Northern Ireland has a long and widely known history of shipbuilding. Most people immediately associate boat building here with Harland & Wolff and big ships like Titanic, Olympic and Canberra. At the other end of the scale however there is a rich, and largely untold, history of building sea-going vessels in small boatyards around our coastlines.

Bill Quinn Bill Quinn is a retired boatbuilder who owned a yard in Kilkeel for over fifty years. The fishing fleet there - once the largest in Northern Ireland - depended heavily upon him to build and repair the boats it went to sea in. Bill retired in 1995. The picture here was taken in 1955 and shows "Nancy" a launch he built for the Belfast Harbour Commissioners.

Planks in a steam box Due to the shape of boats there are very few straight lengths of wood used. Timbers therefore must be carefully bent into the required shapes. Native woods such as Larch and Oak were used as these could be sucessfully bent into curves by a process of steaming. Planks would be initially cut using a cambered saw and then each length would be passed through a steam box for about 45 minutes until it was soft enough to bend. The plank was immediately clamped into position on the hull while the wood was still pliable. When it was properly clamped into position it was then spiked down permanently. Throughout Bill's 50 years as a boatbuilder, this steam process was employed on every boat made or repaired in the yard. Listen - steaming wood

On the job... Fishing boats must be built to withstand heavy seas and heavy payloads. They are extremely robust and enduring. Although it may be hard to believe it wasn't unheard of for the day's fishing to go so well that the weight of the catch came close to the flotation limits of the vessel. The picture here shows a boat so heavily laden with herring that the gunnels are only inches above the waterline. There have been occasions when fishing boats have actually been sunk by the weight of the fish that were caught. Serious though such an incident was, in most cases it wasn't disastrous, as the boats could still be recovered. A surprising number of fishermen are non-swimmers however and there have been numerous souls lost, even close to the shore, down through the years. Wooden boats naturally want to float and it is possible with care to re-float a capsized or sunken vessel that is lying in fairly shallow water. This was yet another line of work that fell to the expertise of the boatyard. Bill tells a short story.. Listen - recovering vessels

For those in peril... There have of course been many truly disastrous seafaring accidents in the area. In 1916, a 460 ton Ferry Steamer, "SS Connemara" left Greenore on a routine run to Holyhead. and collided with another vessel, "SS Retriever" in Carlingford Lough with tragic consequences. Both ships sank and although the depth of the water was only a few metres, 97 lives were lost. Many of the passengers were on their way to find work on the mainland, unknown to their parents and relatives, who never realised that they'd been lost in the disaster until much later, perhaps years. Today a commemorative stone sits in a Kilkeel graveyard. There are two audio links below. The first is Bill talking about the terrible tragedy of the Connemara. The second tells a story about another collision where the vessel, the "Slanes Castle", was lost but the lives were saved by a quick thinking deck-hand. Click Here to read more about the sinking of the Connemara and Retriever. Listen - The sinking of the Connemara... Listen - Slanes Castle...

Bringers of luck The fishing fraternity like many others is traditionally superstitious and certain things are believed to have strange powers. It was, for instance, considered to bring bad luck to talk about rats or pigs on board a fishing boat and fishermen would be very annoyed with you if you did. Many also believed the humble seagull to have a special purpose from beyond the grave. Listen - Susperstitions Today boats are nearly all built with the aid of modern technology. Computer aided designs can re-shape a hull and indicate the exact water-line and project where weight should be distributed etc. Such things seem common and rather unimpressive in this hi-tech age. We consider tools such as power saws and electric drills as fairly lowly basic necessities. Few would tackle even a simple job without them. Things were not always so. Although work for a boatbuilder was not easy in the early fifties when Bill Quinn started out, it was much harder again for previous generations. Many of the modern effort-saving aids we take for granted today had not been thought of. Bill comments on the difficulties faced by the previous generation to his, involved in boatbuilding before any kind of mechanisation or automation was available. Listen - Early building methods

Selling the catch The whole point of fishing was of course commercial and the fish had to be landed and sold to the customer. Today this is a high speed industry and fast-frozen produce is distributed to processing plants and retailers around the world in all manner of packaging and under many brand names. Bill remembers how, during his schooldays, door-to-door fish sellers known as "Cadgers" would come around the streets with herring for sale. If you didn't have money to pay them they'd readily bargain with other types of currency such as eggs or cheese. Listen - Cadgers

A view of Kilkeel harbour and fishing fleet taken in 2002.

