Author: ss

Sibe Gorman & Co

From early in the nineteenth century until the present time, the image of a copper and brass diver’s helmet or hard-hat has been an easily recognisable icon which most people could associate with what has always been referred to as “deep-sea diving”.. This is the story of the company responsible for that image: Sibe Gorman & Co

Guardships at Kingstown

GUARD-SHIPS AT KINGSTOWN By Cormac F. Lowth Shortly after the completion of Kingstown Harbour in the early 1820s, it became a convenient and preferred haven for elements of the British Royal Navy. It was a regular port of call for most visiting naval vessels in preference to the main port of Dublin with its sometimes… Continue reading Guardships at Kingstown

Where are the Barges

Midsummer’s Day 1961 saw the last commercial passage of a Guinness barge on the River Liffey. According to Al Byrne in his most entertaining book “Guinness Times – My Days in the World’s Most Famous Brewery” it was 6 p.m. when the 80-foot long by 17-foot-one inch-wide barge, Castleknock, sailed from the Custom House with a load of empties and slowly made its funereal way up river to the jetty at St. James’s Gate.

Historical Diving in Ireland

While there were few diving inventors or innovators in Ireland, it is remarkable that many of the early diving pioneers worked around the Irish coast. Local entrepreneurs and salvors were quick to exploit the invention of the helmet in the early 19th century and rapidly took on salvage work on their own account.