Fig. 48 : Captain William Sutton’s Master Certificate application 1850 (Image copyright: kind permission to reproduce, ancestry.com). The small size of the sailing ships is well-documented by the Suttons, with George Sutton b.1804 (Clonakilty) on the 47t Union 1816 – 20, followed by his service as Mate on the 64t Industry 1820 – 6 and as Captain of the 58t Friends 1826 – 9 (Section 4: Fig. 39). Meanwhile Apprentice (future Captain) William Sutton b.1814 (Clonakilty) served on the 43t Nancy of Kinsale 1830 – 4 (This Appendix: Fig. 48) under Captain Thomas Sutton b.1797/98 (Clonakilty). The latter half of the nineteenth century would see a surge in the Kinsale fleet and the development of the Kinsale Shipping Company (see T Crowley ). Bandon, navigable only by small boats from early times (Smith 1774, Second Edition), may have suffered from the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and the resultant tsunami. However, the Bandon River, being a spate river, was always vulnerable to bank destruction, sediment deposition, silting, reduced upper river depth and damage to the Inishannon bridge, located downriver from Bandon and 8 miles upriver from Kinsale. Inishannon bridge was damaged by floods in 1765 (Connolly 1993). Bandon ship trade relied on Collier’s Quay 1 -2 miles below Inishannon or the Kilmacsimon Quay, which had superior facilities, slightly further downriver. Lewis described ships u p to 200 tons reaching Collier’s Quay in 1837. Ships relied on skill ed pilots, limited use of sail, the ebb and flow of the tides as the river is tidal up to Inishannon and kedging for propulsion (the schooner Fame traded with Bandon).
Port of Youghal
( Penelope, Wild Hunter )
By the end of the eighteenth century, Youghal had become an important port with home and foreign trade. In the 1790s Youghal had 140 vessels with a total tonnage of 6000, compared to Kinsale with only 39 vessels of similar size (O’Brien 2008) .
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