6.1 Western Pilots: Newspaper extracts relating to Piloting: Salvage of the Windsor Castle

Piloting was the principal occupation of the islanders with eight involved in 1901 and ten in 1911. Under an Act of Parliament of 1823 the Limerick Bridge Commissioners (Later Harbour Commissioners) were given authority for the administration of pilotage on the River Shannon^[113]. For operational reasons the pilotage body was divided into two divisions, Western and Eastern^[114]. The Western Pilots were based in the Kilbaha and Carrigaholt areas and serviced the ships using canoes until a two masted sailing ketch was purchased in 1875 after five pilots were drowned in Kilbaha on the 8th May 1873. The pilots were then based in the recently decommissioned Kilcredaun Battery. Their ketch the St Patrick ^[115] was based usually near the Battery in Carrigaholt Bay. The pilots operated a rota system with eight pilots on duty to be relieved every fortnight by eight others. The Kilcredaun Battery was rented until purchased in 1910 by the Harbour Authority^[116] for £121-8s-9d.The pilots remained based there until 1930 when a pilot house was built on Scattery Island in the grounds of the vacated Battery. At this stage as most of the pilots were also living in Scattery the ketch was discontinued in favour of the traditional canoes. All the main piloting families maintained four-man canoes which were necessary for servicing ships far downriver at Kilcredaun and beyond. These operated until 1953 when a motorised pilot boat was commissioned and together with the pilots based in Cappa, Kilrush and this remains the situation today where some descendants of the pilot inhabitants of Scattery are still involved in piloting. A list of the pilots that came originally from West Clare and who lived on Scattery from 1843 until 1960^[117] is detailed in Appendix II.

Extract from log of the Pilot Boat c 1893^[118]
(No year given on log)

Names of Gang: M McMahon, M Crotty, M Griffin, P McNamara, P Brennan.

Denis O'Keeffe in Charge.

Took Possession: on the 3rd of November

This finishes my log: Signed Denis O’Keeffe Pilot Western Division.

Names of Gang: Michael Brennan, John Melican, Daniel Behan, Michael Scanlan, Patrick F Brennan, Patrick Brennan, Kilbaha absent not well.

Took Possession: on Friday the 17th of November (Could be 1882/1893 or 1899?.)

List of Western division Pilots and wages paid to them for December 1898^[119]
The following pilots were each paid £3-16-5:

P Brennan Jn, P Brennan P, M Scanlan, P Scanlan, S Scanlan, J Melican, M McMahon, M Griffin, J Martin, D O'Keeffe, F Brennan Jn, M Brennan, P Brennan, T McNamara, Daniel Behan and P Cahill.

The following were paid £2-16-5:
P McNamara, M Crotty, J McDonnell and Anne Chrystal was paid £3-18-5.

The following pensioners were paid £1-18-4 each
Denis Behan, S Brennan and F Brennan Sn.

On average over this period there were 18 Pilots and 2 Pensioners in the Western Division these were based in Scattery and around Kilbaha and Carrigaholt in West Clare. Pensioners were paid half the pilots monthly payment .Small accounts run by the pilots in Haier’s (of Kilbaha) and Cahill’s were also cleared from the pilot fund on a monthly basis. These accounts appear to have been discontinued during the First World War and they do not form any part of the expenses by the 1920’s. In addition the pilots were also paid some expenses towards the upkeep of the Pilot boat.

The account books indicate that there was only one pilot at Tarbert in 1901. He earned on average 2.5 times the other pilot's wages through an unfair sharing arrangement which lasted up until the 1930’s when it was agreed to base all pilots on Scattery Island after which all were to be paid on an equitable basis. In the three years listed below the Western Pilots earned £2051-8-9 from expenses and wages and this had to be divided between 18 pilots and 2 pensioners giving each pilot approx £107 for the 3 year period. i.e. about £3 each per month. In the same 3 years, the Tarbert pilot earned £271-8-7 (almost £8 per month) of course he does appear to have piloted 230 ships and the Western Pilots during the same period took 500 ships to Limerick and Foynes. It should also be remembered that the Tarbert pilot would have an advantage over the Western Pilots in that he probably could get back to Tarbert from Limerick or Foynes in a much shorter time than the Western Pilots took to get back to Scattery and Kilbaha or Carrigaholt.