Bill Quinn on Radio Ulster Shortly after this story appeared on Your Place & mine Bill Quinn spoke to BBCNI's Walter Love on his Radio Ulster Sunday programme "Love Forty". Bill told yarns with the kind of wit and humour typical of the locality and its people. Listen to Bill Quinn's Stories on Love Forty

Another "working lives" story also based around a Co.Down Shipyard is that of Patrick Durkin from Warrenpoint. Click here to read it....

Your Responses...

JEAN KERR - July '08
GREAT INFO! I WAS IN DROMORE AND KILKEEL THIS YEAR AND HOPE TO GO BACK NEXT YEAR - IM TRYING TO TRACE KERRS AND DOWNEYS FROM KILKEEL AND DROMORE

Pat (was Wray-McCann) - June '08
Beverley McCann - if you want information about the Wray-McCann family I may be able to help you. Please contact me at patriciabuonataoldotcom

Gerry Doyle - March '08
Hello Robert J Wilson,

The Wilsons are still going strong in Kilkeel and Mourne. David is well into his 80s and walks from his home down to the harbour and home again every day, weather permitting Robert (Bob) is well into his 90s and lives in Belfast. That is only two of the older ones. There are a lot more but they may not be on the internet. If you want to get in touch with them drop me a note.

BEVERLY MCCANN - Jan '08
DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THE FAMILY OF DR. HUGH WRAY-MCCANN IN THE LATE 20s TO THE EARLY 60s IN KILKEEL?

HILDA SULLIVAN NE VANCE - Apr '07
My great grandmother came from Kilkeel her father and brothers were all fishermen, Her name was Mary McNaughton she married my great grandfather who was from Downpatrick, His name was John Vance . There were Great troubles in Northern Ireland at that time and my great grandmother who was of a different religion to John was rejected by his family and his family never spoke to him again .They went on to have six children. I am trying to find my family tree but am finding it hard to do as I cannot find out anything about Mary Mcnaughton and I dont know if any of Marys family are left now. I do know that Mary had a sister called lizzy but that is about it. Any one that could have told me more about Mary have passed on to a better place now and I would have loved to have known my ancestors from Kilkeel and to have felt a part of that beautiful place.

Robert J Wilson - Mar '07
My father's family originally came from Kilkeel. Last name Wilson. Came over here to Canada around 1916 with my Grand parents. My Grandfather's brother David Wilson lived there until his death. Probably still have relatives living there.

There is a story I was told by my father, about the fishing fleet from Kilkeel during the first world war. Apparently a large number of boats were out fishing and a German sub surfaced and ordered all fishermen out of their boats and into one, which was my dads Uncles' boat and then proceeded to sink all the others. My dads Uncles' boat was the only one to return to port. A case of chivalry on the high sea's during the war at that time.

I have always wondered if this was a true story or not. Can you verify if this is a true story?

A S Simpson
I'm looking for a boat named The Nancy and probably operating in the 1850's

Johnny Byrne - Sep '06
Very interesting piece. It brings back many memories for me having grown up in the fishing port of Arklow Co. Wicklow. I was just wondering does anyone know of any connections between ARKLOW and the fishing ports of Co. DOWN. In particular I am thinking of my uncles Johnny and Pat Hickey who fished out of Arklow for over 40 years and would make regular trips to Portavogie during the 60's .Their boat was named the Ros Aoibhinn. Also my grandfathers boat Ben Mo Chroi was built in Portavogie. I would be gratefull for any info or links.

Charles Spinks - Jan '06
Thank heavens I found this site. I was born in Kilkeel in 1944. My mother, Peggy Gorman married a G.I. and left Kilkeel in 1946. We have been back many times to visit her brother and sisters who have now passed on, my mother is now 86 and wants to take another trip. I can sit and listen for hours to tales of her growing up in and around Kilkeel. The last time we were "home", the house where I was born was still standing, boarded up, but still there, in Dunavan, up at the top of the Scrogg Rd, nearly across from Jim Joe Smalls shop. Makes me homesick.