SS Connemara

The SS Connemara was a twin screw steamer, 272 feet long, 35 broad and 14 deep with a gross register tonnage of 1106. She sank on the night of 3 November 1916 at the entrance to Carlingford Lough, Louth, Ireland after being hit amidships by the coalship Retriever. 97 people died that night and the only survivor was James Boyle – a fireman on the Retriever and former caretaker of Warrenpoint Town Hall and a non-swimmer.

History
Name	1896–1916: SS Connemara
Namesake	Connemara
Owner	1896–1916: London and North Western Railway
Operator	1896–1916: London and North Western Railway
Port of registry
Route	1895–1902: Drogheda – Liverpool
Builder	William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton
Yard number	558
Launched	7 November 1896
Fate	Sunk in collision 3 November 1916
General characteristics
Tonnage	1,106 gross register tons (GRT)
Length	272.5 ft (83.1 m)
Beam	35.1 ft (10.7 m)
Draught	14.2 ft (4.3 m)

The captain on the Connemara was Captain G. H. Doeg. The captain on the Retriever was Patrick O'Neill. Both men were experienced seamen and the accident was attributed to the atrocious weather conditions on the night.

Sinking

Vessels involved

SS Connemara

• Ship type: Twin screw steamer
• Captain: GH Doeg
• Tonnage: 1106 gross register tons
• Built by: Denny Brothers of Dunbarton in 1897
• Owners: London and North-Western Railway Company
• Length: 272 ft (83 m)
• Beam: 35 ft (11 m)
• Draught: 14 ft (4.3 m)
• Crew: 30 (all from Holyhead in Wales)
• Cargo: 51 passengers (and livestock)

Retriever

• Ship type: Steel screw, three mast steamer
• Captain: Patrick O'Neill from Kilkeel
• Second Mate: Joseph O'Neill (Captain's son)
• Tonnage: 483 gross register tons
• Built by: Ailsa Shipbuilding Company in 1899
• Owners: Clanrye Shipping Company
• Length: 168 ft (51 m)
• Beam: 25 ft (7.6 m)
• Draught: 10 ft (3.0 m)
• Crew: 9 (all from Newry except the sole survivor James Boyle who was from Summerhill in Warrenpoint)
• Cargo: Coal

Previous accidents

Both the Connemara and the Retriever had been in separate collisions with other ships before the fatal accident:

• The Connemara sank the Liverpool vessel Marquis of Bute on 20 March 1910.
• Similarly the Retriever sank the Spanish ship the Lista at Garston dock, Liverpool, on 31 August 1912.

Accident of 3 November 1916

The accident occurred on 3 November 1916. The sea conditions at the time were "mountainous seas & dark conditions". There were gale-force winds from southwest against a strong ebb tide of approximately 8 knots.

The Retriever had departed Garston, Merseyside at 4 a.m. on Friday, and was headed to Newry. The Connemara had departed Greenore (her berth) at 8 p.m., and was headed to Holyhead.

The outbound Connemara met the inbound Retriever approximately a half-mile beyond the Carlingford bar. The bar in Carlingford is marked by Haulbowline lighthouse. Beyond the bar is the "cut" or channel, which in Carlingford's case is very narrow, being only about 300 yards wide. This lack of space allows for very little manoeuvrability for passing vessels. Both vessels were showing dimmed lights, for fear of U-boats. Their masters were on their respective bridges, and there was no evidence to indicate they were not alert.

The watch at the Haulbowline lighthouse, seeing the ships too close for comfort, fired off rockets in warning.

However, the atrocious conditions had caused the Retriever's cargo to list. She was fighting both wind, tide and cargo inertia. She hit the Connemara on the port side, penetrating her hull to the funnel. Immediately Master O' Neill reversed engines and the Retriever swung wide. The Connemara however was terribly ripped below the waterline on the port side, from bow to amidships. She sank within minutes, her boilers exploding on contact with the cold water.

The Retriever, with her bow stove in, took about 20 minutes to sink about 200 yards from the Connemara. Her boilers also exploded on contact with the water.

Aftermath

Memorial plaque in Carlingford, County Louth

There were 97 fatalities from the accident, with just one survivor. The nearby shorelines were "littered with corpses, dead animals and flotsam and jetsam". 58 bodies were found the next morning, with other bodies washing up over the following weeks from Cranfield to Kilkeel. Many of the corpses were badly mutilated and burned (due to the boilers exploding). The unidentified bodies were buried in a mass grave in Kilkeel.

An inquest was held on 6 November in Kilkeel. The coroner and members of the jury journeyed to the scene of the tragedy to view the wreckage and the bodies that had been collected. The sole survivor of the accident, James Boyle, gave his evidence breaking down several times. The verdict of the inquest was death by drowning caused by the collision of the ships.

The sole survivor was James Boyle, a 21-year old from Summerhill in Warrenpoint, was a fireman on board the Retriever and was also a caretaker at Warrenpoint Town Hall. He was below deck of the Retriever at the time of the accident. A non-swimmer, he clung to an upturned boat until he was rescued. He lived for another 50 years in Warrenpoint until his death in April 1967.

External links

• The sinking of the Connemara in Carlingford Lough (archived 2002)
• "The Connemara Tragedy". Irishships.com. Archived from the original on 19 November 2004.
• BBC Information