South East Charters

We had two fantastic heritage boat tours this week as part of National Heritage Week.

The first tour went down river taking in sights and tales of the Spit Lighthouse, Duncannon Fort, Dollar Bay, Loftus Hall, Hook Lighthouse, the 40 steps at Creadan Head and the Great Lewis.

The second tour went up river. It included Duncannon Fort, Spit Lighthouse, Ballyhack Castle, Buttermilk Castle and through the Barrow Bridge where we had a presentation on historical fish weirs.

Who knew you could fit so much heritage into one day!

Talk about a birthday bash for the books—casting lines, devouring cake, and soaking up stunning views! 🎣🎂

Duncannon Fort from the water, a great way to view it!

Places available for heritage boat tour, July 30th @ 11am. Contact us to book your place.

The perfect present for Feenagh Mai McKinley who celebrated her 8th birthday yesterday at the Duncannon Summer Festival.

Her Mam told her - These are just for you 🎆

King James II and his exit from Ireland

As we are well into the Battle of the Boyne season, many people forget that a lot of us Irish had as little time for the English King James II in 1690 as they did for the Dutch King Billy.

As many of you will know, James made a rather speedy exit from battle and was affectionately referred to as “Séamus a' chaca” aka “James the sh*te” by the Irish who fought for him. So it would be fair to say, a lot of us would have been happy for both of them to drown in the Boyne that day and save us all a lot of bother and hassle.

But sadly, that wasn’t to be and after the battle on the 1st, James made his way to Duncannon Fort in south west Wexford and on the 3rd of July made way to Kinsale in Cork by boat. It was from here that he made his way back to France and to this day, the spot where he departed from in Duncannon is known as “King James’ Hole”.

Folklorist Patrick Kennedy recorded the “Séamus a' chaca” account in his field work in north Wexford in the 1830s while there are also some great (some very fanciful) accounts of his escape from Ireland in the Schools Folklore Collection (1937/38). Below is a great one collected from Bridie Murphy from Millmount Square, Co. Louth.

“After the Battle of the Boyne King James was trying to escape from Ireland. He went to a publicans house and he asked him for shelter. Later on he told him who he was and that he wanted to leave Ireland because the soldiers were for him.

The man sugested to him to get into a cask wine and he would arrange with his brother to take the cask aboard. But King James said that he would be smothered.

The man said "Never mind you will fall asleep in a few minutes." Just as he had King James in the cask the soldiers arrived. They searched the house but they never thought of the cask. The man gave them plenty of wine and told them how in such a hopple he was to get this cask of pork to a ship which was sailing in an hour from Kinsale Harbour.

The agreed to bring the cask to the ship for him. He labelled it "Pickled Pork” and that is how king James left Ireland.”

So there you have it, James escaping in barrel while the image I’ve used is a painting entitled “A Lost Cause - Flight of King James II After The Battle of The Boyne, July 1st 1690". However, no sign of a barrel in this and the scene looks very relaxed. You’d wonder what the real truth was.

Text: Michael Fortune
Image: Painting by Andrew Carrick Gow - National Gallery.

Ocean sunfish (Mola mola / Iasc greine)
Spotted on today's adventure 🌞 🐟

This disc shaped fish is the heaviest bony fish in the world 🌎

They visit Irish waters during the summer months to feast on jellyfish feast 😋

🤓 They are related to pufferfish. Baby sunfish are born with the same spiky, round appearance as pufferfish before growing into their adult shapes!