Fig. 3: From west to east: the ports of Clonakilty, Courtmacsherry, Kinsale, Cork and Youghal. The navigable and tidal Rivers Blackwater and Bride flow into the estuary at Youghal (a detail from A New and Correct Map of the province of Munster, drawn from the latest and best authorities, c. 1775, Thomas Condor). The research area of the study is the Cork ports: from Clonakilty in the west to Youghal in the east. The cumulative result has been a unique catalogue of Cork sailing ships presenting a detailed focus on one area of nineteenth-century Cork maritime history. The catalogue is not only concerned with ship size and function but also emphasises the human element associated with the ships: the mariners, shipowners and shipbuilders. Facts and events pertinent to each ship, the Cork maritime scene and the extended Sutton family, have been added to each entry. While some repetition may be apparent on a complete review of the Catalogue of Sailing Ships (Section 4), a substantial block of readers may consult the Catalogue on a more selective basis and appreciate the comprehensive data in individual entries. To aid future researchers, the Catalogue (Section 4) is arranged alphabetically in order of the ships’ names and each entry contains place and date of construction, tonnage, vessel-type, homeport, owner, fate of ship, purpose, officer names, when known, plus a short account of those involved with the ship’s history. The main documentary sources for this are first Lloyd’s Register of Shipping . This gives information by year, starting in 1794. Associated with Lloyd’s, in the online version, is CLIP: Crew List Project database. This is a not-for-profit volunteer project, set up to assist research into the records of British ships and merchant seafarers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. For further information on both ships and seamen, the UK National Archives at Kew, London, is used for the first part of the nineteenth
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