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Shipwrecks of Ireland
Efforts are underway to catalogue all of the known German U-Boats and the British Navy. Older boats sank
shipwrecks that lie in Irish waters, and these efforts, too, of course, just think of the Spanish Armada, but
using the latest surveying technologies, have yielded a these boats were made of wood and, thus, very little is
rich harvest of previously unknown wreck sites. likely to remain on the seabed from such earlier times.
The oldest known shipwreck in Irish waters is the Queen
Ireland might be a small country, but its offshore Victoria, which sank in a storm off Howth in 1853. This
area certainly isn’t. The massive Irish offshore area of was a wooden vessel, and all that is left of it now are its
850,000 square km reaches out towards Iceland, North metal boilers.
America and the Iberian peninsula. This watery realm The project to survey shipwrecks, name and locate
has devoured many vessels and seafarers. Until recently, them is not exclusively of interest to divers, who can be
much of the hard data on shipwrecks lying in Irish fanatical in their enthusiasm for wrecks, and members
waters was fragmented and very confused. However, of the public with an interest in naval history. Others
a project to survey shipwrecks in Irish waters by are interested too, for example, fishermen. Shipwrecks
combining all the known information, and generating provide a hazard for fishing vessels whose nets can get
new data along the way has proven extremely successful. caught in them, so the fishing community would like
The shipwreck project supported by the Geological to know precisely where all the wrecks are located. For
Survey of Ireland (GSI) and the National Monuments marine biologists, meanwhile, wreck data provides an
Service (NMS) was completed at the end of 2006. Using opportunity to study the unique micro-habitats that
the latest in seafloor imaging techniques spectacular exist around wrecks, while marine geologists can learn
3-D images were made of famous wrecks such as the more about sub-sea sedimentary processes, by looking at
Lusitania -- as they appear today on the seabed. The how sediments behave around the wrecks.
project managed to increase the number of shipwreck To learn more about sea wrecks around Ireland see:
records, from 140 when it began, to 246 when it was
completed. Many of these new records correspond to www. Irishwrecks.com
‘new shipwrecks’ previously unknown. In time, the
identity of these wrecks can now be revealed either by A comprehensive database of more than 14,000 shipwrecks
divers, or robotic submersibles. in Ireland’s coastal waters.
There is a great deal of interest in shipwrecks from
divers, and the general public. The tale is dramatic,
recounting a desperate, life-and-death struggle that took
place in Irish waters over two World Wars involving
The Mermaid
A mermaid found a swimming lad,
Picked him for her own,
Pressed her body to his body,
Laughed; and plunging down
Forgot in cruel happiness
That even lovers drown.
Taken from W.B Yeats The Major Works,
published 1997 Oxford World Classics,
page 117
A sea chart of Ireland by Martin Waldseemuller, Strasburg
1513 (National Library of Ireland)
281
Efforts are underway to catalogue all of the known German U-Boats and the British Navy. Older boats sank
shipwrecks that lie in Irish waters, and these efforts, too, of course, just think of the Spanish Armada, but
using the latest surveying technologies, have yielded a these boats were made of wood and, thus, very little is
rich harvest of previously unknown wreck sites. likely to remain on the seabed from such earlier times.
The oldest known shipwreck in Irish waters is the Queen
Ireland might be a small country, but its offshore Victoria, which sank in a storm off Howth in 1853. This
area certainly isn’t. The massive Irish offshore area of was a wooden vessel, and all that is left of it now are its
850,000 square km reaches out towards Iceland, North metal boilers.
America and the Iberian peninsula. This watery realm The project to survey shipwrecks, name and locate
has devoured many vessels and seafarers. Until recently, them is not exclusively of interest to divers, who can be
much of the hard data on shipwrecks lying in Irish fanatical in their enthusiasm for wrecks, and members
waters was fragmented and very confused. However, of the public with an interest in naval history. Others
a project to survey shipwrecks in Irish waters by are interested too, for example, fishermen. Shipwrecks
combining all the known information, and generating provide a hazard for fishing vessels whose nets can get
new data along the way has proven extremely successful. caught in them, so the fishing community would like
The shipwreck project supported by the Geological to know precisely where all the wrecks are located. For
Survey of Ireland (GSI) and the National Monuments marine biologists, meanwhile, wreck data provides an
Service (NMS) was completed at the end of 2006. Using opportunity to study the unique micro-habitats that
the latest in seafloor imaging techniques spectacular exist around wrecks, while marine geologists can learn
3-D images were made of famous wrecks such as the more about sub-sea sedimentary processes, by looking at
Lusitania -- as they appear today on the seabed. The how sediments behave around the wrecks.
project managed to increase the number of shipwreck To learn more about sea wrecks around Ireland see:
records, from 140 when it began, to 246 when it was
completed. Many of these new records correspond to www. Irishwrecks.com
‘new shipwrecks’ previously unknown. In time, the
identity of these wrecks can now be revealed either by A comprehensive database of more than 14,000 shipwrecks
divers, or robotic submersibles. in Ireland’s coastal waters.
There is a great deal of interest in shipwrecks from
divers, and the general public. The tale is dramatic,
recounting a desperate, life-and-death struggle that took
place in Irish waters over two World Wars involving
The Mermaid
A mermaid found a swimming lad,
Picked him for her own,
Pressed her body to his body,
Laughed; and plunging down
Forgot in cruel happiness
That even lovers drown.
Taken from W.B Yeats The Major Works,
published 1997 Oxford World Classics,
page 117
A sea chart of Ireland by Martin Waldseemuller, Strasburg
1513 (National Library of Ireland)
281
