Shipwreck mystery solved, 250 years to the week it sank

Last Saturday morning 12 December, at low tide, a small group of assembled in the rain on Streedagh Strand in County Sligo around the wooden remains of well-known wreck which often becomes visible as the sands shift. The group was there to commemorate the loss of the boat for the very first time on what unbelievably turned out to be the exact 250th anniversary of its loss.

The story of the wreck, which some thought was part of the fabled Spanish Armada, has only recently been uncovered by the National Monuments Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It is a story of tragedy with the loss of 20 lives in December 1770, but also a story of great heroism, bravery and selflessness. At last, it can be told…

The story behind a well-known Sligo shipwreck has been a long time coming. Locally known as ‘the Butter Boat’, the skeletal remains of a wooden wreck on Streedagh Strand in County Sligo are regularly revealed when the sands shift and it is a well-known landmark for the many locals and tourists who visit the popular beach.

Research by the National Monuments Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has now confirmed the identity of this historic wreck as the remains of the Greyhound, out of Whitby port in Yorkshire in England. The full and tragic story of its sinking on the night of 12 December 1770, 250 years ago have been marked for the very first time, with a moving ceremony at which locals honoured the 20 now known to have perished.

During a storm that December, unable to seek safe harbour in Broadhaven Bay due to the poor weather, the Greyhound was driven to anchor in a perilous positon beneath the towering cliffs off Erris Head in County Mayo. The crew was forced to abandon ship and, in a tragic oversight, a cabin boy was left on board.

On learning of the plight of the cabin boy, local volunteers from Broadhaven Bay, together with the crew of a passing ship from Galway and some of the original crew of the Greyhound showed extraordinary bravery in an attempt to rescue the boy and the stricken ship. While the rescue team did manage to board the Greyhound and move the vessel away from the cliffs, the Greyhound was driven further out to sea by the force of the storm with some of the volunteer crew still on board, including the cabin boy, and later that night she was wrecked at Streedagh Strand, 100km to the east, with the loss of 20 lives.

Minister of State for Heritage at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan, T.D., has welcomed the uncovering of the full and tragic story of the Greyhound and the events that led to its loss 250 years ago.

He said:

“I know there is a huge amount of local interest in this wreck and that its identity has been a topic of debate for many years, with many calling it the Butter Boat and others thinking it part of the Armada. I am very pleased that through archaeological investigation, scientific analysis and historical archival research our National Monuments Service has been able to finally confirm the wrecks identity and the events of 12 December, 250 years ago."

Minister Noonan added that the use of scientific data and local stories, passed down through generations, bore fruit:

“In particular I am struck by the value of folklore archives along with applied archaeological research in uncovering the full and tragic story of the Greyhound and those caught up in the tragedy. Its calamitous story illustrates starkly the perils of the sea but also highlights, how in times of trouble, the common bond of the sea brings people from different backgrounds together in an attempt to save lives. I am proud that my Department has been able to bring to light this story of tragedy and loss but also of extraordinary bravery, compassion, selflessness and heroism.”

At a ceremony on Streedagh Strand on Saturday locals, including religious leaders in the area, and members of the National Monuments team that solved the mystery paid tribute to those lost at sea, and laid a wreath on the wreck, remembering its known dead for the first time on what was its exact 250th anniversary.

Minister Noonan concluded:

“It was appropriate to commemorate the event and to remember all those lives lost so selflessly at Christmas 1770. We were honoured to join with the local community in commemorating the tragedy of the Greyhound. I am very appreciative of the continued community partnership between my our National Monuments Service and the Grange Armada & Development Association, Spanish Armada Ireland and Sligo Sub Aqua Club to promote, commemorate and keep watch over the internationally important wrecks of the Spanish Armada lost at Streedagh in 1588 and also the wreck that we now know is the remains of the Greyhound. We hold in our honoured custodianship the memory of those lost in the Spanish Armada wrecks and to that we now add the memory of those lost in the tragic wrecking of the Greyhound 250 years ago.”

ENDS

Notes

The remains of the large, wooden vessel on Streedagh Strand in Sligo is known locally as the ‘Butter Boat”. It is a well-known landmark to the many who visit beautiful Streedagh Strand, though the story behind its loss had not been known. Through archaeological and archival research carried out by the National Monuments Service, its tragic story can now be revealed for the first time.

How the wreck came to be known as the ‘Butter Boat’ is unclear. Local historian and poet Jim Boyle has suggested that it was the outline of the wreck – its oval form may have shown a similarity with butter-shaped blocks of the past – which may have lent its name to the wreck. Others suggested it may have been carrying a load of butter when it was wrecked and perhaps that memory had lingered on locally.

