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and his wife Sophie in the city of Sarajevo, two regular channel cargo vessels had berthed at the old red sandstone pier in Dingle on the Western periphery of the British Empire.
The S.S. Derrymore of R.S. McCowen & Sons of Tralee had arrived from Fenit with general cargo, while the S.S. Wheater of the Spillers & Bakers Co. of Cardiff was discharging her cargo of flour onto the waiting carts and trucks.
The daily activities of the port continued as usual – the lamp lighter trimmed his gas lamps, the stonebreaker repaired the pot holes on the old pier, the fish hucksters plied their creels of fish to passersby, the beggars and children looked as events unfolded for the day.
Mr. Michael Long; harbour master, shopkeeper & publican strolled down the pier, as his son and shipwrights constructed a “Nobby” fishing vessel behind his business. Next door, Mrs. Mary Ashe; publican & grocer, saluted passersby while her son Thomas plied his trade as a fish merchant. Indeed the area at the pier head was a myriad of pubs and groceries, with fish curing sheds at the rear. The harbour master oversaw the commercial life of the port – coal from the UK, flour from Cardiff and Birkenhead Mills, barrel hoops and staves from Scotland and Norway on the S.S. Granuaile – the Congested Districts Board Steamer, red bricks and roof tiles from Wales, salt from Spain and France, and a plethora of other goods which mostly came by sea as the road transport system was undeveloped at that time. The recent opening of The Tralee & Dingle Narrow Gauge Light railway alleviated the transport problems to a certain extent, but its timetable to Tralee was subject to many problems and poor management.
Due to a huge increase in the catches of Mackerel (and to a lesser extent herring and shellfish), Dingle had begun to export large quantities of fresh Mackerel by train in the spring season, and thousands of barrels of cured pickled Mackerel to Europe and the USA by 1914. Parallel to this, a recent fish canning concern owned by Mr. Pickert of Boston began to produce cans of cured Mackerel in brine and tomato sauce for export also, near the pier head.
The majestic Dingle fishing fleet of some 22 Nobbies and 22 trawlers dotted the Harbour with their colourful sails, nets, boats and fishermen. Lobster craft and canoes landed bountiful catches of shellfish from nearby fishing grounds.
Yes, Dingle port was thriving – it was June 28th 1914.
Cargoes of timber from Canada and Sweden had arrived for merchants – Mr. Tom McKenna, Mr. P. Devane and Mr. John Curran on large sailing vessels manned by handsome sailors. Limerick City and Dingle were linked with the weekly routes of the S.S. Adare and the S.S. Dunsford for JN Russell & Sons, exporting pigs and herring, as Limerick had some of Irelands largest bacon curing facilities at that time.
The Union Jack flew proudly over Dingle town with British officialdom well established there – the R.I.C. Barracks on the Mall, a coastguard Station at Emlagh, a town board of guardians, Dingle harbor Commissioners, the National bank, Dingle Lighthouse, with a Carnegie free library planned. Some ten fish curing sheds gave much needed employment to many hundreds of men and women, halting rampant emigration for a period.
As 1914 progressed, young men of Dingle answered the call of Kitchener and Haig “to save little Belgium from the Hun”, O’ Flaherty, Scanlon, Kenny and Long among those who signed up. Some returned and paraded the town in their Royal navy and British Army Uniforms.
By 1911, the town’s population stood at 1884, an increase of 120 souls since 1891. The population of Dingle parish in 1911 was given at 3144, of which 3,001 were Catholics. Fishing families resided on Quay Street, Quay Lane, The wood, Grey’s Lane, Station Row, Goat Street and Chapel lane with names such as Moore, O’ Connor, O’ Flaherty, Graham, Brosnan, Long, Devane, Sheehy, Guiheen, Curran, Moran Griffin, Ashe and Flannery.
Yet aspirations of self-government and Home Rule were as evident in the people of Dingle as elsewhere. The volunteers paraded the town, bonfires were lit at street corners, and rallies were held in the Fair Field. Green lights were tied to the masts of boats in the harbor.
One sensed a great change was coming soon, as maritime Dingle lived that day, June 28th 1914.
