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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.
JAMES DUNNE, STEERER
James Dunne then gave his evidence. My native place is Mullingar. I was cabin boy on the Longford for four years. On Tuesday I steered her from the time we left Broadstone at 2pm until just before four. I had given up the helm to Pat Teeling to go down to my dinner and was below when she struck. Pat Teeling is a labourer who works on the banks of the canal.
Mr. O'Neill came on board at the 11th lock and asked for Keatinge. I told him he was unwell. (Evidence was later given that Keatinge had only come out to the ninth lock to collect money which was owed to him). Dunne indicated that 'the captain is the proper person to take the helm when the steerer goes to his dinner. There is a general order to that effect. I brought my dinner to the bar and saw the captain there. He did not ask me who was at the helm when I came below. I do not know the cause of the boat striking. I heard the alarm and rushed out. The boat was on her side and I found myself in the water. If the boat was properly steered she would not have struck.
Pat Teeling had often steered before. I believed him to be competent when I gave him the helm. He was sober then. He had often steered on dark and blowy nights. I took a glass of porter before I left Dublin but none afterwards. Teeling was in the habit of steering timber boats. I could not positively say that Teeling had nothing after I left Dublin. Porter was opened in the steerage but I did not see Teeling partake of it or any other drink. Neither did I take any myself after we left the Broadstone. I think I saw the captain in the ladies cabin arranging some clothes. It was because I had confidence in Teeling that I gave him the helm. The captain has been in his situation about two months. I do not believe him to be competent to steer.
Captain O'Connor: I have been supernumerary captain and taken charge of boats for three years. I can steer either night or day boats perfectly and there is no order that the Captain should take the helm when it is given up by the person who may be steering it.
If Teeling had not been left at the helm while I was away the boat would not have sunk.
Dunne restated his evidence regarding the duty of captain to steer when the men were at their dinner, and that he did not consider the cabin boy Campbell or the captain capable of steering though he had seen him do so in the Longford and other boats.
Captain O'Connor was recalled and gave further evidence regarding his capability of steering but also said it was not part of his duties as captain.
THE EVIDENCE OF PAT TEELlNG
Pat Teeling was then sworn. I live on the Townland of Ballasport in the County of Meath. I am a labourer on the canal. I was on board the Longford on Tuesday when she left Dublin at two. Dunne steered the boat until Porterstown Bridge. He then asked me to steer and I took the helm. I think he went to his dinner. I continued steering for four or five minutes. During that time one of the boys was in the hold with me. He was the only one of the crew near me. He was cooking. There were some passengers about him. I asked the boy to come and steer as I had occasion to go to the cabin. I heard them calling him Alick, but I don't know his other name. I think he is about 18 or 20. I am satisfied that the boy to whom I gave the helm was competent to steer. It must have been through bad steering that she struck. She heeled down upon the side I was leaning at and her side was immersed in water. I struggled upwards until I got on deck. She was doing down at a fair rate. The canal is not very narrow where she struck. There is plenty of room for two passage boats to pass.
Captain O'Connor: This man got into the boat at Dublin or the fifth lock. After the 6th lock I began to collect money in the back cabin.
Mr. Teeling: I was in a public house at the fifth lock just before I went on board. I drank nothing there. I was in Dunphy's Public House in Phibsborough. I went to get notes for silver. I drank something at Dunphy's I can't say what. I think it was a 'crapper' of cordial. I took about half a glass of whisky at another public house at Constitution Hill. I swear that I drank no more than the 'crapper' of cordial and the glass of whisky before I got on board.
The Coroner dismissed him and said he had given evidence in a very unsatisfactory way and with great reluctance. He decided to have Teeling back the following day and warned him he would commit him if the did not give his evidence in a straightforward manner.
ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, CABIN BOY OF THE 'LONGFORD'
Alexander Campbell then gave his evidence. I live in Longford. I am a cabin boy to the Longford. I am not constantly employed as a cabin boy. I am 18 or 19. Dunne, who came to steer the boat is the regular and in his place employed me as cabin boy. Dunne steered from Dublin to Porterstown. Teeling steered after that. Dunne gave him the helm after Porterstown Bridge. Teeling held the helm for about 3 minutes and asked me to take it. He said he wanted to go to steerage. He returned immediately afterwards and took the helm. After giving him the helm I went down to put on the potatoes. I was stooping over the pot when the boat struck. Teeling was where the helmsman ought to be but I cannot say that he held the helm as my back was to him. I brought up 3 bottles of porter to Teeling, another man and Fitzsimons. The porter was ordered by a man named Keatinge who went out at the 10th lock. I don't know whether the captain saw him or not. The captain was not done collecting at that time. Keatinge ordered me to bring the porter according as it was called for. Two bottles of porter were brought up before I brought any. I cannot say whether Keatinge drank any or not. A soldier - Fitzsimons, Teeling, and Keatinge drank all the porter.
