A shipwreck on rocks at Kilkee, west Clare, nearly 150 years ago, in which approximately 100 people were drowned, was remembered yesterday when the ship's medicine chest was presented to Kilkee Heritage Centre. The Edmond was a Famine ship blown off course on its journey from Limerick to North America. It foundered on a stormy night in December 1850 and was washed on to the rocks off Kilkee's coast. Some 209 people were believed to have been on board, many of whom were rescued by locals.
The wooden medicine chest, with two metal handles and measuring about 24 inches by 20 inches by 18 inches, was washed up on the beach at a place now called Edmond Point. A local undertaker named O'Gorman found it and brought it to his home at O'Curry Street. The premises later became a cafe owned by the di Lucia family.
The chest eventually came to be displayed in Scott's Bar for almost half a century until the executors of the late Bill Scott decided to donate it to the heritage centre. The medicine chest was handed over to the chairman of the Kilkee Development Association, Councillor Patrick Keane, by the executors.
Mr Manuel di Lucia, who organised the handover, said it was a historic day in the maritime history of Kilkee that the medicine chest had finally passed from private ownership to that of the people of Kilkee, whose ancestors witnessed the tragedy 150 years ago. Mr Keane thanked the executors for the donation to the heritage centre, which will open within a month. "We have some other items from the ship in the centre and there are already over 100 items ready to go on display. The centre is part of a £1 million community centre development, the first phase of which is now in operation."