A happy New Year to all my readers!
I gave some serious thought to the suggestion that I should
write a book on the history of ‘Cormorant’.
Just repeating these posts would not produce a coherent story (or a lot
of interest!), so it would have to be properly done, flavouring the cold facts
with historical detail and evidence. I
even started to sketch out the first chapter, beginning in 1876/8 when ‘Cormorant’
was built by the Victoria Shipbuilding Co., West Passage, Cork. That is
where I hit the first snag.
I have always
accepted that statement as fact because it is quoted in many sources, but I can
find no record of that shipbuilding company. I know where West Passage is and
it did have a flourishing shipbuilding/repair industry in the mid-1800s. I have
found the Royal Victoria Dockyards; the
Passage Docks & Shipbuilding Co; the
Cork Shipbuilding Co. Passage West; and
others; but no mention of the Victoria
Shipbuilding Co. Well I am off to Dublin in a couple of weeks, so hopefully I
will be able to determine whether this is a case of someone getting the name
wrong and everyone afterwards repeating the mistake (instead of doing their
homework properly!).
Meanwhile
Patrick (SailPix) sent me a link which shows a mailboat delivering to a lightship
on the Kish Bank station. A great deal of smoke was being puffed out by the
mailboat, so it is not possible to identify the lightship. That little speck in
the water is probably the lightship cutter going back to mother after
collecting the mail. I wonder why the
mailboat crew are wearing cloche hats!
David
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