A Sea Trip from Bristol - Drive to Swansea, jump On a ferry and you can be in Cork in 10 hours. But back in the days of sailing ships, a journey from Bristol to Cork could take a staggering two weeks ?'
Fourteen ships linked the two ports in the days before steamers, carrying passengers and goods. And anyone who knows how rough the Irish Sea can be, might flinch at the size of the ships between 50 and 60 tons ( the paddle steamer Waverley is 693 tons ).
One account told of a nightmare journey recalled by a Mr Samuel Carter Hall. The wind was blowing the wrong way which meant long delays in getting under way the accommodation on board was wretched: there was no woman steward, the berths for women were never separated from those of men, even by a screen. To undress was out of the question. Each passenger took his own sea store. Salt junk and hard biscuit were the only food to be obtained if the voyage lasted above three or four days.
This one certainly did - it was two weeks before the half-starved and miserable passengers finally got to Cork. Mr Carter Hall put it in his memoirs of 1882:
'Between contrary winds, miserable accommodation and the scarcity and bad quality of provisions, a passage to Ireland was often a more serious and expensive undertaking than a voyage to New York'
No wonder paddle steamers were welcomed as a big improvement. The first steamers ordered for the Bristol to Ireland run were the George IV and the Palmerston. It was not a good start - George IV had to give up within a few weeks because the engines weren't powerful enough, and the Palmerston never turned up at all. When steam did arrive, it produced unheard of luxury for sea travellers, even on the shorter journeys between Bristol and South Wales. Separate compartments for ladies and gentlemen no less - and a revolutionary idea to prevent one of the main causes of sea sickness;
The foul smell which contributes so much to render the passenger sick in ordinary vessels cannot exist - a most desirable effect produced by no paint being used in the cabin and sleeping compartments which are laid with mahogany, and by the vessel making no water in her hold.
Please feel free to add your own comments to the Guestbook or Forum
Memories of Bristol over the past 100 years including 3000 photographs on-line
This non commercial 'hobby' site, has been evolving and expanding on line since 2001 and is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only.
