THERE’S something unsettling about seeing a damaged ship, with its cleats, twisted girders, winches, bollards as well as the scattered remains of cups, bottles and saucers that were once used by the men.
Viewing the remnants of their lives is a chastening reminder of what the sea can do.
Eoin McGarry, a diver from Dungarvan, Co Waterford, had gone to a depth of 74 metres to the site of the Kincora wreck to film what’s left of the ship after over 100 years for a documentary I was researching for TG4. The remains of the steamer still lie on the seabed in a heap some eight miles south of Tuskar Rock.
News of the sinking of the Kincora, with the loss of seven lives, was a big news story back in 1901. It was widely reported in the newspapers, but particularly in the local Limerick papers, as four of the men who drowned were from the city or nearby.
No photographs exist of the brave seaman George Collins, who emerges as the hero of this maritime disaster.
According to reports at the time, George Collins, of Windmill Street in Limerick City, was a fireman/stoker working on the Kincora, a small coastal steamer, which was making her way from Limerick to Liverpool with a cargo of hay. He was a married man of about 35 years with a wife and five children, yet he sacrificed his life in a noble attempt to go below in order to prevent the boilers from exploding after the ship collided in dense fog with the great ocean liner, the Oceanic.
The collision happened some miles off the Wexford coast near Tuskar Rock. Although Collins was urged to save himself by climbing up a rope to safety aboard the Oceanic, it’s said he replied, “I’ve some work yet to do” and with that he disappeared below, losing his life in an attempt to stop the engine’s two boilers from exploding and causing further damage. Had there been an explosion, the hull of the Oceanic might well have been damaged and more lives been lost. But as it turned out, the liner, which was carrying 1,200 passengers to New York, sustained only minor damage.
At that time, families affected by such tragedy were left destitute, largely dependant on handouts. Money raised in Limerick city for the widows and orphans of the drowned seamen reached around £60 and a collection, which was started by the wealthy passengers on board the Oceanic, realised £160.
The other local men lost were P Enright from Sheep Street in Limerick city, P McNamara, aged 34 from Kilrush in Co Clare and AB Dutton, also from Limerick, about which little else is known, but the Limerick Chronicle records that all the Limerick men who drowned left widows and in each case, more than one child. Three of the survivors – the passenger, John Edward Toppin, was a businessman from Limerick and two stowaways, A Mitchell and J Connors, were from Askeaton.
One of the crewmen who survived, James Fitzgerald, described the scene in graphic detail for the Limerick Leader that year. “Our fog-horns were going all the time. Shortly after two bells I reported a light on the port bow. Almost simultaneously the other man on the look-out gave a warning cry. Ten seconds could not have elapsed before we were in collision. The huge bow of the liner towered above us like a mountain, seemed to hang for a moment in mid-air, and then took us almost fair amidships, with a terrible crash.” There was “little panic”, he says. “We knew we were doomed . . . Ropes were flung to us from the liner . . . and those who could hitched these round their bodies and were hauled up. I was saved in this way. Captain Power gave the order to get out the boats, but they were stiff and jammed. I shall never forget the sight while I live. The sea rushed into the huge hole in our side with a loud roar, and our decks quivered as in an earthquake. Through the thick mist hundreds of white faces could be seen peering down on us from the liner’s deck, which seemed miles away.”
The Kincora was a small steel screw steamer of 944 tons gross, built in 1895 by Hawthorn, Leslie Co Ltd, of Newcastle in the UK. It was leased by the Limerick Steam Ship Co Ltd from Malcomsons of Waterford. The Oceanic, which was sailing out of Liverpool outward bound for New York, was a giant in comparison.
According to reports, the Oceanic was first sighted when she was only 200ft away. She was going dead-slow, but it was too late to prevent the accident. Ropes and ladders were thrown down to the men from the Oceanic. Of the 21 on board the Kincora, seven hands were lost, 14 were saved.
Later that same year, the Admiralty Court ruled that both vessels were to blame for the tragedy.
The TG4 documentary, Kincora, will air on November 4th at 9.30pm.