At this point, the Coroner adjourned the inquest until the following day. He ordered that Teeling be taken into custody and be kept separate from the other witnesses and persons to be examined.
Mr. Murphy QC on behalf of the company said that the canal had recently been sold to the Mullingar Railway Company, but that there had been no other change of officers, and was at pains to point out that 'the takeover had nothing to do with the accident'.
THE VICTIMS
- Thomas Bannon, a respectable shopkeeper, of Athlone
- Bridget Curry, nurse to a child Alfred Greening, were identified, whereabouts unknown.
- Mrs. Ford of Mullingar, going home
- Mr. Kearney, of Swinford, Co. Mayo, who was returning home from Liverpool, where he had been selling cattle
- Terence McCluskey, Pig Dealer, going to Mullingar
- Michael Moran
- Mrs. Catherine Mulligan, lived somewhere about Longford
- Edward Rutledge, shopkeeper of Cashcarrigan
- Mrs. Walsh, locality unknown, who was in the company of Mr. McNiff, both going to Longford
One of the victims, Mrs. Catherine Mulligan lived somewhere about Longford and was returning from Boston in America where she had gone to bring home her daughter, a pretty young girl. The girl was saved by the courage and humanity of Mr. Jessop, a private in the 8th Hussars. A fine fellow of undaunted courage who had saved two or three lives with his own hands and the Company had rewarded him in a handsome manner and recommended him in the strongest terms to his colonel. The young girl remained at home in the neighbourhood in a very weak condition. The Company have looked after her and paid any necessity.
A Mrs. Beatty going to Leitrim had a miraculous escape.
Private Jessop of the 8th Hussars gave evidence of the change of helmsmen, and that there was no one at the helm when the boat struck. He described how he had saved two women and saw the cabin boy (Campbell) endeavouring to save people.
A list of the unidentified victims also appeared in the Freeman's Journal:
- Two male children, not identified
- Five women, names unknown
- Two children, names unknown
- Four men, names unknown
Among them was a beautiful young girl called Mary coming from Liverpool, who told Mr. Morris, a fellow passenger that she was going to a place called Ruskey (Rooskey?). The unidentified and unclaimed were buried in the adjoining churchyard.
The Coroner said that if the remaining bodies were not identified or claimed by Saturday, they would be buried in the churchyard adjoining the scene of the sinking.
THE VERDICT
The jury returned its verdict after twenty minutes. They found that Edward Rutledge, Thomas Bannon, Michael Moran and Catherine Mulligan and four other men whose names are unknown came by their deaths and suffocated and drowned in the passage boat 'Longford' in the Royal Canal near Clonsilla Bridge on Tuesday 25th November 1845 and that it was in some manner caused by the neglect of the Master Christopher O'Connor, the steersman James Dunne and the very culpable neglect of Patrick Teeling a free passenger. They further found that the upsetting of the said boat was occasioned by the 'most gross negligence of the said Patrick Teeling after the helm was given into his charge by the said James Dunne and we further find the said Patrick Teeling guilty of manslaughter’. The jury also found 'a great want in the existing regulations concerning the comfort of the passenger boats, the regulations of the number of passengers to be carried, and the diligence of the crew’. The boat was fined £100.
The coroner committed Teeling for trial for manslaughter. The Attorney General later directed that charges should also be brought against James Dunne.
AFTERMATH
Following the sinking of the 'Longford', the only changes in safety procedures were the removal of the bars on the windows of the cabins on the canal boats. The practice of carrying the passengers' luggage on deck also ceased.
Patrick Teeling was found guilty of manslaughter. Captain Christopher O'Connor was dismissed. James Dunne and Alexander Campbell were banned from employment on the passenger boats. The ill fated canal passenger boat 'Longford' was repaired, and her name was changed to the 'Sligo'.
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