It had also been thought – or hoped even- that the wreck may have been associated with the three Spanish Armada ships wrecked at Streedagh in September 1588. Francisco De Cuellar had described at the time a vain attempt by Don Diego Enriquez to make it to the beach in one of his floundering ship’s boats but that all on board had perished when their boat capsized and washed ashore during the violent storm. While an Armada connection would certainly be exciting, the ‘Butter Boat’ is too large to have been one of the Armada ship’s boat. The answer to the mystery of the ‘Butter Boat’ had to be sought elsewhere.

Samples from timbers off the shipwreck were taken by the National Monuments Service, under licence from the National Museum of Ireland, for dendrochronological analysis to try and find date and also to identify the provenance of the wood. Recording of the oak timbers by NMS was followed by scientific analysis undertaken by Denmark-based dendrochronologist Dr Aoife Daly. Dating sequences obtained from two samples place the construction of the vessel firmly in the first half of the 18th century, sometime after 1712. The analysis also indicated that the timber used in the construction was probably sourced from the English midlands or possibly Yorkshire. This provenance of the ships timbers along with the 18th century dendro date, clearly rules out any association between the ‘Butter Boat’ and the 16th century Spanish Armada campaign.

Research of historical accounts in 18th century accounts in the Freeman’s Journal help fill in the story of the vessel, which we can now confirm was the Greyhound. The Greyhound was a coastal trading ship from Whitby in Yorkshire, owned by a Mrs Allely. It was built in 1747 and plied its trade around Britain and Ireland. In December 1770, under the command of a Captain Douthard, the 23 year-old ship was forced to seek refuge from a winter storm in Broadhaven Bay, Co. Mayo. Unfavourable winds however prevented the Greyhound from entering the safety of the sheltered harbour and the Greyhound had to anchor beneath the towering cliffs off Erris Head.

Earlier that same year, another ship, the Rain, en route from New York to Galway, had found itself in a similar position and ended up dashed against the same cliffs with the loss of all on board. Captain Douthard and his crew were aware of what had happened to the Rain, and knew that they were in a perilous position beneath the cliffs, so they abandoned the Greyhound using the cockboat to make for the safety of the inner harbour. In what was to become a tragic oversight with immense consequences, a cabin boy was left behind on the Greyhound.

Captain Douthard and his crew made it to the safety of Broadhaven Bay. A Galway registered sloop called Mary, en route from Limerick to Newry under a Captain Daly, had also taken refuge in Broadhaven Bay a few days earlier. When he learned of the precarious situation of the Greyhound and its abandoned cabin boy, Captain Daly mounted a rescue attempt accompanied by a number of local volunteers and some crew of both the Mary and the Greyhound. The rescue team did manage to successfully board the Greyhound and were able to move the stricken vessel away from the cliffs but no sooner had they done so when the storm blew up again and the winds drove the Greyhound out to sea.

The Greyhound and its newly formed crew were then pushed farther out into Donegal Bay, enduring violent winds and high seas. Later that night, records recount, they were forced ashore at a place called ‘Strudah’ [Streedagh]. The Freeman’s Journal provides little by way of further information on what occurred next apart from recording that 20 lives were lost. These included Captain Daly, his fellow crew members and the cabin boy, with just one man - a Mr Williams ‘from Erris’ - recorded as surviving the wrecking.

The Irish Folklore Commission’s Schools Manuscripts Collection, archived in University College Dublin, helps to fill in some gaps and in so doing highlight the importance of this archival source. An account given in 1937 by a Streedagh local, 75 year-old Michael MacGowan, to his granddaughter, tells of a ship, described as a “tourist boat”, driven ashore at Streedagh Point some 200 years previous. According to Mr MacGowan, all the crew bar one attempted to clamber to safety over the rocks at Streedagh Point but were drowned after falling into a deep recess between the rocks. Later that night the ship re-floated on the rising tide and was washed ashore on the beach at Streedagh, where it grounded in the soft sands and is the vessel still visible today known as the “Butter Boat”. When the tide receded the following day, the one man who remained on the boat, Mr Williams, made it to the safety of the shore and, according to Mr MacGowan’s account, he returned ‘home’ to England.

The 18th century dendro-date obtained from the analysis of the timber tree-rings, together with the provenance of the timbers to the north of England which would match with Whitby in Yorkshire where the Greyhound was built, and the historical accounts in journals and folklore archives all lead us to the firm conclusion that the well-known wreck, long known as the ‘Butter Boat’ is the remains of the Greyhound.

The tragic story of the Greyhound illustrates starkly the perils of the sea but also highlights the common bond of the sea in bringing people together in an attempt to save lives, often showing extraordinary bravery, selflessness and heroism.

Weblinks:

Explore more about this wreck and other wrecks around the Irish coastline on our Wreck Viewer:

here

Explore more about this wreck and the Irish Folklore Collection at:

here