Relatives of victims to attend Rosslare Harbour ceremonies
MORE than 500 people are expected in Rosslare Harbour later this month to attend commemorations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Tuskar Rock Air crash, the cause of which remains one of the most enduring mysteries of our times.
Fifty-seven passengers and four crew members died in the disaster when the Aer Lingus Vickers Viscount ‘St Phelim’ spiralled out of the sky and crashed into the dark and deep waters 1.7 nautical miles off Tuskar Rock.
Thirty five of the passeners were Irish, nine were Swiss, six were from Belgium, five were British, and two were American. The names of all the victims will be read out during the commemorations.
Only 14 bodies were ever recovered the site of the crash, the worst in Irish aviation history.
‘We’re going to have a lot of relatives attending on the day,’ said Sean Boyce, media liaison person on the committee formed in Rosslare Harbour to arrange and co-ordinate the commemoration.
‘While some of the relatives are holding their own private ceremonies in Cork and various other places, the majority have said they will be coming to Rosslare Harbour,’ he said.
The commemorations will start at 11 a.m. with a flotilla of vessels, led by the LE Eithne heading from the harbour to the place off Tuskar Rock where the aircraft crashed into the sea.
The flotilla will include vessels from the Irish Coast Guard, the RNLI and some local fishing boats, with a wreath-laying due to take place, at the time the airliner is believed to have crashed.
Following this, at 2.30 p.m. there will be a land-based public commemoration at the Rosslare Harbour Memorial Park attended by diplomats from the Belgium and Swiss embassies, Minister Paul Kehoe, representing the government, Wexford councillors, members of the Irish Airline Pilots Association, representatives from Aer Lingus, the coast guard, the RNLI, Irish Lights and the Naval Service.
‘Everthing is going to happen in Rosslare Harbour where a memorial stone will be unveiled,’ said Sean.
‘ There will also be a further wreath-laying. The focus for us is the commemoration on behalf of the relatives and the local community which was heavily impacted by the disaster,’ he said. Music for the commemoration will be provided by the Band of the 1st Southern Brigade of the defence forces, the Kilrane National School Choir and the Wexford Male Voice Choir. Contemporary news cuttings and photographs from the time of the disaster will be on show at the Hotel Rosslare. Asked about the controversy over what caused the crash 50 years on, Sean said that while members of the committee had their personal views and opinions, it was important to keep the commemoration dignified and not to speculate on what may have happened to the airliner. ‘I don’t think at this stage, we’ll ever know the cause,’ he said.
I first heard The Gorey Caravan sung by Letitia Breen, a participant in The Wexford Song Project which I devised and facilitated in 2014 to encourage people to research and sing local traditional songs. I loved the song immediately. It tells the story of a man who falls for a young woman but despite his best efforts he fails to win her heart.
The Gorey Caravan was the name of a horse-drawn ‘long car’ which ran between Gorey and Courtown. It is recalled that in the early 1900’s that two families, Webbs and Redmonds, were involved in running the long cars, while Mick Doyle remembers the Dywer brothers running the service when he was young.
It is not known who wrote the song. It had been suggested to Letitia that the author may have been Paddy Stokes, a local Gorey poet.
In recent days, however, we have found evidence that the song dates to an earlier time. Thanks to Owen Dunbar for sending me an online link to a book entitled ‘Ancient Irish Music’ by P. W. Joyce which features the song, albeit a fragment of it. The music to an air entitled ‘The Gorey Caravan’ is provided with the author’s note; ‘There was a lively song to this air, but the following fragment is all that I was able to recall’. This is followed by two lines of the song - enough to show that the song was in existence well before the ‘long car’ driver’s named above were around, or Paddy Stokes (b.1896) was writing poetry, as the book was published in 1873.
This song is a favourite of a number of local singers; Colm Brennan and Mick Doyle of Gorey, Nicky Furlong of Ferns and Letitia Breen of Ballyduff. The late Martin Connors of Carron Row, Gorey, former Town Councillor, also used to sing it. I recorded both Mick and Colm singing their versions as part of The Kilmuckridge Song Project and they can be heard on the ‘Songs of Wexford’ Facebook page.
The Gorey Caravan Words:
Air:
Unknown Traditional As I roved out one evening down by Malone’s Hotel,
I spied a pretty damsel with a bundle on her arm,
She said young man don’t tease me for I have no time to stand, For I’m off to Courtown Harbour on the Gorey Caravan. ‘Twas hand in hand we travelled ’til we came to Harbour Town, ‘Twas in Pollie Walker’s I spent my last half crown.
I heard the bugle sounding, no longer could I stand,
For I saw my true love ride upon the Gorey Caravan. Now I have lost my own true love to where I do not know, Some of her neighbours tell me that she dwells in Carron Row. I’ll search those houses one by one I’ll find her if I can,
And she’ll never more go ride upon the Gorey Caravan. I am looking for that driver way down in Tara Hill,
They say his name is Kelly but they call him Codger Bill, Let her be where she will she’s my love still I’ll find her if I can, And she’ll never more go ride upon the Gorey Caravan. Now I have found my own true love way in Camolin Town, She’s married to a farmer, a man of great renown.
She said she will be loyal to him while she has a life to stand, And she’ll never more go ride upon the Gorey Caravan.
The besotted fellow makes much of his attempts to locate the girl. He attempts to track down the long car driver and talks of searching houses ‘one by one’ to find her. It should be noted, however, that the places mentioned; Courtown, Tara Hill and Camolin, are all only a few miles from Gorey (the furthest, Camolin, is seven miles away). Wouldn’t you think that someone would know where she was? Do you suppose that perhaps she didn’t want to be found?
‘Malones’ Hotel’ referred to in the song was the ‘Ram’s Arms Hotel’ which was situated at the top of the town, opposite the Courthouse, beside the Garda station. The site is now a carpark and features a memorial to the United Irishmen as the first Wexford Branch of the United Irishmen was founded at a meeting in the hotel in 1792. Malones were the last family to run the hotel. Mick Doyle first heard The Gorey Caravan sung in McGuinness’s Pub, in the North Parade, which is now Paddy Blues, many years ago. Mick was about 18 years of age at the time and the singer was the late Joe Swaine.