Cork Harbour.
Photo from portofcork.ie Cork Harbour
by Cal McCarthy
(Merrion Press, €29.95)
Cal McCarthy’s important book on Cork Harbour, the second largest natural harbour in the world, is beautifully shaped into three sections: Military Development, Commercial Development and Migration. The period covered is from 1700 to 1918. Hence there are no references to the role of Spike Island as the incarceration place for political later on.
The author traces the beginnings of the history of Cork Harbour to a Viking settlement on its upper reaches in the 10th-Century. Its military strategic importance emerged from 1700 onwards. This was highlighted by the ‘Nine Years’ War (1688–97) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14). England and France were the main protagonists in both wars and fought for supremacy in the North Atlantic.
In that confrontation Cork Harbour proved to be an important station and victualling centre for the Royal Navy. The presence of the navy in the harbour meant that it had to be adequately protected. McCarthy provides a meticulous account of the construction and the refurbishment from time to time of the defensive forts in and around the harbour.
From 1775 to 1783 Britain fought the 13 American colonies that had banded together to form the USA. The war ended in British defeat and the recognition of the USA as an independent state. Cork Harbour had a significant role in the war. Of the 64 transports of ‘Redcoats’ Britain dispatched to face Washington’s revolutionary army, 39 departed from Cork.
Important
The naval station in the harbour remained crucially important during the Napoleonic period. During World War I, ships from it engaged with German submarines active in the seas around the south coast and two of them captured the Aud in 1916.
The commercial development of Cork Harbour progressed pari passu with the military development. Salted goods like pork, beef and butter were the staple of its trade. In the first half of the 18th Century Cork’s export of beef exceeded that of all other harbours combined. But Cork’s most famous export was butter, the volume of it moving through the harbour was immense.
The harbour’s trade trebled between 1845 and 1870. By 1904 it imported 6.8% of the value of Irish imports and accounted for 7.3% of Irish exports. Throughout its history, ship-building was an important part of the harbour’s commercial life. There were shipyards at Cove (Queenstown, modern Cobh), Rushbrooke, Passage and the upper reaches of the harbour.
Emigrants
Cork Harbour has been and continues to be one of the chief exits for emigrants from our country. Cromwell had soldiers, priests and ‘vagabonds’ transported from it to the West Indies. In the mid-19th Century, convicts were shipped from the harbour to Van Diemen’s Land, New South Wales and Western Australia. Then, during the Famine Years, hundreds of thousands left it for North America. Sadly, it seems, the death rate among these emigrants was one in every nine!
The author describes in considerable detail the untiring efforts of the Harbour Commissioners to develop the harbour and its installations: deep-water berths, jetties, docks, dockyards, piers, quays, etc, their attention to dredging, pilotage and essential maintenance.
Because of their wise stewardship, ships of every shipping line have sailed in and out of the harbour. Among the visitors have been the largest liners ever built, such as the ill-fated Lusitania and the Titanic – the one sunk by a German submarine, the other by an ice-berg!
This lavishly illustrated monograph is a superb piece of work and will remain the definitive study of Cork Harbour for many years to come. Moreover, it is the work of a local historian.
