Youghal Historian Mike Hackett

Sailors and Seamen of Youghal who lost their lives to the water. 

My thanks to Mike Hackett  , Youghal's great historian for compiling this. Some of the sailing vessels which I have attached are un-named at present.


Captain Fleming of Youghal died on the schooner ‘Hertford’ when it
 shipwrecked on the Wexford coast in 1882. It was owned by local merchants
Flemings and the captain was one of the family.

 James Butler of Windmill Hill also died on the schooner ‘Hertford’. James
was actually a baker by trade and this was his first voyage. Patrick
 McCarthy and Seaman Bennett, both of Youghal, were also lost in that
 incident.

 Walter William Burke of Hanover Street contracted Yellow Fever on the
 Tall-Ship ‘Melanope’ in 1894. He died at sea and the vessel brought the body
 into Rio-De-Janeiro, Brazil, where he is buried.

 Miko Loughlin of the Mall died on the schooner William S. Green, shipwrecked
 on the Devon Coast in 1904. Danny Coakley of North Main Street and Tommy
 Walsh of Mary Street also died then on the William S. Green.

The William S.Green

 Jack Smyth of Flemimgs Court, Tallow Street, died on the ‘Annette’ when she
 went onto the rocks below Youghal Lighthouse in 1905. Captain Kirby of
 Dungarvan died on the same occasion.

 Patrick McCarthy of Mouse Street caught a disease on a brigantine, died, and
 was buried in Archangel in Russia. He was grandfather of the late Noel
 Donoghue of Cross Lane.
 Paddy O’Brien of Ballyvergan was lost overboard from the destroyer ‘Cossack’
at Ayr in Scotland, in 1919. He slipped on a steep gangway and hit his head
 on the quay-wall.

Captain Patrick O’Brien of Strand Street, died of blood poisoning on the
‘B.I.’ at Runcorn, Merseyside in 1914, at the age of 32.

Martin Bland of Church Street died on ship in 1920 and was buried in Aruba
 in the Dutch Carribean. He was father of the late George Bland of O’Rahilly
 Street.

James Duggan of Church Lane, in an attempt to rescue a fellow sailor,

 was drowned while the schooner ‘Elizabeth Drew’ was berthed at New Ross in
 1933.

 William Perrott of Wales was drowned in 1933 while attempting to swim ashore
 from the ketch ‘Daisy’ while it was moored in Upper Youghal Harbour. There
 is a memorial to William chiselled into the rock near Youghal Lighthouse and
he is buried in Templemichael graveyard.

 Tommy Smyth of the Alms Houses was lost overboard at Rouen in france in
 1933.

William John Coleman of Quay Lane died aboard ship in 1936 on the way to
 Australia. He was buried at sea.

 Captain Michael Duggan of Church Street was lost on the ‘Nellie Fleming’
 which foundered without trace between the Bristol Channel and Youghal in
 February 1936. Also lost on the same vessel were: Batty Glavin, on the way
 home to his daughter’s wedding; Eddie Sullivan of Raheen Road on his first
 voyage as cabin boy; Dan Kenneally of The Mall, father of a large family;
and Declan Doyle of Penders Lane, eighteen years of age.

 William Ring of 135 North Main Street was lost overboard in Cardiff Docks in
1937. Having managed to hold onto a rope all night, he died the following
 morning from exposure.

John Doyle from Gallagher Terrace fell overboard while on a voyage to
 Australia in 1938. He was a brother to Declan Doyle, lost on the ‘Nellie
Fleming’ two years earlier.

 Connie Troy of Windmill Hill was electrocuted while repairing his fishing
boat at Cobh in 1946.

 Michael O’Regan of South Cross Road was serving in the Irish Naval Service
 on the ‘L.E. Cliona’ in 1952. He took ill on board, was brought to hospital
 but sadly died at just eighteen.

 Patrick Sullivan of South Cross Road, was lost overboard at
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1962.

 Teddy Murphy of Kent Street, was struck down with appendicitis at sea in
 1962 on the ship ‘Ordinance’. He died in Dunkirk hospital.

