sea, travel and transport by. In Ireland, this dates from the arrival of the first farmers from continental Europe in
c.3000
bc. By 2000
bc, sea traffic linked Waterford, Wicklow, and Carlingford with the Isle of
Man, Pembrokeshire, Cornwall, and Argyll. Wicklow
gold and
copper attracted many from mainland Europe. By the Celtic era,
c.300
bc, sea connections between Ireland, Britain, and Europe were well established. Irish attacks on post‐Roman Britain culminated in the colonization of parts of Wales and the west country.
The commonest Irish craft was a variation of the
curragh, made of skins stretched over a wood frame with a single sail. Early Irish monks travelled to Britain and Europe in such craft. Irishmen sailed as far as the Adriatic and Iceland, while St Brendan is said to have reached North America.
Viking settlements in Ireland generated much traffic with Britain and Europe. The clinker‐built Viking longships, which sailed both on sea and inland waterways, were adopted by their
Norman descendants and the native Irish.
Norman Ireland was closely tied in, administratively, militarily, commercially, and ecclesiastically, with Britain and the Continent, and seatraffic increased vastly. These trading, ecclesiastical, and administrative links with Britain and Europe continued throughout the Middle Ages. The Irish pilgrim, cleric, or merchant was a common arrival at European ports.
Ports like
Waterford, Youghal, Kinsale, and
Galway grew on the strength of their European connections.
Until the end of the 16th century, Hebrideanstyle galleys were common on the north and west coasts. But from the late Middle Ages caravelhulled vessels, mainly foreign‐owned, carried most of the trade with the Continent. The presence of so many foreign‐owned vessels in Irish waters, and the activities of both foreign and native
pirates, contributed to the urgency behind the drive during the 16th century to achieve more complete control of the island (see
tudor conquest). Up to the late 17th century sea travel remained small scale, haphazard, and vulnerable to wartime disruption. Thereafter, however, Irish seamen were active participants in the growing transatlantic trade with French and British colonies in the Caribbean and North America. There was also growing
emigration, mainly from Ulster, as well as the involuntary migration of
transported criminals.
After the Act of
Union, British coal and manufactured goods and Irish agricultural produce kept a large cross‐channel fleet busy. Steam and iron‐cladding allowed much bigger ships to be built. Steam enabled regular timetabled crossings of the Irish Sea. Two Irish Mail steamships plied the Howth‐Holyhead route from 1820. In 1838 the
Sirius made the first wholly steam‐powered transatlantic crossing from Passage West to New York. In maritime competition with Britain and other large nations, Ireland was held back by under‐investment. Few Irish‐owned cross‐channel shipping lines survived. Nevertheless, the Dublin Steam Packet Company operated the
Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire)‐Holyhead mail and passenger service from 1838 until 1914. From the 1850s, many British railway companies operated cross‐channel ferries. By 1900 ferries were sailing from Derry to Glasgow, Belfast to Glasgow, Barrow, Fleetwood, and Liverpool, and from Larne to Stranraer. After the
First World War, Belfast‐Heysham was added to Larne‐Stranraer. Major southern routes were from Dublin to Liverpool and Heysham, Kingstown to Holyhead, Rosslare to Fishguard, and Cork and Waterford to Wales. Newry, Dundalk, and Drogheda were also ferry ports.
Belfast became a major port and world‐leading
shipbuilding centre, with two yards,
Harland & Wolff specializing in ocean liners, and the smaller (though big by any other standards)
Workman Clark. The sinking in 1912 of the Belfast‐built
Titanic, on her maiden transatlantic voyage, was the greatest single maritime disaster. In both world wars, German U‐boat packs menaced Irish waters. In 1941 the Free State government set up
Irish Shipping to secure wartime supplies. It formed the nucleus of the Irish merchant fleet, until its winding‐up in 1984. In the 1950s and 1960s, car ferries and container traffic were introduced on the cross‐channel routes. In the 1960s, in response to the holiday boom, Rosslare and Cork became important car‐ferry ports, linking Ireland to the Continent.
Bibliography
Nowlan, Kevin B. (ed.), Travel and Transport in Ireland (2nd edn., 1993)
Peter Collins
