WBXFOBD AND BOSSLAEE BBANCH. diocese The tm£ and c*stle were LXIH. WEXFOED No. 1.—The Ethel Eveleen, 40 feet by 10 feet 6 inches, 12 oars.

LXIV. Ditto No. 2.—The Civil Service No. 1,34 feet by 8 feet 3 inches, 10 oars.

THE early history of Wexford, like that of other and larger towns, is made up of internal feuds, periodical invasions and general anarchy, the last-named being a natural result of such a state of things.

It is doubtful who were the first inha- bitants, but we read of a settlement of Brigantes and Menassii, in the province of Leinster, whose chief town was Ferns, or Wexford; that they suffered severely from incursions of the Danes, who, having ravaged the open country, made a per- manent settlement in the country, with their head-quarters at Weisford, or Wex- ford, which signifies Washed by the Tide. The Danes remained in undis- turbed possession, protected by walls •which they had built, until 1169, when they in their turn were attacked, and their town of Wexford captured by the English under the command of one Bobert Fitzstephen, who had been in- vited over by Dermod McMurrough, King of Leinster, to put down the anarchy pervading the province, caused by his offensive rule. The price for this service was a grant of the town of Wexford.

Henry II. would not, however, confirm the grant, but transferred the town to Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, who landed there two years after, and received McMurrough's daughter in marriage.

During the Wars of the Hoses, Wexford was taken by Sir John Butler, and in 1641 the inhabitants took an active part in the war of the Catholic Confederation.

Large amounts were spent in fortifica- tions, and the channel was blocked by a sunken ship. Cromwell arrived from Drogheda in 1649, but declined to accede to the terms of capitulation made by the commissioners sent to him, which in- cluded, amongst many others, the follow- ing conditions: that the people should be allowed to practise the Catholic religion; that the clergy should hold their livings, eventually captured, it is believed through the treachery of one of the commissioners.

In the rebellion of 1798, the principal battles between the people and the royal troops were fought in Wexford, and all the records in the office of the Clerk of the Peace were then destroyed. It is supposed, however, that Wexford was one of the first towns to receive a Charter of Incorporation, and that that in use until 1841, when its corporate dignities were taken away, was obtained from James I.

A new charter was ultimately granted by the Government, which is still in force.

We are indebted to a resident for the following notes on the locality. Wex- ford, a maritime town and Parliamentary borough on the S.E. coast of Ireland, and the principal town of the new Parliamentary division of the country, which will in future be known as S.

Wexford, comprises 483 acres, with a population of 12,100. It is situated on the south bank of the Biver Slaney, which discharges itself into Wexford Harbour.

Above the town, the river is crossed by a well-constructed wooden bridge of about 500 yards in length. The manufacture of malt is extensively carried on, but we understand that since the abolition of the duty on this article, which has induced very severe competition to spring up in other places, Wexford does not hold the important position she once did. Those, however, who know the locality well, and the suitability of the adjacent country for the growth of barley, hope that, -with more prosperous seasons than those ex- perienced for the past few years, Wexford will recover the position she appears now to have lost, or to be in danger of losing, for the production of malt.

The important cement works five miles from Wexford, owned by an enterprising gentleman in the neighbourhood, are becoming celebrated for the manufacture of Portland cement, and deserve notice, as we believe this is the first attempt of the kind made in Ireland. The her- ring, salmon and trawl fisheries employ many persons. Until within the last fif- teen years, oyster-dredging was the chief employment for about six months of the AUGUST 1,1885.] THE LIFE-BOAT JOURNAL.

647 year of the fine fleet of Wexford boats; but reckless over-fishing of small oysters, greedily purchased by French buyers to stock grounds on their coast, has left the Wexford beds almost bare of oysters.

People who have scarcely attained middle age have known oysters to be sold for 6d. per 120: the usual price now is 2 2.

per oyster. Notwithstanding the present exhausted state of the oyster-beds, it is generally believed that, but for the trawl- ing allowed to be carried on all the year round, by which the spat of the oysters is destroyed season after season, this very important branch of the Wexford fishery would at all events have a chance of be- coming resuscitated. In the year 1870 a new oyster-bed was discovered in the vicinity of the Lucifer Lightship on this coast, and when it became generally known, fleets of boats from other places, including Wexford itself, succeeded, by incessant dredging for six weeks night and day, in removing every shell from the ground.

This circumstance will illustrate what a reckless class of persons fishermen are.

Wexford Harbour forms a large and safe land-locked basin, into which the River Slaney empties itself. It extends three miles from north to south, almost in a line with the coast, and is four miles wide, embracing an area of 10,000 acres.

