This very well-known Belfast coastal fleet and business lasted 150 years from 1840 to 1990 and operated almost exclusively in the coal import trade into Belfast. Northern Ireland has no coal deposits of its own, so its industry and particularly shipbuilding needed big imports into Queen’s Quay, the home of John Kelly Ltd. The other Irish Sea trades of stone, cement, aggregates and other cargoes were also carried on occasion, with the fleet venturing as far south as France with South Wales coal. A maximum fleet size of 44 steam coasters in 1937 and 46 coasters in 1939 saw some ships taking charters on the East Coast from Stephenson Clarke Ltd of Newcastle. The Kelly fleet was taken over in 1948 jointly by Stephenson Clarke Ltd and William Cory & Sons Ltd., and the Kelly motor coasters of the late 1950s and 1960s were frequently seen loading coal in Blyth, Tyne and Goole for Belfast.

Samuel Kelly (1818-1877), father of John Kelly, was born in Ballinderry in County Antrim and began in business in a small way at Queen’s Quay in 1840 as a ‘grocer and commission coal merchant’. He moved into the coal importing business with brigantines and schooners in 1861 with small craft such as William of 108 grt, Melissa, Agnes C. James, Balmarino, Kelpie, Pleiades, Fellow Craft and Doria, the latter foundering in the treacherous and unforgiving sandbanks of the Solway Firth on 6th December 1866 with coal from Maryport for Belfast. John Kelly was 37 years of age when his father died, and he was destined to expand the fleet with many steam coasters and became a very rich man noted for his philanthropy.

The first new steel steam coaster of Samuel Kelly was launched in the summer of 1890 from the Belfast yard of MacIlwaine and McColl and named after his wife Susannah Kelly. This important little ship was of 289 grt with a length of 104.7 feet and beam of 20.6 feet but gave only seven years of service to Kelly before her cargo of coal shifted on 15th June 1897 while on a voyage from Ayr to Belfast. Capt. F. Bryant saw this sudden list increase rapidly until she was on her beam ends and she sank by the stern ten miles east of the Maidens Lighthouse with the loss of all of her crew.

The second Kelly steamer came from the Ailsa yard in November 1898 as Balmarino of 461 grt, and in contrast gave 59 years of service to Kelly, surviving until scrapped at Troon as Ballybeg. Coal was loaded at Ayr, Ardrossan, Maryport and Workington by the Kelly fleet, which numbered four steam coasters in 1910 and thirteen in 1915. John Kelly had died in 1901 and the business was run by his wife Susannah and their son Samuel, born 7th February 1880. A nomenclature of place names in Northern Ireland beginning ‘A’, ‘B’ and particularly ‘C’ was then begun e.g. Achill, Ailsa, Aranisland, Balmarino, Bantry, Blacksod, Blackwater, Carnalea, Carnlough, Castlehill, Castlereagh, Clandeboye, Clapham, Claremorris, Clewbay, Comber, Corrib, Corteen, Craigavad and Cultra. Coal importers W. M. Barkley & Sons were taken over in 1911 with one steam coaster, W. M. Barkley, transferred to Kelly ownership. She was sold in 1913 to Guinness of Dublin and later sunk by a U-boat on 12th October 1917 with the loss of five lives.

On 19th April 1911, John Kelly & Company was incorporated as a limited liability company with a capital of L50,000 held in equal shares by Samuel Kelly and his mother Susannah. Six steam coasters were ordered two years later from the famous coaster building yard of Scott & Sons of Bowling on the Clyde, but only three operated in the Kelly fleet as Carnalea, Clandeboye and Comber, with the other trio sold and given cooling plant to transport black Guinness stout from Dublin to the Thames. During the Great War, several of the Kelly fleet were requisitioned by the British Government while the majority continued in their vital trade of supplying coal to Belfast. Castlebar, the former Madge Ballantyne, sank off Donegal after passing Fanad Head on 14th March 1918 while on a voyage from Glasgow to Limerick with the loss of Capt. W.H. Ryding and all of her crew.