 Tom Paul Ring of Sarsfield Terrace and Joey Gaule of Mall Lane died while
 asleep in their bunks on the ‘Irish Sycamore’ as it lay docked in New
 Orleans in 1965. Smoke inhalation was the cause of death when a fire started
in an empty cabin next door.

 Gerry Griffin of Brown Street, was lost overboard from the ‘Mossville’ while
 berthed at Cork in 1967. It was said that a plank gangway collapsed.

 Noel O’Brien of De Valera Street died when he fell overboard from a dredger
 on the river Thames in 1968.

Joe Higgins of Strand Street fell between vessel and quay at Greenock in
 Scotland in 1970 and was drowned. The ship was the ‘M.V. St. William’.

 Timothy J. Harnedy from Inchiquin, Killeagh was drowned in 1982 while
swimming at Bondi Beach in Australia. Ted was the ship’s radio officer and
was on leave, awaiting a plane home.
 James Jessie Collins of Raheen Road, died on the tanker ‘Rathcoyle’ in 1994.
Asleep in his bunk, while docked at Ellesmere Port near Chester, he died of
a heart attack.

Fishermen who died in River, Harbour and Bay tragedies.
 James Hannigan of Wesley Place, drowned when a salmon yawl overturned in
Youghal Harbour in 1886. Connie Glavin of Greens Quay was also lost in that
 disaster.

Two Flaherty brothers and two Mulcahy brothers of Monatrea, were drowned
 when their salmon boat capsized at Mangans Cove in 1887.

 Four men were drowned near the Metal Bridge in 1892 when their salmon yawl
 turned over. They were Maurice Keogh, Maurice Fleming, William Keating and
 John White -- all were from Ardsallagh. They were using a dipping-lug sail
 at the time with which it was hard to change tack.

The Kathleen & May

John Hogan of Ardsallagh went for a swim in 1916 at the High Rock near
 Fleming’s Ferry, between fishing the tides., and it cost him his life. He
had his passage booked to America and a tailor named Bride in Youghal was
 making a suit of clothes for him.

 Tommy Smith of Primrose Lane, was drowned in Youghal Harbour in 1923 when
his salmon boat captized. With him and also lost were Pats Murray of
 Monatrea and Tom Aher of Porters Lane. Saved that day was Mike Hannigan, who
 was Cox of the local lifeboat for years.

 Bob Foley of Water treet was drowned when another salmon boat turned over in
 1927. Also lost then were Declan Kenure of Windmill Lane and Jim Boland of
Water Street.

Then in 1933, yet another salmon yawl capsized on the river. Drowned that
 day were Johnny Brennan of The Mall and Tommy Truxie Griffin of Mill Road.
 Rescued were Tommy Muta Heaphy and Mike O’Neill.

 Mick O’Brien-Stokes of Sarsfield Terrace died of a heart attack in his boat
 while fishing down the harbour in 1949.

 Paddy Barry of Ceann a Bhotair (Redbarn) received severe head injuries when
 injuries in hospital.

 Declan Hannon of South Main Street was lost overboard from a fishing boat in
 Waterford Harbour in 1972.

 Danny Twohig of Blackwater Heights suffered a heart attack while hauling his
 nets on the river in 1992. He died in the boat.

 Lost at War

 Richard Ahern of Youghal, died when the ‘H.M.S. Goliah’ was sunk in 1915.

 William Patrick Nolan of Brown Street, died in the sinking of ‘H.M.S.
 Defence’ in 1916.


Michael Mulcahy of Ardmore was killed when the ‘H.M.S. Indefatigable’ was
 sunk in 1916.

 Maurice McGrath of the Clock Gate, died on the ‘H.M.S. Davis’ in 1917.

 John Hyde of the Ferrypoint, died when the ‘H.M.S. Cornwall’ went down in
 1918.

When the ‘H.M.S. Laurentic’ hit a minefield off Malin Head near Derry in
 1917, it cost the lives of four Youghal sailors. They were: Patrick Brennan
 and John Buckley, both of The Mall; William Lynch, Buckley’s Lane; and Jacky
 O’Brien, Windmill Lane.