It is admirably situated for commerce, from its close proximity to England, and also being at the entrance of St. George's Channel, but these advantages have not heretofore been availed of to the extent that might fairly have been expected, owing to the dangerous bar at the entrance of the harbour. The banks which obstruct it (the entrance) shift so frequently as to render it difficult to trace accurately their movements. Not many years ago, reports showed only from three to four feet of water on the bar; now it has improved to a depth of eleven feet at low-water neap tides; but in the passage up to the quay there are several shifting banks, that render the navigation dangerous even to those acquainted with it. An idea of the nature of these banks may be formed from the fact that one of them, the " Dogger," five or six years since, was 200 yards from the mainland; since then it has come in and joined it. It is, how- ever, expected that the Government will be induced to grant a sufficient sum for the completion of the harbour at Eosslare, which will in future be known as New Wexford; 61,0002. has been already ex- pended in building the breakwater at Greenore Point, 1500 feet in length, but it still requires to be- extended 220 feet further before the harbour can be generally used as an anchorage for all classes of vessels, and when this very important work is completed, this port will, it is expected, become the principal harbour on the coast, as the improved facilities for commerce which will then be afforded, combined with the traffic that will spring up from the undeveloped fisheries in the neighbourhood; the extensive trade in corn, butter, cattle, and other agricultural produce of the Barony of Forth which it adjoins, and the railway system of Ireland with which it is already connected, cannot fail in making it such.

Certainly, a harbour of refuge at the entrance to St. George's Channel would be an undoubted boon to the numerous vessels engaged in the coasting trade and fisheries, as the difficulties of making Wexford Harbour in bad weather must be enormous. The outlying sands, too, have proved fruitful in disaster to more than one ship, and we know of no more melan- choly record than that of the wreck of the American clipper ship Pomona, of 1800 tons burden, which occurred on the Blackwater bank on the night of the 30th April, 1859. She sailed from Liver- pool on the morning of the 27th April, for New York, having on board 400 emi- grants and passengers, besides the officers and crew, 44 in number. Embarked in a fine ship, with a fair wind, no fear was entertained of any approaching calamity.

Scarcely, however, had all retired to rest, than they were aroused by the cry of " Ship on shore! " It was shortly ascer- tained that she was a-ground on the Black- water bank off the Wexford coast, the Captain having mistaken the then new floating Blackwater Light for the Tuskar Light, and having in consequence ordered a wrong course to be steered. For twelve hours after striking the ship held to- gether, during which time the pumps were worked, but without keeping the water under.

The boats were lowered or hoisted out, only to be, one after the other, destroyed or upset, with the exception of two in which a few survivors escaped. The re- mainder were lost. The Life-boat belong- 648 THE LIFE-BOAT JOURNAL.

[AUGUST 1, 1885.

ing to the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITU- TION, stationed at Cahore, made several attempts to proceed to the wreck, but unfortunately she was as often beaten back by the sea, and never succeeded in reaching the unfortunate vessel. In con- sequence of this disaster, the INSTITUTION determined to establish a Life-boat Station at Wexford, and in the latter part of the same year, viz., 1859, a boat 38 feet by 10 feet, and pulling 12 oars, was provided and despatched to her destination, where she was placed at moorings just inside the harbour mouth, with her crew of pilots and Custom-House men, who reside at Eosslare, close at hand ready for any emergency. This boat became defective and was condemned in 1871, after having saved 75 lives from nine wrecks. The Committee decided to replace her by a new one 40 feet by 10 J feet, which was presented by J. M. S., of London, and named the Ethel Eveleen; 73 lives, from four vessels, have been saved through the instrumentality of this boat.

In the year 1866 it was determined to strengthen this Station by the addition of a second Life-boat; accordingly one 32 feet long, pulling 10 oars double- banked, was presented to the Institution by officers of Her Majesty's Civil Service, among whom BOOL had been collected through the agency of the " Civil Service Life-boat Fund," established for this pur- pose. She was named the Civil Service, and was sent to her station the following year. The Committee having presented the Civil Service, determined if possible to relieve the Institution of the current ex- penses attending the gift—the average annual cost of keeping up a Life-boat Station then being about 501.—and were successful.

Having been informed in 1878 that this Boat was worn out, and that it was necessary a new boat should be despatched to Wexford without delay, the Civil Ser- vice Committee paid 480?. for this pur- pose, and in October of the same year, a new Life-boat, bearing the same name as the old one, but larger, was placed in a house specially built for its reception. At the close of 1879, the Committee endowed this boat at a cost of 1000?., and so secured to the Civil Service in perpetuity a Life-boat bearing its title.

The first of these two boats had, pre- viously to being broken up in October 1878, attended 21 wrecks, saved three vessels, and the lives of no less than 122 persons ; the new boat has attended eight wrecks, saved one vessel and 49 lives.

Altogether the Wexford boats have been instrumental in saving, since 1859, 319 lives, and four vessels from destruction.

In the year 1883, a binocular glass with an inscription was presented by the Institution to Mr. W. COGHXAN, J.P.

of Wexford, in recognition of his long and valuable co-operation during the past twenty-five years as Hon. Secretary of the Branch. Mr. COGHLAN was until recently the Collector of Customs at Wex- ford, and has always taken, and con- tinues to take, a warm interest in the Life-boats..