During this period the Western Pilots took the ships from Kilcredaun, Scattery or Tarbert up to Cain’s Island (Grass Island), near Bunratty and the Limerick pilots based on the island then took the ships up to Limerick. Cain’s Island was abolished in 1943 and then the Western Pilots took the ships all the way up to Limerick and their Pilotage fee was increased accordingly.

These returns indicate that the Tarbert pilot had a sharing arrangement with the Western Pilots in that every third ship piloted by him he only got 15s and the rest was given to the Western Pilots. However it can be seen that even by 1921 he was earning more that three times the monthly wages of the Western Pilots. The Limerick Harbour Board appears to have assisted with the arrangement as they maintained separate accounts for the Tarbert pilot in their pilot books which seems to have continued from 1875 to 1930.

This anomaly is also noted as follows in the Harbour Board's own publication A Rising Tide, pages 44 & 45 which states:

“Pilots operate a type of co-operative; their earnings are pooled and subsequently divided in accordance with the arrangements laid down in the bye-laws. However anomalies have occurred from time to time as is recorded in the 1930 report of the Ports and Harbours Tribunal. The Tribunal reported that an arrangement had existed foe a considerable time which resulted in an inequitable sharing out of pilotage earnings. Under procedures then pertaining, a vessel which failed to obtain a pilot at Scattery Island picked up a stand-by at Tarbert. The Pilots in Tarbert having no guarantee of regular work, had negotiated an arrangement whereby a fixed amount from all pilotage charges paid by vessels was set aside to pay them. The Ports Tribunal pointed out that the arrangement which had been in place for three generations was providing the Tarbert pilots with incomes which were almost three times greater than those of the regular pilots, whose average earnings at that time amounted to £112-7s-2d, per year. This anomaly of course had to be rectified and new arrangements were drawn up for the division of earnings.”

The Tarbert pilot from June 1931 was now based together with all the Western Pilots at the new pilot house on Scattery Island. The Pilot Books have an expenses entry for June 1931 which states ‘Repayment of loan for Scattery Island pilot station £3-10-9.’ At this time all pilots were paid the same monthly wage which of course depended on the number of ships that were piloted in the month. Indeed during the First and Second World Wars some pilots went back to sea because the volume of shipping was not sufficient to support all the pilots. The records show that there were no ships during the month of April 1941 and that pilot M. Scanlan died on Good Friday the 11th April.

Newspaper extracts relating to piloting:^[120]
(The following is a selection of primarily newspaper extracts relating to piloting in the Shannon Estuary and its ports in date order beginning with the earliest. No attempt has been made to correct any spelling errors except where the meaning would be lost without such correction and a few comments are added in italics. As the Windsor Castle salvage played a major part in allowing the pilots come to Scattery this is covered in detail. It is hoped that these extracts will give an outline of the work of the pilots and their relationship with the Limerick Harbour Board)

1831 Thursday 13th November (Clare Journal)
The Prince George of and for Bristol, from Archangel under the restraint of Quarantine since her arrival on the 23rd ultimo at Tarbert in distress, sailed on the 14th instant for her destined port. The Pilots who had been taken on Board were released from further restraint, by the order of the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council, previous to the sailing of the ship no illness having appeared amongst the crew since their arrival in the Shannon.

1834 Thursday 11th September (Clare Journal)
On Monday three men, two of them pilots, went out from Carrigaholt to bring a vessel into Kilrush. The pilots were so stupidly drunk that they upset the boat and were drowned. The third man, who was sober, saved himself by keeping hold of the boat until another one took him up.

1839 Thursday 7th February (Clare Journal)
Salvage Trials:
A Court was held at Kilrush on Friday by the following magistrates:
Captain Studdert, Randal Borough and Jonas Studdert Esqs. The principal case arose in the Brig Grecian, H Sleightolme, Master from Quebec to Hull timber laden, driven into Kilbaha last December with a signal of distress flying. Where six pilots boarded her, two of which remained, slipped her anchor, and ran the vessel safe to Kilrush, but deeming all right instead of making the Grecian fast in safe moorings, the fellows got drunk, and the vessel went upon the rocks to the west of the pier. They claimed £600 for service, which the magistrates indignant at their misconduct reduced to £40.When had they only common precaution the award would have been at least £300 to £400.

