal. Permission was not obtained in this case. The captain asked if Keatinge had a leave of absence, he said not. The inspector got off at Porterstown Bridge. The captain went to change the sovereigns he had collected from passengers in payment of their fare when the boat struck the bank and heeled over very suddenly. Only 3 or 4 passengers were on deck at the time and there was a rush from those below to get to the door. The boat filled very suddenly. The passengers rushed towards the door at the far cabin. The captain said that he saw the key in the lock on the outside of the aft cabin door.
When the coroner asked him to clarify, he said that the door is never locked upon the passengers but the key is kept in the door. They endeavoured to save the passengers. The entire deck was not under water but the windows were and those in the aft cabin who could not get out were suffocated. There were bars on the windows of both cabins as protection for them. The accident occurred at ten to four. With the assistance of Mr. Thomas Savage we got one woman out through an opening in the roof. The cause of the accident must have been steering. She struck against the bank between Porterstown Bridge and Clonsilla Bridge beyond the deep sinking. That part of the bank is rocky. It was not dark and all those who we thought could have been alive in the cabins we got out before dark. After dark we were engaged in taking the dead bodies out. We got one gentleman out before dark but he died shortly afterwards. He was identified as Mr. Rutledge.
In response to questions the captain said, I have seen Dunne steer before. He has steered the boat the entire way and as he was accustomed to do so I allowed him so that passengers would not be delayed. I was on deck when Mr. O'Neill (the inspector) went ashore. I observed Dunne at the helm. I went down and was about four minutes when the accident took place. From the time we left Dublin I did not see anyone else at the helm.
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