An Irish Sea Coaster Fleet 

Newry has long been a frontier town, guarding the land pass between Slieve Gullion and Carlingford Lough. Its name derives from a yew tree, planted supposedly by St. Patrick. The Newry Ship Canal was opened in April 1850 to connect the town to the head of Carlingford Lough. Coasters up to 205 feet in length could enter the Victoria Lock at the seaward end and then move into the Albert Basin adjacent to the centre of town. An eighteen mile canal linked Newry to Portadown and on to Lough Neagh, with coal distributed throughout the province by barge along this waterway and the Ulster Canal.

In 1852, Joseph Fisher and his two sons established a coal importing business on the opposite side of the Albert Basin from the main quay, which handled exports of livestock. He purchased his first sailing vessel in March 1867 in the brigantine Brothers, and then expanded his collier fleet in March 1883 with his first steamer Celtic soon renamed as Kilkeel, a village on the coast. A second steam coaster was added in 1884 as Clanrye, and he then increased his fleet from a few small schooners, brigs and brigantines into a fleet of eleven steam coasters, each of around 400 dwt, by the turn of the century. 

This group of eleven steamers were Kilkeel of 252 grt, the second of the name in the fleet and completed in July 1895 by the John Fullerton yard at Paisley, Rostrevor of 298 grt completed in October 1899 by the same yard as the second of that name, Carlingford Lough of 1891, Warrenpoint of 1892, Joseph Fisher of 1896, Cloughmore of 1898, Frontier Town of 1898, Seapoint of length 175 feet and 593 grt, and Clonallon of 1899, Portadown of 1900, and Shark, purchased in 1888 but built in Dublin back in 1866. This group were of the ‘short quarterdeck all aft’ type with two masts and two derricks for working cargo, and carried sails to steady the vessel and as insurance for engine breakdowns. The Paisley yard built 29 of the 31 new coasters for Fisher’s of Newry from 1890 until it closed in 1928, and usually specified two cylinder compound engines by Fishers Ltd. of Paisley, Renfrew Brothers of Irvine or Hall, Brown, Buttry & Company of Glasgow to give service speeds of nine knots.

The Fisher fleet was registered under three companies, the Newry & Kilkeel Steamship Co. Ltd., established by Joseph Fisher in March, 1897, the Carlingford Lough Steamship Co. Ltd. (1891), and the Frontier Town Steamship Co. Ltd. (1898). Frank Fisher took over as a partner in the business after the death of the founder in 1899, and the steam coaster Ashton was built in 1901, while Dromore, Orior and Abbot were then built in 1903. The Fisher of Newry fleet was the largest collier fleet in Northern Ireland in the first decade of the new century, but had been overtaken by the large John Kelly Ltd. fleet of Belfast by 1920. However, the biggest West Coast U.K. coastal bulk fleet with a big fleet of 49 coasters in 1914 for the Irish Sea and other trades was that of William Robertson of Glasgow. The fleet had a nomenclature of ‘gems’, with gem Line Ltd. formed later in 1952, and the remaining fleet of ten motor coasters taken over by Stephenson Clarke Shipping of Newcastle in 1970.

‘Tree’ Nomenclature 

The first vessels managed by Joseph Fisher & Sons had been named after local place features e.g. Carlingford Lough, Warrenpoint and Mourne, but a change to ‘tree’ names was made in 1905 with the coaster Yews of 500 dwt. She was lost by collision five years later with a French steamer off the Skerries. The ‘tree’ theme was continued with oak of 346 grt in 1906, Elm, olive and Pine of 355 grt in 1907, alder of 341 grt in 1909, Walnut of 340 grt in 1910, Mango of 341 grt in 1912, and Upas of 470 grt in 1913. These were designed to be a bridge ‘midships engines aft type with a longer quarterdeck, with a total length of 142.5 feet, 23.6 feet in the beam and draft of about ten feet, with open bridges, three masts, and two derricks to work cargo from the holds. A coal cargo of 500 tonnes was quickly unloaded by a gang of dockers at Newry within one working day.

Coal was imported from Ayr and Garston on the Mersey and South Wales ports, and cargoes of limestone, cement, clinker and iron ore were also transported around the Irish Sea. The rate of attrition was high among these small Irish Sea coasters, with no fewer than seventeen Newry registered coasters lost between 1900 and 1942 from the Fisher fleet and another local fleet, that of the Clanrye Steam Ship Company. The Fisher steam coasters Clonallon, Orior, Privet and Walnut disappeared without trace, whilst many of the others foundered in heavy weather in the Irish Sea with heavy loss of life. Many local women whose husbands sailed in these collier fleets or the local fishing fleets were widowed at an early age.