1840 Thursday 24th September (Clare Journal)
Sunday morning as the pilots were boarding the Arbutus off Rehy Hill, Kilrush (?) the boat capsized and five of the men were immersed in the sea. Fortunately the Hamilton cutter which was then far astern saw the perilous accident and Captain Triphook most kindly and opportunely, bore down on the spot where the struggler's were and by the greatest exertion succeeded in rescuing the unfortunate men from a premature grave.
On Monday in the creek, John O’Donnell, one of the oldest pilots on the river was drowned within a pistol shot of his own home. He was in the act of weighing an anchor, when the boat capsized, and having got under it unhappily could not extricate himself.

1842 Wednesday 21st December (Clare Journal)
We are concerned to state that four pilots were lost off Kilbaha, on Saturday, after putting their comrade Patrick Brennan on board the Superb, from Alexandria to Cork which vessel ran into the Shannon in distress. The pilot boat was returning to shore when a squall upset her, and the hands unhappily perished.

1843 Monday 13th March (Times of London)
The Windsor Castle from Bombay to Liverpool, abandoned, has been brought into Scattery Roads.

1843 Thursday 16th March (Clare Journal)
On Monday last the Kilbaha pilots observed a dis-masted vessel about nine miles W.N.W. Off the heads to which they immediately proceeded and boarded her. They found her completely deserted, not a living soul on board. She turns out to be the Windsor Castle of Liverpool which from papers on board is supposed to have cleared from Bombay in August last, with a cargo of cotton, indigo, sugar and spices &c. By great exertions these hardy sons of the ocean succeeded in bringing her to anchor off Kilbaha. Here we are sorry to say the people on the coast endeavoured to get on board, evidently with the intention of plunder but those men effectually beat off their assailants and preserved the property of the vessel. The next day having erected Jury Masts they proceeded to Kilrush, and safely moored her in Scattery Roads where she now remains with those stout fellows on board in charge. She is supposed to be a vessel of 900 tons with a very valuable cargo probably from £60,000 to £80,000.

1843 Saturday 18th March. (Times of London)
The Windsor Castle Indiaman: It appears from the Limerick Chronicle that this ill-fated vessel, whose abandonment by her crew was announced in the Times on Friday, was boarded in the Scattery Roads on Wednesday evening, and her cargo taken possession of by the Captain and crew of a steam packet from Kilrush. The statement is thus given in the Chronicle ‘Captain Douglas of the Pandora, arrived in the port, reports having fallen in about 5pm on the 12th inst, Loop Head then bearing SSW distant 29 miles the ship Windsor Castle of Liverpool, from Bombay with cotton, silks, spices, gums, indigo etc., dismasted and abandoned, A heavy sea then running, and every appearance of dirty weather, Captain Douglas did not consider it prudent to risk his own vessel by taking her in tow. Besides she was so far to the Northward that he did not think that he could bring her with safety to his own charge into the Shannon. A steam packet from Kilrush having gone in search of the derelict vessel she was brought up as far as Kilbaha Bay by the Western Pilots and it is supposed that by this evening she will have reached Scattery Road in safety. They anticipate a golden salvage-prize. The Windsor Castle is said was run foul of by an American ship on the 3rd of March and was abandoned by her crew. She is 900 tons with a cargo of 3000 bales of cotton. In the cabin was found a dead goat from which there processed no offensive smell, so that it is supposed that the death was a recent occurrence; and on the deck everything appeared to be properly secured by the crew before abandonment. The crew of the Windsor Castle, M’Cleland have arrived in Liverpool, by the Hudson Page, from New Orleans, which took them on board after deserting the vessel off Cape Clear.

