Troubled Waters...
- On 16/09/2024
- In Dangerous Places for Shipping
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By Samantha Libreri - RTE News
It has been the talk of the town all week. Reports by RTÉ News on Monday that three new shipwrecks have been discovered on Portmarnock Strand prompted locals to comb the north Dublin beach, to see with their own eyes the pieces of the past that have up to now been hidden by the sands.
This stretch of the capitals coastline has quite the history of ships running ashore. Some 50 wrecks are recorded in the Wreck Inventory, around the Portmarnock and Baldoyle areas which the National Monument Service says is "unusually high".
The physical remains of at least 13 of these vessels have been located.
The documented wreckage's range from 14th century trading ships to 20th century coal-boats and research suggests that most of the vessels recorded off Portmarnock Strand were lost during bad weather.
Several of the ships en-route to Dublin may have attempted to seek refuge in Howth Harbour during stormy conditions but failed to reach the safety of the harbour entrance and were compelled to run ashore on the strand to save lives.
Other ships, originating from ports on the west coast of Britain and bound for various global destinations, seem to have been driven ashore by stormy weather.
Below the National Monument Service outlines details about the three most recently uncovered wrecks, which provide some clues as to their origins and tell a story about maritime history around the north Dublin coast.
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