90TH ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH OF FOUR MEN ON THE BOYNE
Dear Sir,
MONDAY of this week marked the 90th anniversary on the tragic death of 4 young Drogheda men in the River Boyne, as can be seen from the following tale.
On Sunday May, 29th 1927, six young Drogheda men travelled out to Mornington to partake in some socialising in the small East Meath village.
The six men were just after finishing another great week of Salmon fishing on the river Boyne and all of them were experienced boatmen.
The names of the men were Michael McDonnell, James Rogers and Peter Carr, all of whom were from the Nun’s Walk area of the town and they were accompanied by James Hand and James O’Neill both of Bredin Street and James Knowles of Scarlet Street.
The six men stayed out in Mornington for about four hours before they decided to return to Drogheda shortly before 8pm.
They all agreed that: as the evening was so fine, they would return to town via a boat that was lying on the water at Mornington pier, having been left there earlier by a man from the Chord road named Ned Kane and who wasn’t planning to return by boat.
The six men entered the small rowing boat at Mornington pier and started heading for the familiar place of Tom Roe’s Point. A report in the local Drogheda Independent newspaper stated that, `the weather was perfectly calm and there was hardly a ripple on the placid waters of the Boyne`.
When the boatmen got as far as, opposite the Red House of Beaulieu, the two men who were seated in the stern of the boat offered to change places with the two men at the oars, so as to row the boat the remainder of the journey, as was customary.
As the men were changing their positions the boat capsized and within seconds all six men were struggling in the calm but treacherous waters of the Boyne.
The time was now just after half past eight and on both banks of the river there were quite a few people out for a summer stroll; however they could do little to help the stricken men in the water. A Mr. Doherty, who was in his house at Harbour Ville at the time of the accident, was alerted by the shouting of the people on the riverbank and he immediately, with the help of his son and another man named Gibney, managed to get an old boat into the water, where he began to row furiously towards the men by means of using an old plank of wood and a garden spade as oars. Mr. Doherty managed to pull two of the men, Michael Mc Donnell and James Knowles into the boat, but unfortunately, by this time, the other four young men were becoming tragic victims of the dreaded Boyne, although Peter Carr, who was a very strong swimmer, almost made it to the north bank of the river, but, due to his clothing, heavy boots and being exhausted, he succumbed to the waters of the Boyne, as did James Hand, James O’Neill and James Rogers on that faithful Sunday evening, May 29th 1927.