1843 Tuesday 21st March. (Times of London)
The Windsor Castle:
Mr O’Brien, agent of the Dublin Steam Packet Company, left Kilrush, with Captain Triphook of the Hamilton, revenue cruiser, at 10 o’clock on Monday night and got down to ‘The Heads’ at 4 o’clock next morning. The Windsor Castle was then inside the Heads and the conduct of the Pilots who brought her in were most praiseworthy. When Captain Triphook and Mr O’Brien boarded the derelict vessel there was a struggle between the Pilots in charge and the shore people: the former anxious to save, the others to destroy the vessel and property. The names of the principal persons who rendered services were taken down and the intruders were then put on shore: after which Captain Triphook got the vessel under way and brought her up in tow of the Hamilton until the wind backed away to the east, and then fortunately the Erin steamer, from Kilrush, Captain Kennedy, hove in sight and took the Windsor Castle in tow. Much praise is given to Captain Triphook, Mr Baldwin, of the Kilkee coastguard, and Mr Trousdell, for their exertions and also to the Pilots of Kilbaha who first boarded her within a few miles of land off Ross, and who’s conduct all through was of a most praiseworthy character. The Windsor Castle is 721 tons register and owned by Chaloner & Co Liverpool. She is now moored in Scattery Roads and is in charge of the coastguard. There are 35 Claimants for salvage. The vessel is stated at 39906l (£39906.)

1843 Monday 3rd April (Clare Journal)
A summons was issued to the Kilbaha pilots to the Kilrush sessions on Thursday last, at the suit of Mr Baldwin, chief officer of the waterguards, for assaulting him and his men in the execution of their duty, when he endeavoured to render assistance in the preservation of the Windsor Castle now in possession and under care of the pilots. The summons was dismissed by the magistrates, the plaintiff not appearing. The foundation of the summons, we understand to be, the pilots having slipped off the rope of Mr Baldwin's boat from the Windsor Castle, when he wished to intrude his services, the pilots not requiring any assistance. Mr Baldwin is a claimant for salvage.

1843 Wednesday 26th April (Clare Journal)
The owners and underwriters of the Windsor Castle having given security to the Admiralty in the sum of £5,000 to meet the claims of the salvors, received a release for the ship on Saturday last: But after the order being read on board the Kilbaha pilots refused giving up the charge, and the owners have therefore applied for a police force to enable them to get up the possession.

1843 Thursday 27th April (Clare Journal)
An Admiralty order has been issued for the release of the Windsor Castle Indiaman, she has been given up to the owners the value of the vessel and cargo having proved under 20,000l. The judge of the Admiralty required 5000l (£5000) security till the salvage claims are adjusted.

1843 Saturday 20th May (Clare Journal)
The commission to examine witnesses in the case of the Windsor Castle, India Ship, derelict will open at Kilrush on Monday next. Mr Richardson is concerned as proctor for the pilots: Mr Hamilton, for the Hamilton cutter: Mr Watt for the Ship. It is thought the commission will hold for three weeks.

1843 Monday 22nd May (Clare Journal)
Barque Cumberland – Salvage- The case which excited considerable interest in the West of Clare came on for adjudication at Kilrush, on Friday and Saturday last. Captain Studdert R.N. And Richard Studdert Esq, magistrates sat on the bench and Mr Collings, Coast Guard Service representing Captain Hastings, Collector of Customs, Limerick.
The awards are as follows:-
Mr Baldwin and boat's crew claimed 10l -no appearance dismissed:
Mr Peter Gibson claimed £26-13s-4d. Awarded £3.
Nine Rinevella Pilots do £7 do £10.
Fifteen Kilbaha Pilots, first £400 do £47.
Thirteen Pilots and others £86 comprised for £7-10s.
Total Claimed £686-13s -4d. Total Awarded £67 -10s.
Ship and cargo valued at £617 as proved at court.

(This looks like a lot of pilots 9 from Reinvilla 15 from Kilbaha and 13 others give a total of 37 pilots when the average number of ships going to Limerick at this time was approx 10 per week. However it should be remembered that a pilot at this time may be with a ship for up to three weeks before reaching Limerick and that pilots were also required for the other Estuary ports.)

