The Corporation of Cork managed entering and exiting Cork City up until the early years of the 1800s. It was the Corporation’s duty to collect the necessary taxes imposed upon the ships and the city and manage the complex of quays marking the entrance into Cork City. One must remember that the city does not sit on Ireland’s coastline.
The waterway leading into Cork City, Ireland, is called the River Lee. It rises in the Shehy Mountains on the western border of County Cork and flows eastward, eventually reaching the Celtic Sea at Cork Harbour, a large natural harbor on the south coast. As the River Lee flows through Cork City, it splits into two channels for a short distance, forming an island upon which the city center is built. As one could imagine, by the early nineteenth century reaching Cork City’s harbor became more problematic with the size of the boats/ships.
Notable in earlier maps of the city are the quays depicted in the walled town of Cork and the myriad of quays constructed during the eighteenth century especially around the Custom House (now part of the Crawford Art Gallery) on the so-called eastern marshes.
“In early nineteenth century records, silting up of the River Lee estuary was a common problem. In 1820, Cork Harbour Commissioners were formally constituted and purchased a locally built dredger. The dredger deposited the silt from the river into wooden barges, which were then towed ashore. The silt was re-deposited behind the Navigation Wall. The Navigation Wall was completed in 1761 to be a guiding wall for ships entering into the city centre’s quays complex. During the Great Famine, deepening of the river created jobs for 1,000 men who worked on creating the Navigation Wall’s road. The road was later to become The Marina Walk.” [Cork Heritage]
In addition to trading with Britain, trading connections were developed with French ports for wine, brandy, and agricultural goods, and timber from the Baltic areas. Travel to and from North America was also developed. “The outbreak of the American War of Independence in 1775 and the subsequent entry of France into that war on the side of the Americans, meant that shipping on the routes across the Atlantic was vulnerable to enemy attack. One solution was to group large numbers of vessels together in a convoy and escort them to their destination with warships. The large sheltered harbour at Cork was ideal for gathering ships for this purpose during an age when sailing ships often had to wait days or even weeks for a fair wind. The value of the harbour was not forgotten when war broke out in the 1790s against France and again Cork became a busy gathering place for shipping. During this time, much of the main shipping activity took place in the lower harbour as navigation to the city itself was difficult for larger vessels. This was an increasing problem as the size of ships grew during the 19th and 20th centuries. As late as the 1870s, some ships still had to unload their cargo onto lighters (smaller vessels) at Passage West in the harbour to be brought up to the city.” [Cork Archives]
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The authorities recognised this problem and set about a series of improvements. A new Navigation Wall (now the Marina) was constructed from the mid-18th century to improve the access for shipping as it approached the city. Similarly, over time, the quaysides in the city itself were improved so that ships could more easily discharge directly onto the city docks. The result was greatly expanded shipping operations close to the city centre and near the various industries and trades there from the 19th century. Ironically, by the late 20th century large scale shipping activities again moved to the lower harbour where specially built deep water facilities were developed at Ringaskiddy.
Citizens of Cork saw gradual changes in the type of ships using their port over the centuries. Wooden hulled sailing vessels were the usual form of transport for people and cargo until the advent of steamships in the early 19th century. As early as the 1820s there were paddlesteamers regularly using the port, acting as ferries within the harbour itself, to other ports in Ireland and on routes to Britain. Steam and then diesel gradually overtook sail, although wooden cargo sailing ships still called to the port as late as the 1930s. From the mid-19th century iron and steel began to be used instead of wood in the construction of ships and, again, over time fewer and fewer wooden vessels were seen. During the 19th century Cork had successful shipbuilding enterprises constructing wooden and later iron vessels. They also built yachts and boats to cater for the popular recreation of pleasure boating in the harbour area.
Every Woman Dreams... 