 William Glavin of Windmill Hill was lost when the minesweeper ‘Mignonette’
 was torpedoed off the Cork coast in 1917.

 Tommy Stack of South Cross Road, Miley Long of Water Street and Jack Murphy
 of South Main Street died in 1940 when the aircraft carrier ‘H.M.S.
 Glorious’ was sunk by battle cruisers in the North Sea.

 Brendan Murphy of Market square and William Kirby of The Mall died on the
 cruiser ‘H.M.S. Gallatea’ when it was torpedoed and sunk off Alexandria in
 1941. It sank in ninety seconds.
 Two more Youghal men died when the battleship ‘H.M.S. Barham’ was torpedoed
and sunk off Alexandria in 1941. They were Jerry Connolly of Cork Hill and
 Bobby Webster of Sarsfield Terrace. The two men were stokers down below and
had little chance of escape following the four torpedo hits.

 Tommy Roche of Water Street died when the armed trawler ‘Lincoln City’ was
 sunk in the North Atlantic in 1941. He is buried on the Faroe Islands.

 Jimmy Walsh of Raheen Road lost his life early during the Second World War
when his ship, a merchantman, was sunk by a torpedo. It is said that in his
 house was a picture of a sailor returning home with his bag over his
 shoulder and his family running to greet him. On the night that Jimmy died
 at sea, the picture fell off the wall for no apparent reason -- the cord had
 not broken and the nail was still firmly stuck in the wall.

 Bill Kelly of Market Square was killed when his vessel, the ‘Swiftpool’ was
 bombed while moored on the Thames river.
Maurice Cooney of Kent Street, on another merchantman, was killed by U boat
 action in 1941.
 Tommy Mulcahy of Market Square died on the ‘Kingston Hill’ after it was
 torpedoed in 1941. He was engaged to be married.

 John Ronayne of South Cross Road was in the merchant navy and was lost as a
 result of U boat action early in the war.

 Edward Fowkes of Ashe Street was on the ‘Shakespeare’ during an aircraft
 attack on the ship. He was killed on deck.

 Peter Lynch of Church Street lost his life when ‘S.S. Milos’ was torpedoed
 and sunk in 1942. His parents later lived in the house which had been the
Fever Hospital at Raheen Road.

 Alfie Hartnett of Barrys Lane was on the ‘Irish Pine’ when it was sunk by
 U-608 in the North Atlantic in 1942. The ‘Irish Pine’ was clearly showing
 neutral markings and was lit up to show the Irish connection. It was a bad
 decision on the part of the U boat captain.

Connie Glavin of Cork Hill died when his vessel the ‘S.S. Miriam

 Thomas’ was run over by an American troop ship in the Irish Sea. There was
 no survivor from Connie’s ship after that calamity.

 Eddie Glavin of Cork Hill, Connie’s brother, died when his ship was
torpedoed, just three days out of New Zealand, in 1943.

 Michael Lynch of Kent Street fell ill on board his ship ‘S.S. British
Renown’ in 1944 and died. He is buried on the Isle of Wight.

 Paddy McGrath of Strand Street died when the ‘S.S. Empire Heritage’ was sunk
by a mine in 1944. He had earlier survived two sinkings by torpedo in the
 North Atlantic
 Captain William O’Brien of The Mall was drowned when he fell overboard at
 Greens Quay from the ‘Rob Roy’ in 1900. It seems that he had been asleep in
his bunk for awhile before he awoke to find the ship ranging (beginning to
 tug) at her ropes due to a build-up of sea swell. A storm was imminent!
 William got up to adjust the fenders of the vessel, ensuring that it would
 not damage itself against the quay wall. Tragically, in the process, he fell
 overboard and was drowned.