1843 Monday 22nd May (Clare Journal)
Salvage: The pilots of Kilbaha, who saved the vessel Windsor Castle, have been offered £850 for their trouble which they refused. The revenue has been offered £350 which we hear they have accepted. A commission for investigating the claim of the pilots opens in Kilrush on Monday next

1843 Thursday 22nd June (Clare Journal)
Admiralty:
Windsor Castle Derelict—the commission still continues for the truly unfortunate salvors. The case could be told in half an hour if tried in any of our Courts of Justice in half a day, has been under enquiry for four weeks and likely to continue for many more. At each meeting Council for the contending parties make some new application in the Courts above to add to their libels and the enquiry has to be commenced de novo. We have heard the entire matter will be brought before Parliament so that in the event of any changes in our Courts being suggested the Admiralty will not be forgotten. The owners having been required to give security for only one fourth of the vessel (as admitted by themselves) and we suppose careless whether that sum goes in costs or to the salvors, so that there is every probability of the enquiry continuing to Christmas.

1843 Thursday 29th June (Clare Journal)
The Windsor Castle Derelict Again
This commission has been adjourned to Dublin after months inquiry at Kilrush, a new feature now appears in the case , and the owners and undertakers have applied and got permission to add a few more articles to their libel accusing the salvors of plunder -now for the first time thought of at the end of four months, and plunder to what extent think you gentle reader---- A cover dish, a bowl of sugar, a box (called a caddy) of tea, called for the greater importance a chest, and several pieces of rope &c:

Now whether they will go on with this case, or whether they can sustain it or what effect , if any, it may have to judge, one way or the other we know not, but this we do say that we did not expect this line of defence from straight forward honest Englishmen. The owners know whose property to the value of £20,000, by their own showing, and £100,000, by the public print of the day had been saved-right well that the vessel leaving Bombay had not on board £5 worth of cabin furniture, ware, &c. That she had not a single chest off tea, and only sugar sufficient for the voyage, they also know and had opportunities of ascertaining, that the decks were plundered by many vessels before being found by the pilots. That sum of plunder, canvas, ropes, spars, boats, &c were given up to them, in fact that there was not a particle from her hold, not an article of any importance taken by those poor men. What are the facts of the case?

The vessel is abandoned at sea early in March, and every effort to save her had been made by the crew, who get into Liverpool in some days, where we are informed six gentlemen subscribed £600 and sent two steamers in search of her on the mere speculation of the salvage they would be entitled to. A steamer is also sent from Cork in search of her but without effect. The pilots find her outside Loop Head they bring her to anchor four miles within the head, they protect her from plunder and shipwreck, hundreds surrounding her during the day, 24 hours before a waterguard or revenue officer saw her- they made a host of enemies by keeping off unworthy salvors.

They bring the vessel to a proper anchorage in Scattery Roads. They keep charge of her 40 days and after all what do they get! A long and tedious suit in the Admiralty.
An offer first of £500 then £850 and £1,000 sounds high, but this should be divided by 35 salvors having 156 families to support besides the families of 12 pilots drowned in this dangerous service within a few years.

We do not like this treatment; it is not encouragement that should be given to such necessitous salvors. Can the landlords, agents or clergymen who have been for many years endeavouring to prevent plunder work with any expectation of success the people of the country to seek through the law for reward?

Those poor people have lost four months for they have been principally engaged with the vessel on the commission- their chance of another vessel lost, and they are now called upon to meet a frivolous charge. And they must defend it, although conscious of their innocence, as in this court, the examination being strictly private. That the accused must presume the liable can be sustained, or that it would not be set out. Some dozens of witnesses must be produced in Dublin, or elsewhere. It is unfair at this time to comment upon a trial while going on, but we are forced to those remarks in justice to those meritorious, and we tell them again not to despair.

1843 Monday 3rd July (Clare Journal)
The Windsor Castle - Derelict
We find by a letter from Dublin that the charge of plunder brought against the Pilots has been abandoned. This we must say is creditable to the parties. The case will now be tried on the merits, in about a fortnight or three weeks.

