The Velinheli and the Reciprocity Oct 1910
It Was 110 Years Ago Today
Gary Paine on the storm that changed the harbour
And now, four years after the passing of his father, Gary continues to dig deep into
Which is where you can really unearth the finer details of times gone by, something that anyone who grabbed Derek’s 2018 book, A Pictorial History Of Greystones & Its Coastal Environs
As the old photos reveal, Greystones harbour was hit by one of the severest storms in
It was common for up to three coal vessels to tie alongside the pier at any one time and, unluckily, this was case as the storm struck. The
The men initially remained aboard, but seeing the precarious position they were in, the crews of the Velinheli and the Federation scrambled from one vessel to the other. Making their way along the bowsprit which overhung the pier, they jumped ashore to safety. The
Writing in 1986, Dr. Leslie Doyle noted that ‘the Velinheli particularly was part of the Greystones folklore in the two decades before 1910, the final 20 years of the golden age of the harbour area’. She was the workhorse for Arthur Evans’ coal import business for more than two decades, helping keep
The main fall-out from the October 1910 storm however was that from this date onwards, marine insurance cover was unavailable for schooners sailing to Greystones,
The Velinheli’s luck finally ran out, when, on 27th January 1915, laden with coal, bound for yet another trip across the Irish Sea, she
Alas the compensation received by Arthur Evans ran to only one eighth of the Velinheli’s true value, so she was not replaced. The honour of being the last recorded Greystones schooner owner to import coal under sail into Greystones harbour fell to William H. Dann [left], the then owner of The Beach House. On 25th September 1916, his schooner, Joseph Fisher, entered Greystones harbour for the last time carrying coal from Garston. With the condition of the harbour
Ironically, she too, just like the Velinheli, fell
previous post