Two new coasters, Glenmaroon of 716 grt built in 1917 by John Fullerton, and Claremorris of 632 grt completed in October 1917 by Scott & Sons of Bowling joined the fleet during the Great War. They were raised quarterdeckers with fo’c’stles of length 34 feet and quarterdecks of 104 feet in length. Several second hand coasters also joined the fleet during the war, as the business had expanded by taking over coal importers and collier owners R. & D.A. Duncan and Co. Ltd. of Belfast, and Charles M. Legg of Carrickfergus.

INTER-WAR EXPANSION

Ten coasters joined the Kelly fleet in 1919 to give a large business trading thirty steam coasters in 1921. Two of these were purchased as German war prizes in Cavehill of 1,563 grt, built in 1911 as Heinrich Hugo Stinnes, but which was soon lost while on a voyage from the Tyne to Amsterdam with coal. The other German prize was Albert Clement of 1,187 grt, which was initially managed by Everett & Newbigin of Newcastle, but only gave one year of service to Kelly before her sale to Norwegian owners as Roa. Clapham of 673 grt was purchased for L33,250 from the fleet of James Fisher & Sons Ltd. of Barrow, and had been built as Ville d’Eu by McKnight of Ayr in 1901 for John Harrison of London.

The standard war built coasters War Irwell and War Kennet of 540 dwt were purchased in 1919 and renamed Moyallan and Tynan respectively, with Moyallan unfortunately foundering on 16th September, 1924 off Strumble Head while on a voyage from a North Wales stone quarry to Newhaven, her crew being rescued. Another maritime casualty was the coaster Theory lost on 18th December 1919 in the Bristol Channel with all of her crew of twelve including Capt. John Tyrell of Arklow drowned. She was on a voyage from Cardiff to Caen with coal and the loss of her Master was a bitter blow to the coaster owning Tyrell family.

In 1921, Samuel Kelly purchased the Anagher colliery near Coalisland and began production in 1924 with recruited Scottish and Cumbrian miners housed in a new specially built estate, Newtownkelly. However, the mine was forced to close in 1926 with huge personal losses for him. His company offices and adjacent coal yard at Station Street were close to where the coal was imported at Queen’s Quay in Belfast and were very profitable. He was knighted in 1922 for his philanthropy and his donations included two large ones to build two new churches in Holywood to the east of Belfast. The crews of his steam coasters respected him, and some enjoyed a well earned short Christmas break to be with their families when their vessels berthed at Queen’s Quay.

A large fleet of nearly fifty new and second hand coasters joined the big Kelly fleet during the inter-war years including Annagher, Annaghmore, Baronscourt, Bellavale, Coalisland, Crewhill, Castleisland, Carrickmore, Carrickmacross, Carlston, Chasmoor, Cheviot, Coleraine, Comber, Corrib, Crossgar, Crosshands, Cushendall, Cushendun, Donaghadee, Donaghmore, Dromara, Dromore, Dublin, Enniskillen, Fermanagh, Glendalough, Glenariff, Hillfern, Isadora, Islington, Inishtrahull, Kilrea, Kingstown, May, Millisle, Montalto, Moyallon, Oaktown, Parknasilla, Portavogie, Regis, Rosapenna, Roslea, Saintfield, Slateford, Stramore, and Tamnamore.

The new steam coasters came from the yards of Scott & Sons of Bowling and the Aberdeen yard of John Lewis, and were of raised quarterdeck design with two derricks serving two holds, and either two or three masts with the mizzen mast abaft of the funnel on the three masted type. Four coasters of around 165 feet in length were completed by the Lewis yard between 1923 and 1925 as Anagher, Anaghmore, Carrickmore and Donaghmore, while a fifth sister Collooney was launched on 6th December 1919 for Kelly but was completed for the Allied Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. of Hull. She became Topaz in 1922 for Gem Line of William Robertson (Shipowners) Ltd. and had a long career until broken up at Port Glasgow in 1956. Carrickmacross was purchased from Gem Line on 5th June 1929 as Olivine after being refloated after three months aground on Woodcombe point near Prawle Point on the south coast of Devon while on a voyage from Rochester to Glasgow with cement.