1843 23rd August High Court of Admiralty in Ireland^[121]
The following is a brief extract from this court report of some aspects not covered by the newspapers:

The Queen v. The “Windsor Castle”: Meilican and Others, Intervenients, v.The Same.
This cause was instituted by her Majesty's Proctor for Ireland, on behalf of her majesty, against the ship and her cargo, consisting chiefly of cotton, as derelict droits of admiralty, and the intervenients libelled as salvors thereof.--

Gibbon, D stated the case on behalf of the intervenients, the facts of which are fully set forth in the judgment: Hayes, D and Fitz-Gibbon Q.C. also appeared for the intervenients, and Gayer, D Radcliffe, D and Battersby, D for the owners of the ship and cargo.

Dr Joseph Stock, Esq, L.L.D., Q.C., her Majesty's First Serjeant-at-Law, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, Ireland. - This is a suit in which the intervenients, David Meilican with thirty-four others, fishermen of the coast of Clare, in the parts adjacent to the mouth of the river Shannon, claim salvage for the preservation of the ship Windsor Castle, of Liverpool. The ship is of 700 tons burthen per register, and capable of carrying 1000 tons. -----

James Hanrahan, an old and skilful pilot and his three comrades first discovered the ship next Meilican and five others and a tow- line was taken over the bows and the six men in this canoe now began to tow. Half an hour later the salvors were joined by Martin Hassett and three assistants in another canoe and again shortly alter by John Kane and three other men in a fourth canoe. These eighteen men are to be accounted the principal salvors for to them is due the rescue of the ship. ---

When they got into the river, the country people came about the ship in their canoes and danger under a new form was presented to the minds of the salvors, from the disposition to plunder which began to be displayed by the intruders. During this period, the country people did begin pillaging, and some articles of no great value were stolen. At Horse Island, within the Shannon, the salvors, originally eighteen in number, were reinforced by seventeen other pilots and fishermen, who were received by the former into a fellowship of the salvage. ------

The salvors had got a pilot's hooker from shore and at the beginning of flood-tide; they weighed the anchor of the Windsor Castle, which was then taken in tow by the Hamilton and hooker. The wind died away shortly after they left the place of anchorage: the derelict ship drifted towards the cliffs; the Hamilton and hooker dropped the tow-lines and shifted for themselves. She was saved chiefly by the opportune occurrence of a light breeze and the towing of the pilot's canoes. Some miles up the Shannon, a steamer, which had been sent for, appeared in sight. A bargain was made with her to take the Windsor Castle in tow as far as Scattery Roads for the sum of £20.-------

The value of the Windsor Castle and her cargo as agreed and admitted in an Act of Court is £20,000. ----On the whole, I decree to the salvors one-fourth of the agreed value of the ship and cargo, being £5,000 together with their costs and expenses.

1843 Thursday 21st September (Clare Journal)
It is satisfactory to be known that the proprietors of the Windsor Castle, derelict Indiaman, will not prosecute their appeal from the judgement of £5000 by the Admiralty Court in favour of the salvager's, Kilbaha fishermen, who saved the vessel from imminent destruction at Loop Head. We trust the industrious and hardy fellows will then put this large sum to good account.

1843 Monday 16th October (Clare Journal)
The Kilbaha salvors will be highly gratified to know that Dr Auster, Registrar, of the Court of Admiralty, will attend at Kilrush on Wednesday next, the 18th instant, to pay them proportionately, a gross sum of £4711-17s for the assistance given the Windsor Castle Indiaman, when derelict off Loop Head. The number of salvors, to receive compensation, averaging £110 to £163 each, is thirty four.

1843 Tuesday 17th October (Limerick Reporter)
The Windsor Castle - Salvage Dividend

Dr Auster, Register of the Court of Admiralty: will attend at Kilrush on tomorrow (Wednesday) to pay the Kilbaha Salvors proportionately a gross sum £4714-15s for the assistance given the Windsor Castle Indiaman when deserted off Loop Head. The following are the names of the salvors, 34 in number, with the respective sums apportioned to each: (The following table was constructed from the newspaper details but the names are sorted into alphabetical order and the individual amounts listed totalled and agreed with the gross sum of £4714-15s and the names highlighted in bold italics are those associated with Scattery).