Irish Ships and Shipping
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SHIPPING
DISASTER
IN CARLINGFORD
LOUGH
This article has been put together by:
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| Alder | Lady Cavan | Captain Robert Campbell | Kate Campbell | C/E Robert McGrath | John Conlon |
Aboard the Alder were Captain Robert Campbell (42) and his wife Kate (39) and the crew: Chief Engineer Robert McGrath married with four children, of 3 Erskine Street, Newry; Second Engineer J. Davis(47) married with three daughters, of 41 Kingscourt Street, Belfast; Mate Michael O’Neill of Fathom, Newry; Deck Hands - Jack Gorman of Rooney’s Terrace, Newry; John Conlon married with four children, of Upper Chapel Street, Newry; James Hollywood of Fathom, Newry and W. Cahoun of Carrickfergus.
The Alder
was anchored for less than a quarter of an hour when the
Lady Cavan (602 tons), under
the control of Captain Gallimore and carrying a general cargo from
The crew of the Alder
thought that there was no immediate danger (although coal could be seen pouring
through a rent in the plates) but the captain and crew of the
Lady Cavan realised the great
danger that the Alder
and crew were in and offered assistance but those aboard the
Alder declined it again
apparently minimising the danger.
Captain Campbell went below to arouse his wife Catherine and she came on deck
with him wearing an overcoat over her night attire.
The bow of the Lady Cavan
was plunged into the collier in the collision and when they were locked together
there was a steadiness which concealed the gravity of the injury the
Alder had sustained, so that
when the Lady Cavan
reversed engines and withdrew from the collier the vessel suddenly developed a
list.
The water rushed in through the yawning chasm caused by
the impact and carried the Alder
to the bottom of the Lough.
All aboard the Alder
went down into the depths.
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| Alder as she foundered | 3 survivors |
O’Neill and
Just after they had got on to the lifeboat they saw Cahoun,
a non-swimmer, come to the surface fortunately beside an oar which he held on to
until a lifeboat from the Lady Cavan
rescued him.
The Lady Cavan lifeboat circled around and searched until daylight but there was no sign of Captain Campbell, his wife, who had only at the last minute decided to accompany him on the voyage, or the other four crew members.
The victims were:-
Captain Robert Campbell,
Kilkeel, who left four children
Mrs. Catherine Campbell, his
wife.
Chief Engineer Robert McGrath,
Second Engineer James Davis,
Jack Gorman, Rooney’s
Terrace, Newry, deck hand (unmarried)
John
Conlon,
The three rescued men M. O’Neill, J. Hollywood and J. Cahoun were good friends
and had only a few weeks previous been photographed together. They were fed,
clothed and sent home by the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners’ Royal
Benevolent Society.
Captain Campbell and his wife had been married 17 years and left four children:
James (16), May (14), Louis (12) and Percy (9).
Mrs. Campbell had two sisters- Mrs. Nicholson and Mrs. Harper and one brother
Mr. Samuel Hale who is in
Captain Campbell was the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Campbell, Magheragh, Kilkeel and leaves four brothers; Messrs. Charles, William John, James and Harry. It appears that Mrs. Campbell had arranged to be home for dinner on Sunday. The children were stopping with their grandparents.
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The Family of
James Campbell at Leestone. James Campbell,
Sarah Ann Campbell (nee Mitchell), Libby (on knee), (Harry not yet
born). |
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The mountains around the Lough still bore the traces of a recent heavy snow and
one can only imagine with a shudder how the six poor victims and the three
survivors must have felt in the icy waters of the Lough.
On the Sunday afternoon the
Lady Cavan steamed up to Victoria Locks, the
entrance to the Newry canal. The vessel remained there for several hours before
going on to the Albert Basin, which she reached about 6 p.m. Groups of people
watched her sadly, in silence, for the tragedy affected everyone. Like a funeral
pall the black smoke hung over the green funnel as she steamed past the pier
head.
The Sabbath stillness of the town seemed doubly intense as the dejected
townspeople gazed on the ship, gloomily conjecturing the feelings of those on
board her. Even the children stood wide-eyed and silent looking at her – and
beyond the town.
‘Under the dove-grey sky – as wide as death The sea,
Fall, fall way, all soot and dust despair,
Turmoil and broil, uncertainties that rend,
All grinding noise and pain be ever still.
Here is the end Unmeasured sands to walk as spirits may
With washed unweighing feet, forever free.
The hush of waves, almost unreachable
By mortal sense, as in Eternity’.
On Monday sightseers from various parts came to gaze at the scene of the
collision at Greencastle, but saw nothing more eventful than the operation of
shipping potato supplies from the Down to the Louth side of the Lough.
A thick mist hung over the Lough like a pall of death. A
few hundred yards from the shore the mast tops of the ill-fated
Alder mournfully projected
over the waves and the peace of death was all-pervading. The visitors included
some of the relatives of the drowned seamen and Mrs. Campbell.
The search for the bodies of the six victims of Sunday’s Carlingford Lough
disaster continued without result.
On Monday night the Lady
Cavan passed over the spot where the tragedy had
occurred, captain and crew standing bareheaded as the steamer made her way out
of the Lough.
At a meeting of Carlingford Lough Commission on
The motion was seconded by Mr. W. Moorehead, D.L. and passed in silence, the
members standing. The meeting was then adjourned as a mark of respect.
Afterwards the matter was discussed in committee, and arrangements were made for
a continuance of the search for the bodies.
At the first meeting of the newly formed Kilkeel Urban Council, the Chairman (M.