Marine losses included Castleisland on 9th November 1923 when wrecked on Briggs Reef near Groomsport in County Down while on a voyage from Maryport to Belfast with coal, and her sister Coalisland wrecked on 20th January 1925 near the Mull of Kintyre while on a voyage from Belfast to Campbeltown in ballast. Annagher foundered off Groomsport on 11th December 1937 while on a voyage from Belfast to Llanelly with scrap, and Chasmoor foundered on 6th May 1936 after striking the Bishop’s Rocks while on a voyage from Dublin to Newport in ballast. Camlough of 540 grt stranded and was lost in January 1932 after giving twelve years of service.

When Sir Samuel Kelly died on 9th February 1937, the business passed to Lady Mary Kelly, and Capt. William Clint continued to be the manager but was now also a director. The Kelly fleet had reached its biggest size of 44 steam coasters in 1937 and 46 coasters in 1939 on the outbreak of war, one of the largest British coastal fleets trading in the Irish Sea, and to the Channel Islands and France, and on charter to Stephenson Clarke Ltd. on the East Coast. The Kelly funnel colours were black with thin central red, white and blue bands and a black ‘K’ on the white band, and the houseflag was red with a large white ‘K’ and a blue top and bottom to the flag. The hulls were black, boot topping was pink, upperworks were brown and lifeboats were white.

As in the Great War, the Kelly fleet was mostly kept on their routine task of supplying Belfast and Northern Ireland with coal during World War II, although some coasters were requisitioned for fleet or special duties. Castlehill was lost by bombing on 2nd March, 1941 when ten miles southeast of Mine Head while on a voyage from Cork to Newport in ballast with the loss of twelve crew and one gunner, and Millisle was lost nineteen days later when she was bombed two miles east of the Helwick Light Vessel while on a voyage from Cardiff to Cork with 690 tonnes of coal, nine crew and one gunner being lost. Glendalough was mined and sunk off Cromer on 19th March 1943 while on a voyage from Shoreham to the Tyne in ballast. The fleet was further reduced by the sale of coasters to London owners such as Comben Longstaff e.g. the sisters Roslea, Cushenden and Cushendall of 642 grt built in 1904 as The Monarch, The Sultan and The Emperor for John Hay of Glasgow.

POST-WAR YEARS

After the war, no coasters were purchased to replace the war losses, and the remaining fleet of 31 steam coasters was traded as usual until, in 1948, Stephenson Clarke Ltd., whose parent company was the Powell Duffryn Group, and William Cory & Sons Ltd. purchased a jointly owned 50% of the Kelly shares. This partnership united the coal carrying requirements of both the Irish Sea and North Sea and was a very rational and business like transaction. During 1951/52, all of the Kelly steam coasters were renamed with ‘Bally’ prefixes to their names, ‘Bally’ being a prefix to many Northern Ireland towns and villages:-

New and larger steam coasters now were built for the Kelly fleet in Ballyhaft of 900 dwt in 1952, Ballymoney of 1,700 dwt in 1953, Ballyhill of 900 dwt in 1954, Ballylumford of 1,610 dwt in 1954, Ballymena of 1,700 dwt in 1954, and Ballylagan of 1,535 dwt in 1955, the latter being immediately lengthened after delivery. The yards that built them included the famous Sunderland collier firm of S.P. Austin & Co. Ltd., George Brown (Marine) Ltd. of Greenock, John Lamont of Port Glasgow, A. & J. Inglis of Glasgow and A. Hall & Co. Ltd. of Aberdeen.

A motor coaster, Ballyedward of 650 dwt built in 1950 by James Pollock of Faversham, had unusually been ordered as an aircraft transport ship for the Fleet Air Arm at the end of World War II but the contract was later changed to a commercial vessel. She was purchased by Kelly in 1953 as the first motor vessel in the fleet. Ballyloran of 1,300 dwt in 1958, and Ballylesson of 1,600 dwt in 1958 were motor vessels from the Aberdeen yard of A. Hall & Co. Ltd., and from then onwards only motor coasters entered the fleet. The first letter after ‘Bally’ in the vessel name i.e. ‘H’, ‘L’, and ‘M’ indicated the increasing deadweight size of the fleet.

