Service remembers 1843 Newcastle fishing tragedy

Service remembers 1843 Newcastle fishing tragedy

15 January 2025

PEOPLE who lost their lives at sea were remembered at a special service in Newcastle on Monday night.

Newcastle Yacht Club hosted the annual memorial service organised by Newcastle Harbour Heritage Association.

The poignant service remembered the 73 men who lost their lives in the 1843 fishing disaster a few miles off the resort and all those who have lost their lives at sea.

Wreaths were laid by representatives the Heritage Association, St John’s Church of Ireland, Shimna College, Newcastle Yacht Club, Newcastle Sea Swimmers, Newcastle RNLI, South Down MLA Andy McMurray and Mournes councillor Willie Clarke.

The men who perished on that fateful night in 1843 after getting caught up in an unexpected and severe storm when the wind changed direction were from the resort, Annalong and wider Mourne area.

Many of the boats were swamped as they had already taken on board a good catch of fish which added to the extreme danger they faced. Desperately, the men tried to row back to safety through hurricane conditions.”

Forty six of those who perished, 46 were from King Street in Newcastle, while one of the skiffs in the path of the storm managed to get shelter in Killough harbour.

The tragedy brought great hardship to King Street which even before the disaster and slid into serious poverty afterwards and made worse as the years of the Irish Famine approached.

The tragic event left the small tight-knit fishing community with two thirds of its men-folk wiped out. The disaster left 27 widows, with 14 being heads of families and around 118 children fatherless.

Sixteen vessels fishing for herring got caught up in the storm which engulfed them as they made their way to fishing grounds off the coast.

A number of the vessels capsized, drowning those on board, while several boats rowed out from Newcastle and Annalong to mount a rescue mission.

Shortly after the event, a public subion was established to provide a relief fund to assist these families, with the Widows Row cottages built in Newcastle to house some of the widows and their children bereaved in the terrible tragedy.

A plaque was unveiled at Newcastle harbour to commemorate the 180th anniversary of what is regarded as one of Ireland’s worst maritime disasters.