Edward McGonigle) read the following message from President de Valera:-
‘I have learned with great sorrow of the deaths by the
sinking of the Alder,
and I beg you to convey to the relatives of Captain and Mrs. Campbell my sincere
sympathy – Eamonn de Valera’.
On the motion of the Chairman, the members stood in silence in tribute to their
memory. The Clerk was instructed to convey the message to the bereaved
relatives.
At Newry Urban Council on Monday 5 November 1937 Mr. G.W.Holt, J.P. referred to
the recent shocking disaster in Carlingford Lough, when six people – five from
Newry and district and one from Belfast lost their lives and then proposed a
vote of sympathy with the bereaved relatives. The vote was passed in silence
At a meeting of the Council of the Borough of Drogheda held on the
At a meeting of the Carrickfergus Urban Council reference was made to the tragic sea disaster which occurred in Carlingford Lough, resulting in the loss of six lives and the clerk was directed to convey to the bereaved relatives an expression of ‘the Council’s heartfelt sympathy and hope that all will be comforted and strengthened in their sore trial.
CHIEF
ENGINEER’S BODY FOUND
CAPTAIN’S BODY FOUND JULY
1937
A collision in Carlingford Lough in
April was recalled when the body of Robt. Campbell(42), captain of the steamer
Alder, was washed
ashore at Langness, Castletown, Isle of Man.
The
Alder was rammed by
the ss Lady Cavan and
sank in a few minutes, six lives being lost.
Captain Campbell and his
wife were amongst those who were drowned.
The body was discovered by
Donald Hector Mackenzie, staying, with his brother, a keeper at Langness
lighthouse. He was out for a walk and found the body in a gully in the rocks. It
was in a badly decomposed state, but was identified by papers in the clothing.
MASTER OF THE ALDER
Born
Touching scenes were witnessed at the funeral in Kilkeel
on Saturday of , master of the ill-fated Alder.
The cortege, one of the largest and most representative ever seen in the
district, comprised people from all over the Mournes and various parts of
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| Rev. Martin | Funeral of Captain Robert Campbell |
In the
course of a touching address based on the text ‘This is a grief and I must bear
it’ (Jeremiah 10 v 19) the Rev. Martin said:-
"The
large number at the funeral proclaimed the unabated sympathy that is extended to
the
That had happened, continued
the speaker, in the all-wise Providence of God, and now they knew that Robert
Campbell lay, not out in those wild and wandering waters but under the peaceful
shadows of the family burying ground. So that when they thought of their sad
loss they would not turn their eyes to the expanse of sea, but there to that
little plot.
There were words in the Old
Testament which better than any others described the feelings of the mother and
father. Jeremiah said’ This is my grief and I must bear it’ Those words were in
the lives of a great many people. Sorrow and despair melted away and that was
why Jeremiah was able to face his grief so manfully. Grief might seem for some
just like a shadow of a cloud in the infinite sweeps of the sky, a patch of
cloud in the blue.
The pleasures of life are
marred, the joy of life passed out and the tears come. How often has that
happened when it seemed as though the mist will never lift again? But then they
knew that the sun shines brightly after the longest winter even when it seems
that grief will come and occupy every other thing. Sorrow was just like a grey
thread that had been woven into the life of every man and woman. Jeremiah had
said ‘Woe is me’ but he also said’ This is my grief and I must bear it’. He had
taken himself under control. There was an absence of panic and a sense of
strength. There was quiet dignity and perfect patience. He recognised the grief,
and submitted to it. That was part of God’s plan for man.
Jeremiah did not say ‘I must share it’. He said ‘I must bear it’. Then, how many
grief bearers were there in the world, bearers like Jesus Christ Himself,
walking princely to
In the hour that He was
going to die Jesus rejoiced in spirit.
There was something in that awful tragedy that made the
Let
them walk with Jesus Christ down that road leading to
The chief mourners were;-
Mr. James Campbell (father);
Messrs. Charles, William John, James and Harry Campbell (brothers); Masters Jim,
Louis and Percy Campbell (sons)
Messrs. Joseph Fisher,
Newry, owners of the Alder were represented at the funeral.
NEWRY REPORTER
(Down,
The Carlingford Lough
Tragedy
Not for many years has a shipping tragedy of such tragic dimensions occurred in
Carlingford Lough, as that of
The news fell upon the ears of the horror stricken people of Newry, Kilkeel and
the surrounding districts like a bomb shell, shattering the peace of a Sunday
afternoon. Six lives were lost in the space of a few minutes. In war time such a
calamity, although evoking the sorrow of a people prepared for the like, would
not count for comparatively little, but in time of peace the loss of six lives
is something which rends the very hearts of all. Homes have been rendered
fatherless, and in one case parentless. A father and mother have been snatched
away from their little children. And so we might go on reflecting on the
aftermath of such a sad occurrence, Stark tragedy has the effect of compelling
us to face facts, and once more the truth of man’s futility in the fight against
nature is borne out.
They say there is sorrow on the sea and too often has that
saying been justified. Fogs, as well as tempests have a way of providing epics
of the sea; of bringing sorrow to the heart of man. Sunday’s tragedy makes us
sadder, when we realise that it was not at sea in the ocean sense that it
occurred, but within sight of land. The Captain of the sunken vessel and his
wife were drowned practically within sight of their own home. What an ironic
prank fate has played here.
Their four children living peacefully asleep in bed,
while only a few miles away, across calm waters hushed under a blanket of dense
fog, father and mother perish together. Although sympathy is but a poor enough
comfort to those who have been bereaved, we know it is the desire of all our
readers to express on their behalf the heartfelt condolence with the relatives,
and this we do in the hope that it shall at least serve to bring some small
measure of comfort to hearts wrought with anguish and despair.
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