John Kelly Ltd owned 25 steam coasters and one motor coaster in 1957 but sales for scrapping or further service had reduced the fleet to seventeen coasters three years later e.g. Ballyhenry arrived at Troon on 11th June 1959 for breaking up. Ballyhaft built in 1952 had been transferred to John Milligen & Co. Ltd., an associated coal importer of Belfast, and wore their funnel colours. The last of the inter-war fleet to be scrapped was Ballygarvey of 1937 in 1964, and the last steamer to be scrapped was Ballyhill of 1954 in 1973. The steamer Ballylagan of 1955 was sold in 1970 to the Shamrock Shipping Co. Ltd. of Larne and was renamed Dynabulker, and the motor vessel Ballyedward was also sold in 1970 to a Northern Ireland owner and renamed Lady Hyacinth.

The Kelly fleet in 1962 had seventeen coasters, with fourteen steamers and three motor vessels, but this had fallen to only a dozen coasters four years later. The influence of Stephenson Clarke Ltd. had now become even greater with two raised quarterdeck bridge ‘midships motor vessels of 1,930 dwt delivered in 1962/63 from the Aberdeen yard of Hall, Russell & Co. Ltd. in Ballyrush and Ballyrory, and were very similar to motor vessels in the Newcastle fleet. Indeed, three similar motor coasters were transferred from Stephenson Clarke Ltd in 1970 into the Kelly fleet in Ardingly, Beeding and Steyning. They became Ballyrobert, Ballymore and Ballywalter, the last named being of 2,050 dwt. Cowdray built in 1959 was transferred to Kelly to become Ballycastle in 1976. Ballyloran was sold to Egyptian owners in 1981, and Ballycastle, Ballylesson and Ballyrory were also sold out of the fleet during 1981/83, with Ballyrory sold to Cypriot owners in 1983 and renamed Samos Luck.

Two similar Dutch built motor coasters of 3,100 dwt joined the Kelly fleet during 1979/80 from different owners, Ballykelly from Danish owners as Lis Danielsen, and Ballykern from the London owners Turnbull, Scott & Co. Ltd. as Baxtergate. The latter vessel was the fifth of that name in the London fleet, and the pair had been built in 1975/76 and were powered by eight cylinder four stroke MaK diesels of 2,000 bhp to give a service speed of 12.5 knots. Ballygrainey of 2,600 dwt was launched at Goole on 2nd February 1983 and together with her sister Ballygarvey joined the fleet from the famous coaster building yard of Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. Ltd. They were powered by six cylinder four stroke MaK diesels to give a service speed of twelve knots.

This last Kelly quartet sailed with the older Ballyrush of 1962 on British and European voyages e.g. Ayr, Leith, Garston, Rotterdam, Kilroot or Blyth to Belfast or Warrenpoint with coal, Fraserburgh to Antwerp with concentrates, or with scrap metal to Bilbao and loading homewards with grain from Bayonne. Stone was loaded at quarries at Llandulas (North Wales) for the Continent, and at Kyleakin (Skye) for Coulport (Loch Long). Cement was back loaded in the Thames for the Irish Sea after bringing a cargo of North Wales stone to the South Coast. Ballyrush was sold in 1985 to Albert Le Blond of Sunderland and renamed Otterburn, and was then sold to foreign buyers and took the names Stina Star and Polly Anna under the Maltese flag. She sailed from Liverpool as Polly Anna on 1st December 1990 with scrap metal for Greece but was arrested at Gibraltar as being unseaworthy. She then escaped detention under the cover of darkness and arrived safely in Greece at Laurium and was laid up to await the final fateful voyage to the scrapyard.