The Clanrye coaster fleet was owned by William T. Ferris and he began his coastal trade with Killowen of 228 grt in 1899 and Killeavy of 400 grt in 1900. However, tragedy struck on 3rd November 1916 when his coaster retriever of 483 grt, built in 1906, collided with the railway steamer Connemara of 833 grt at the entrance to Carlingford Lough. Connemara was on her regular run between Greenore, a privately owned railway port on the west side of the Lough, to Holyhead, while retriever was entering the Lough with coal from Garston. A heavy toll of ninety crew and passengers was lost from both sunken vessels, a single crew survivor from retriever being plucked from the sea.

Further Fisher Expansion 

A fleet of thirteen steam powered vessels was being traded by Fisher’s of Newry in 1915 in abbot, alder, aspen, Dromore, Mango, oak, olive, Pine, Portadown, Rostrevor, Walnut, Upas and Ulidia. The last named was not a coaster but a deep sea tramp of around 5,000 dwt that was completed for Fisher’s of Newry in 1903 by the South Shields yard of John Readhead & Sons Ltd. The engine department of Readhead’s provided her triple expansion steam engine, and she traded in the Baltic and Black Sea trades until sold in December 1916 to Skibs a/S Nanset of Larvik (Iver Bugge, manager) and was renamed Skaraas. She was a typical deep framed ‘three island’ steam tramp with fo’c’tle of length 32 feet, bridge deck of 92 feet and poop of 31 feet. She remarkably survived two world wars until wrecked in June 1948 while carrying coal from Shanghai to Keelung under the name of Hwah Jang.

There were no losses to enemy action during World War I, however Rostrevor foundered off the Skerries in April 1917 while on a voyage from Newry to Manchester with granite setts. No attempt was made to purchase a replacement, and other coasters had been sold during the war. Thus, eight steam coasters were being traded in 1920 in alder, aspen, Mango, oak, olive, Portadown, Pine and Walnut. Moygannon was taken over in 1924 when Fisher’s purchased the Newry and Provincial Coal Co. Ltd. She was of 498 grt and had been completed in October 1921 by Dublin Shipbuilders Ltd. and was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by Beardmore on the Clyde.

Nine steam coasters were being traded in 1925 in alder of 1909, aspen of 1915, Mango of 1912, Moygannon of 1921, oak of 1881, olive of 1907, Pine of 1907, Portadown of 1900, and Walnut of 1910. This fleet was registered under two owning companies, the Newry & Kilkeel Steamship Co. Ltd. and the Frontier Town Steamship Co. Ltd. Palm and Poplar were then completed in 1927 by the Fullerton yard at Paisley, followed by the Jasmine of 353 grt and the larger rowan of 500 grt in 1932, both by Scott & Sons of Bowling. Rowan was a long quarterdeck type vessel with a length of 167 feet, beam of 25.6 feet and draft of ten feet. At the beginning of 1933, the Fisher fleet owned thirteen steam coasters in alder, aspen, Jasmine, Mango, Moygannon, oak, olive, Pine, Palm, Portadown, Poplar, rowan, and Walnut. Rowan of 1932 had similar dimensions to Moygannon of 1921 as the following table of dimensions of length, beam, depth and quarterdeck in feet illustrates:-

Portadown was the last survivor of the earlier ‘short quarterdeck all aft’ design by the Fullerton yard, while oak was one of the first of the improved bridge ‘midships engines aft long quarterdeck design with greater cubic capacity of 18,354 cubic feet against 15,300 for the earlier design by that yard. The two designs had the same length, with only a few hundred pounds extra cost to produce the improved design of oak at £6,500 per vessel in 1906.

Change of Shipbuilder 

Six new quarterdeck steam coasters of 365 grt were built between 1932 and 1937 by the newly favoured Scott & Sons yard at Bowling as Jasmine, Bamboo, Broom, Opepe, Privet, and Thorn, while the first motor coaster was completed in September 1938 by the Bowling yard of Scott & Sons as Karri of 354 grt. She had her bridge ‘midships and her eight cylinder four stroke Humboldt Deutz diesel engine placed aft. Mango was wrecked on the Donegal coast in February 1933, having just escaped the same fate at Selsey Bill a few months earlier while on a voyage from Newry to London with stone. Oak, Palm and aspen took many cargoes of coal from Workington to Dublin during the inter war years.

