iron and brass and pewters, tools made of metal, soap and paper, hops for brewing, and of course, wines from France. In bad years, corn had to be imported. This trade developed enormously in later centuries. From the 18th cen tu � on, Cork became the 'shambles of Munster', vast herds of cattle were slaughtered here, and salted down to provision not only the British Navy and merchant fleet but many foreign ships that would call to the Cove of Cork to provision for their long voyages. Cork developed great expertise in salting meat and fish, and an army of coopers to make the barrels in which they werepreserved. The Cork Butter Market, was established 1770, draw ing supplies from all over Cork and Kerry, and its product, salted butter in wooden casks, travelled as far a.field as Australia until that country developed its own dairy herds. Cork Harbour therefore was visited by generation upon generation of merchant ships, growing always bigger and more sophisticated, from Viking longship to container vessel and oil tanker. But there were also war ships and pirates. Spanish men o'war chased Sir Francis Drake, so the story goes, into Cork Harbour and then missed him, when he took his own small vessel up the river from Crosshaven to lurk in Drakes Pool. Spanish vessels brought Spanish forces co fight at the battle of Kinsale in 1601/2. Algerian pirates raided Baltimore in 1631; 1796 saw a French invasion fleet in Bantry Bay which, shattered by bad weather and bad seamanship, failed to make a landing. But to protect the coasts thereafter, Marrello towers and Gothic-looking signal towers, were erected along them, of which fine examples survive around Cork harbour and along Cork coasts. A Martello tower built on Haulbowline island was the beginning of its ex tensive development as a British Admiralty base. Today it is used by the Irish Naval Service. Cork people not only sailed ships but built them. In earlier times, the once extensive Cork forests provided plenty of timber. For instance, two vessels of 500 tons each, for the East India Company, were built on the river Bandon at Innishannon in 1613. Till very recently, fishing boats were built, often literally on the beach, by local craftsmen for local use, and there were some special local types, of which perhaps the Kinsale hooker was the most outstanding. In the early 1920s, Tom Moynihan built SAOIRSE in the Baltimore yard, for Conor O'Brien, the first ship to carry the Irish flag round the world. Ship building went on all along the shores of Cork Harbour, right up into the city until the stone quays were built, eventually becoming concen trated at Passage West and at Rushbrooke, where the great modern shipyard of Verolme has lately so unhappily closed. Ireland's very first
steam ship, CITYOFCORK, was launched at Passage West, 10 September 1815; 50 tons with 18 hp engines. Another little paddle steamer, WATERLOO followed in 1816, with a 50 hp engine made by the Hive iron works of Cork city, and thought to be the first marine engine built in Ireland. These early steamers merely carried passengers across Cork Harbour but in 1821, the St. George Steam Packet Company was founded by a group of Cork businessmen and began regular cross-channel services with larger vessels. It was their new SIRIUS, 320 hp, that was chartered by the British and American Steam Navigation Company when their own BRITISH QUEEN was not ready, to attempt the first scheduled steam passage of the Atlantic and co cry and beat Brunel's GREAT WESTERN. Under her captain, Cork born Richard Roberts, R.N. little SIRIUS suc cessfully steamed into New York, ahead of GREAT WESTERN by some 19 hours, on 22 April 1838. SIRIUS made a second steam passage co New York later char same year. The St. George Steam Packet Company passed through several renamings and reorganisations, eventually merging into the B. & I. line. Cork Harbour must have seen almost all the great ships of the world. Old accounts speak of three and four hundred sail anchored there, waiting co set out on a convoy to the West Indies guarded by British warships against Frenchmen and privateers. Convict ships and emigrant ships car ried thousands of Irish folk away from the Cove of Cork; the great sailing ships of rhe 19th and early 20th centuries put in to 'Queenscown for orders' at the end of their long voyages; the sleek Atlantic liners, successors co little SIRIUS, swiftly picked up their Irish passengers or put them and the mail, ashore. For TITANIC, on her maiden voyage, it was her last sight of land and last port of call. Today, it is a different generation of ships, container vessels and the ships which serve the offshore gas rigs. The Harbour too is crowded with yachts, and Cork people's enjoyment of the sea, goes back officially to 1720 when the Water Club was founded at Cobh, the world's first yacht club. It thrives to this day, as the Royal Cork Yacht Club, based at Crosshaven, a symbol of Cork's continuing in volvement with the sea for both pleasure and profit.
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Cork City and County Archives SM994
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