Qualla: 1845 Royal Canal Disaster

1845 Royal Canal Disaster: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Royalcanalrunner, CC BY-SA 4.0. Fifteen people drowned in the dark, in shallow canal water, just outside Dublin. On the evening of 25 November 1845, the night boat Longford was making its scheduled run from the Broadstone harbour in Dublin to the town of Longford. The boat carried 48 paying passengers - 10 in first cabin, 38 in second cabin, including two children - plus six crew. Somewhere between Kennan Bridge and Callaghan Bridge, in the area of Clonsilla, the bow struck either the rocky bank or a submerged stone, and the boat heeled hard to one side. Water poured in through the gunwales. The windows were barred. The deck did not go under, but the cabins filled too fast. Fifteen of those aboard could not get out.

Image: Royalcanalrunner | CC BY-SA 4.0

1845 Royal Canal Disaster: A Canal Through Limestone

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AndrewH, Public domain. Construction on the Royal Canal began in May 1790 and ended in 1817, joining Dublin with the River Shannon at Cloondara in County Longford. A spur to Longford town was completed in 1831. The 'Deep Sinking' section that runs through Clonsilla was a known problem of the route. Eigh...

Image: AndrewH | Public domain

1845 Royal Canal Disaster: The Sinking

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, CC BY 2.0. Robert Jessop was a private in the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, based at the Cavalry Barracks in Longford, returning to his post on the night boat. He was one of a small number of passengers on deck when the boat struck. 'The boat, when she struck, fell upon one side, then upo...

Image: Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada | CC BY 2.0

1845 Royal Canal Disaster: Inquest and Remembrance

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Laurel Lodged, CC BY-SA 4.0. The inquest was held by Henry Davis, county coroner, assisted by an MP, J Hamilton, and a county magistrate, Alexander Kirkpatrick. The Freeman's Journal initially reported sixteen dead; the inquest established the number as fifteen. Other safety failures of the Royal Canal Compa...

Image: Laurel Lodged | CC BY-SA 4.0

1845 Royal Canal Disaster: Canal, Famine, Forgetting

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Tournesol assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0. The disaster came one month into the Great Irish Famine - the autumn of 1845, when the potato blight was first being identified in Irish fields. Within a year the country would face the worst calamity of its modern history. The fifteen drowned on the Longford were not famine vict...

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Tournesol assumed (based on copyright claims). | CC BY-SA 3.0