A crew of nine or ten was carried, with the seamen, firemen and the Second Mate accommodated in the fo’c’stle, with the Chief Engineer and Second Engineer aft. The Master and Chief Mate were accommodated ‘midships under the bridge, with also the saloon and a pantry ‘midships. Food was provided for the short voyages across the Irish Sea, but would soon run out on longer voyages in summer and have to be supplemented by the crew themselves. When demand for coal was slack in the summer, Fisher coasters voyaged to the South Coast of England to load Portland stone or vegetables in the Channel Islands, or were seen in the Thames to load cement for Glasgow, or even on the Scottish East Coast hauling barrels of Scottish herrings across the North Sea.

Glendun of 633 grt, built in September 1915 by Scott & Sons of Bowling for Guinness of Dublin as Clareisland, had been purchased in July 1931 for the Belfast coal trade but was registered under the Antrim iron ore Co. Ltd. a running partner had been the coaster Glenaan built back in 1884 for the Antrim iron ore Co. Ltd. of Belfast, and she was purchased in 1929 by Fisher’s but then was wrecked on Bannan Head in January 1932. The Antrim iron ore Co. Ltd. trade was iron ore to the Tyne or Tees with coal backloaded to Belfast, and remarkably also carried passengers, until it closed in 1929.

Carlingford Lough is narrow and difficult to navigate in foggy or bad weather. Two of the Fisher fleet were lost there in a six month period from November 1936. On 21st of that month, olive under Capt. Campbell, ran into and sank the anchored Pine, her crew being fortunately rescued by her fleetmate. In thick fog on 4th April 1937, alder under Capt. Campbell, was at anchor in the Lough when she was struck by the regular Liverpool to Newry cargo steamer Lady Cavan. Alder slowly filled with water and sank with the loss of four people including Capt. Campbell and his wife, three other crew members being saved. Alder was later raised but did not return to service, while Pine was later salvaged and returned to trade for Belfast owners under the name of Second.

World War II 

A fleet of sixteen coasters was being traded by Fisher’s of Newry on the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. These were Agba ex Moygannon, Alder, Aspen, Bamboo, Broom, Jasmine, Karri, Oak, Olive, Opepe, Palm, Poplar, Privet, Rowan, Thorn and Walnut. Four of the fleet were lost during the war, with Privet and Walnut disappearing without trace in December 1940 and October 1941 respectively while on voyages from Birkenhead for Northern Ireland. They are not recorded as war losses, and it is more likely that they succumbed to heavy winter weather. Agba was sunk in collision with a Danish cargo ship in the Firth of Clyde in October 1940, while Poplar was wrecked off Harrington in Cumbria in October 1942.

The fleet were targets for the German bombers that attacked Liverpool, Birkenhead and Garston, where they loaded their cargoes of coal. The period from September 1940 to May 1941 saw a blitz of both sides of the river. However, they were quite safe in the darkened Albert Basin at Newry, as the swarms of German bombers flew high over the Mourne Mountains to attack the prime target of the Harland & Wolff Ltd. shipyard at Belfast. They had flown north up the Irish Sea from bases in occupied France and had been guided by the bright lights of the east coast of the republic of Ireland while their targets in Belfast were in total darkness.

Post-War Trading 

The dozen war survivors made good profits during the decade from 1945 to 1955 due to the severe shortage of ships. Two new steamers joined the fleet in 1947 as Balsa and Ebony of 405 grt from the Scott & Sons yard at Bowling. They were coal fired steamers of identical design to the other steam coasters built for the fleet over the previous forty years except that they had enclosed wheelhouses. They traded for Fishers for ten years and were then sold to the Liverpool fleet of J. S. Monks & Co. Ltd. a fleet of eleven coasters was being traded in 1950 with the fleet registered under the twin companies of the Newry & Kilkeel Steamship Co. Ltd. and the Frontier Town Steamship Co. Ltd.

Two motorships then joined the fleet. First was oak of 709 grt and 925 dwt in April 1953 from the Bowling yard of Scott & Sons and fitted with a five cylinder two stroke British Polar Engines Ltd. diesel, and then Walnut of 539 grt from the J. Bodewes yard in Holland in 1955 and fitted with an eight cylinder four stroke Koln- Deutz diesel. The latter coaster had been acquired on the stocks as Whitehaven from Newcastle owners Anthony & Bainbridge Ltd. The remaining steamers had then been sold off by 1958, when the fleet was down to only three coasters in the last steamer Palm of 1927, and motorships oak of 1953 and Walnut of 1955. This trio continued trading from the Buttercrane Quay office of Fisher’s in Newry until in December 1963 the final motorship coaster joined the fleet. This was olive of 791 grt on dimensions of 202 feet by 33 feet from the Scott & Sons yard, and fitted with an eight cylinder four stroke diesel by English Electric Co. Ltd. at Newton le Willows. The old steamer Palm was sold for scrapping in 1963, and oak of 1953 was then immediately sold to J. & a. Gardner to become Saint Bridget, leaving a two ship Fisher fleet in 1964 in Walnut of 1955 and olive of 1963.

