Winter Talk – The Sailing Trawlers of Ringsend

From 1819 to the immediate aftermath of the First World War, a large fleet of sailing beam-trawlers, known as smacks, existed in Ringsend and Dublin Bay. Many of these fishing vessels and their crews originated in Brixham in Devon and their fishing activities remained in a virtually unchanged state for about a century.

Throughout that time, an interchange of boats and people took place between Devon and Ringsend and many of the descendants of the fishermen still live in the neighbourhood. Ringsend became a centre for the building of sailing trawlers. Much of these fishing activities and the associated way of life of the fishing community that included boat-building, and the making of nets, ropes, and sails, have gone largely unrecorded.

Presented by Cormac Lowth.