LAST KELLY QUARTET

The William Cory & Sons Ltd. 25% share in Kelly was purchased in 1988 by Powell Duffryn and Stephenson Clarke Ltd, and the remaining 50% of Kelly shares were purchased in early 1989 to give complete control. The last quartet of the Kelly fleet, Ballykelly, Ballykern, Ballygarvey and Ballygrainey, was still sailing with coal from Garston and Ayr for Belfast, Warrenpoint and Londonderry in the last days of 1989. They were then integrated into the Newcastle fleet in 1990 and renamed as Worthing, Lancing, Shoreham and Cowdray respectively. Cowdray loaded a cargo of stone at Llandulas on 20th September 1990 for King’s Lynn, and Lancing limped into Holyhead on 22nd March 1991 after encountering generator trouble on passage from Warrenport to Llandulas. Lancing and Worthing were sold in 1993 to James Fisher & Sons Ltd. of Barrow without change of name, and the other pair found their way as Dunany and Hope into the associate company fleet of Alexander Partners (Shipbrokers) Ltd. of Ilford, which had been taken over Stephenson Clarke Ltd. and the Powell Duffryn Group in 1991.
Worthing ex Ballykelly arrived at Aliaga for breaking up on 18th April 2011 as Agia Markella, and the former Ballykern has also been broken up. Only one of the Kelly fleet, Ballygrainey, however is still trading for a foreign owner under a foreign flag, the Greek flag in this case as Panagiotis T. Ballygarvey had regained her Stephenson Clarke Ltd. name of Shoreham in 2009 for Independent Shipping Ltd., part of the Dudman Group, and arrived at Santander on 13th January 2013 to load a cargo of cement and clinker. However, the Dudman Group was declared bankrupt and Shoreham was arrested and laid up. She made the final voyage of a few miles to the scrapyard at Santander on 19th December 2013.

KELLY FUELS LTD

This company was set up in Northern Ireland to enter the domestic solid fuel and fuel oil business. The first road tanker was acquired in 1983 and soon the company name became well-known in Belfast and North Down as one of the largest oil distributors in the province. In 1993, Kelly Fuels Ltd. merged with the Lanes Group Ltd., and four years later Bruce Lindsay Coal of Edinburgh was taken over. More acquisitions in Northern Ireland and Scotland followed in 1999, and currently the company has depots in Belfast, Coleraine, Londonderry, Ballymena and Portadown for domestic solid fuel and heating oil. Thus, the famous name of Kelly lives on in a different form from that of one of the biggest coaster companies in Britain and the largest coal importer in Northern Ireland.

POSTSCRIPT

The rival coal carrying Irish Sea fleet of coasters owned by Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd. of Newry at the head of Carlingford Lough began, like Kelly, as a coal importing business in 1852 shortly after the Newry Canal was completed to link cargoes by barge through the province. The first steam coaster was purchased in 1897 and the fleet had grown to eight coasters in 1920, eighteen coasters at the start of World War II, and in 1950 had a fleet of thirteen coasters. This was just over half the size of the Kelly fleet and it used a nomenclature of trees and woods in Aspen, Balsa, Bamboo, Broom, Ebony, Jasmine, Karri, Oak, Olive, Opepe, Palm, Rowan and Thorn. However, unlike Kelly, the fleet had shrunk to only three coasters in 1959, the last steamer Palm of 344 grt built in 1927, and the motor coasters Walnut and Oak. This last steamer was sold four years later, and the company was taken over by Cawoods of Belfast in 1966. The Fisher funnel colours of the Newry and Kilkeel Steamship Co. Ltd were very similar to those of Kelly, except that the Fisher bands were narrower and there was no ‘K’ for Kelly on the white band.

Looking back over the very long Kelly fleet list, what strikes one most is the staggering list of marine losses and crews. Most were caused by heavy gales and bad weather, but unseaworthy vessels are not tolerated today as they are detained by regular safety conscious port seaworthiness checks. Kelly and Fisher of Newry coasters always sheltered in Ramsey Bay, Isle of Man, in heavy weather while on voyages to and from Garston on the Mersey and other ports. It was not uncommon to be anchored there for days at a time during seriously rough Irish Sea gales, and their Masters preferred to ride it out before continuing to the North West coasts ports of England in ballast and attempting to enter small ports in gale force conditions.

The 1,637grt Ballywalter was built in 1955 by Austin & Pickersgill at Weir Dock as the Steyning for Stephenson Clarke. She joined the Kelly fleet in 1971. In 1979 she joined Frederick Oldham Ltd. of Belfast as Sallywalter and in 1980 she was sold to Delta Marine & Trading as Abeer Delta. She was deleted from the register in 1992. © John B Hill Collection