Cawoods Fuels (Northern Ireland) Ltd. 

in November 1966, the two ship fleet of Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd. was acquired by the transport and fuel group Cawood Holdings Ltd. Cawoods had acquired the Belfast coaster owners Hugh Craig & Sons Ltd. in 1963 and also owned an extensive coal and fuel oil supply business in Northern Ireland as well as operating a regular container ship service from Northern Ireland to the Mersey. The ‘Craig’ prefix of Hugh Craig & Sons Ltd. coasters such as Craigolive 605/21, Craigavon 682/21, Craigavad 681/24 ex Saint Kenneth, Craigantlet 827/31 ex Yewarch, was then used for a new motorship Craigmore 1359/65 and 1,972 dwt on dimensions of 240 feet by 37 feet from the Hessle yard of Richard Dunston Ltd. Cawoods funnel colours were yellow with a black top and a Cawood monogram in black inside a black ring.

A decision had been taken in the late 1960s to build bigger coal discharge facilities on Carlingford Lough at Warrenpoint, with the Newry ship canal closed in 1974. The two ship Fisher fleet of Walnut of 1955 and olive of 1963 then brought coal into Warrenpoint from Ayr, Garston and North East Coast ports until Walnut was sold in 1973 to Greek owners. Olive continued in service in traditional Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd. livery until she was transferred to Cawoods in July, 1978 leaving the Fisher Company as agents.

Olive had her funnel repainted in the yellow and black of Cawoods a year later and continued bringing in coal to Warrenpoint until she was sold in 1981 to Head Line (g. Heyn & Sons Ltd.) of Belfast. This former deep sea company had sold its last ship in 1979, but olive was transferred to Cayman Islands registry and traded during 1982/83 on charter until sold later in 1983 to the omega Maritime Corporation of Panama. She was renamed omega Lady for Caribbean trading, but she foundered on 12th February 1984 seventy miles from Puerto Cortes in Honduras and ten miles east of Utila Island while on a voyage from Aruba to Puerto Cortes with sulphur.

Cawoods Fuels (Northern Ireland) Ltd. continued coal importing with Craigmore of 1965 and the larger Pinewood of 3,070 dwt when completed in March 1978 by the Bowling yard of Scott & Sons Ltd. Craigmore and Pinewood were very regular arrivals at Blyth with their distinctive yellow and black funnels until Craigmore was sold in 1987. Pinewood was sold in 1990 to Coe Metcalf Shipping Ltd. of Liverpool and was renamed Redthorn and passed six years to the ownership of James Fisher & Sons (Liverpool) Ltd. Cawoods was eventually sold to become part of the privately owned British Coal, and was then sold off in 2005 when British Coal became a minority coal producer.

Postscript 

The traditional Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd. black funnel colours with red over white over blue bands had been seen in Carlingford Lough for almost a century. The Fisher funnel bands were narrower than those of the bigger John Kelly Ltd. fleet, and there was no ‘K’ for Kelly on the white band. The Fisher steam coasters were surpassed in size in the many Northern Ireland coaster fleets only by John Kelly Ltd. of Belfast, but were much greater in importance than the Clanrye coaster fleet of Newry. They shared Carlingford Lough with the ferries and coasters using Greenore railway port on the Cooley peninsula on the Irish west side of the Lough. The border between Northern Ireland and the republic of Ireland runs down the middle of Carlingford Lough.

Greenore operated a passenger and cargo service to Holyhead between 1873 and 1951. Greenore Ferry Services was running a three ship coaster fleet in 1975 with Owenglas 763/70, Owenbawn 841/50 and Mulcair 480/58, with Owenglas on charter to Coast Lines (P. & o.) for Irish Sea Services as Irish Coast. Greenore continues in use today with three berths and is the tenth busiest of fourteen Irish ports handling around 650,000 tonnes of cargo annually. Warrenpoint Port on the east side of the Lough in Northern Ireland was substantially enlarged in a £6.7 million expansion in the 1970s to create a modern port. Seatruck Ferries operate today from this port, which is managed by Warrenpoint Harbour Authority.