 Another Captain, William Jones of Friar Street, was lost from the ‘S.S.’
 Athena’ as the vessel navigated the Majellan Straits in Southern Argentina.
 It happened in 1904, ten years before the opening of the Panama Canal. At
 that time, the only way from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic for large
 ships was around Cape Horn, or via the nearby Majellan Straits for smaller
 ones.
 When the ‘Hiland Mar’ went onto the rocks at Ardo Head near Ardmore in 1894,
 it cost the lives of two Youghal sailors. They were named as seamen Bennet
 and Fenton and both were from the Windmill Hill area. The ‘Hiland Mar’ was
 carrying steel for an extension to the Youghal Brickworks on that ill-fated
 voyage. The skipper -- Captain Nagle of The Mall -- escaped by climbing the
 cliffs to reach the nearby house of the Terry family.
 In the second half of the last century, two disasters in Ardmore cost the lives of four of their salmon fishermen. On both occasions, the boats
 overturned. Lost to the sea in 1982 were: Liam Lincoln and Tom Morrissey of
 Ardmore.
Then in 1995 cousins Paul Dunne and Edmond Fitzgerald also died in similar
 circumstances when they were drowned while salmon fishing at Ardmore.

 The total number listed here ( and this may not be complete ) is
 ninety-four.

 God grant peace to all their souls.

Sailors and Fishermen of Ardmore and Youghal remembered

A full-of-colour religious ceremony took place at the Youghal Parish Church when the annual Mass was said last Saturday for all the mariners lost to the water.

Uniforms were in abundance with the Irish Naval Service well represented. Also in attendance were the local Coastguard Service and the Royal National Lifeboat crew. The Mass was said by Canon Tom Browne, assisted by Fr. Denis Herlihy, recently retired back from England.

Another attractive and emotional aspect of the ceremony was the sea-shanty songs and music provided by members of the Lifeboat and Navy. Local historian and author Maurice Ahern, whose forefathers were sailors and fishermen, gave the homily and included a few lovely poems. ‘I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky, and all I ask is a tall-ship and a star to steer her by’.

The congregation mainly comprised members of sea-faring families from Ardmore and Youghal who were deeply moved by the prayers and singing. Everywhere could be seen hankies drying the tears from the eyes of adults as they were reminded of their loved ones -- some of whom have no graves but the deep ocean. Canon Browne spoke of the strong heritage of seafaring in the area and how costly it was during storms and world wars. 

The Offeratory gifts brought to the altar included many medals of honour belonging to forefathers of members of the congregation. Also brought up to the altar was a replica of a tall-ship and a painting of the ‘Kathleen-and-May’ schooner.

At the conclusion of a very inspiring, emotional and prayerful hour, that great lifeboat anthem by Phil Coulter ‘Home from the Sea’ was sung by all.

There was hardly a dry eye in the house.

In this year of the centenary of the loss of the Titanic, it is fitting that like Cobh, the port of Youghal should remember and honour its souls lost to the sea.

The Loughlins of the Mall, Youghal, were a typical seafaring family of the nineteenth century when sailing ships ruled the seas.

Tom Loughlin captained the sailing ship

‘Perfect’, a boat that left Youghal every Spring in the mid-eighteen-hundreds to sail to the Americas. Cargo outwards would be dairy produce and on the return voyage, timber like mahogany was imported. Tom had four sons named Tommy, Michael, Jack and Jim. Tommy was sailing with his father (at just nineteen) when he was washed overboard off the Lizard. Captain Tom had to be forcibly restrained from jumping overboard in what would have been a hopeless attempt to save his son.

Another son of Captain Tom, Miko Loughlin of the Mall, died on the schooner William S. Green, shipwrecked on the Devon Coast in 1904.

Move on to 1917, when Jack Loughlin, then himself a captain, was drowned with all his crew on the

‘S.S. Ballater’ (Liverpool). It was during the First-World-War, in September 1917, that a submarine attack caused that loss. Jack was then fifty-two years of age.

And so of the original four Loughlin sons, who sailed out with their father, only Jim (also now a captain) remained. He was affectionately known as Jimo and it was his belief that

‘Davy Jones Locker’ had taken enough of the Loughlin family. So Jimo retired from seafaring, settled down ashore and lived to a ripe old age.