part of a captain to bring his vessel through the violent westerly gales, and to navigate through fog and ice, and both man and ship had to be of the toughest calib re’ (Anderson 1961). A further achievement of this forgotten sailing ship fleet was: ‘ The fastest passage ever made by a Cork fish trader was the record set up by the brigantine Clara in 1862, which sailed from St. John’s Newfoundland to Cork in the amaz ing time of ten days. This voyage will give some idea of the capabilities of these vessels and the crews that manned them ’ ( ibid ).
Ghost Ship, Mary Celeste
( Dei Gratia )
In December 1872 Captain Moorehouse of the Dei Gratia sighted the ‘ghost ship’ Mary Celeste , abandoned and adrift, near the Azores with sails just slightly damaged. An untouched meal was prepared in the cabin and there were glowing embers in the stove. The captain, his wife, his young daughter of two years and the crew were gone and were never found. Moorehouse and hi s crew brought the ‘ghost ship’ into Gibraltar. The Mary Celeste story, told with minor variations, remains one of the world’s maritime mysteries.
The House of Cards
( Pelican )
This story, concerning Bloomfield House , was related to me in 2013 by Canon Simcox (b.1928, Cork). It is corroborated by published sources (O’Riordan ; Boylan). Ebenezer Pike, chairman of the Cork Steamship Company, had an eldest son Joseph (1851 – 1929) who took over the Steamship Company in 1883, following Ebenezer ’s death . In 1893 Joseph was accused of cheating at cards at the Cork County Club by Richard Pigott Beamish, resulting in a court case. His mother, Lydia Clibborn Pike, an upright Quaker lady, was horrified by the scandal and interceded with the judge who subsequently found: ‘Pike was innocent of cheating and his accuser, Richard P Beamish was innocent of malice’. Lydia was so pleased with this judgement of Solomon that she gifted Bloomfield House in Douglas to the judge. This brush with the law hardly tarnished Joseph’s reputation, as he was elected High Sherriff of Cork in 1898. The Canon’s grandfather, James Simcox, a widower and successful Cork grocer with a bakery business, was married on 30 June 1898 to Kathleen Mary Patrick Sutton (b.17 March 1876), a daughter of Captain Nathaniel Sutton (b.1832/35, Kinsale) who was the Cork Harbour Master. Simcox purchased the thirty-acre Bloomfield House estate on 16 Sep 1900, a home the Simcox and Sutton families forever after called The House of Cards . James Simcox competed fiercely in the Cork bakery business against Sir Henry O’Shea (1858 -1926) until the rivalry was settled by the marriage of James’ son Frank (the Canon’s father) to Henry’s daughter, Dolly Shea. Simcox was Lord Mayor of Cork in 1911 , followed by Sir Henry O’Shea 1912– 16. The Canon recalled riding his bike, as a youth, from Bloomfield House to the next estate along the road, Windsor House . The two properties were separated from each other by the McGrath farm. Sir Abraham Sutton (b.1849), son of Captain Abraham Sutton (b.1813), acquired Windsor House in 1903 and on his death in 1921, his younger brother, George Abraham Sutton (b.1852) moved in with his family. Windsor House is now part of the Rochestown Park Hotel, where the Sutton Bar alludes to its history. Sir Abraham Sutton (b.1849, Cork) was knighted in 1903 when he was the High Sheriff of Cork.
The Canon passed away in 2016 at a retirement home for priests in Glasgow.
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