As an island nation, Irish people are used to looking out to sea, following the ever-changing weather patterns and watching boats rising and falling on the waves. What cannot be seen from shore are the dark, cold deeps that pockmark Ireland’s coastline and hold secrets from the past. It is estimated that up to 15,000 shipwrecks may lie in Ireland’s designated waters, shipwrecks that tell of cruel wars, thwarted ambitions, political machinations and sunken treasures. It is a fascinating hidden history, filled with the best and worst features of human life and existence. This beautifully illustrated volume presents sixty of those shipwrecks and tells a colourful tale of Ireland’s maritime heritage. From the sixteenth century to the two world wars, the ships’ stories recounted here are compelling and often relate to important moments in our island’s history. For the past 12 years Ireland’s offshore waters and coastal seas have been subject to one of the largest seabed surveys in the world, commenced by the Geological Survey of Ireland and currently being completed as a joint venture with the Marine Institute. In the course of this survey, working in conjunction with the Underwater Archaeology Unit of the National Monuments Service, a database of over 300 shipwrecks has been compiled, containing detailed information regarding each wreck’s condition on the seafloor, its extent, dimensions and water depth, along with a short background history and the reason for its loss. This selection of important historic wrecks from the database highlights this work and the importance of maritime conservation and recording.
Warships, U-Boats and Liners will appeal to both the specialist and general reader and will be an essential reference guide to anybody interested in maritime affairs, the two World Wars and Ireland’s past. It should help raise awareness generally of the need to protect and record the many different elements of our maritime heritage and lead to a better understanding of the maritime history of the island of Ireland.
Karl Brady is an archaeologist working in the Underwater Archaeology Unit of the National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Karl graduated from University College Dublin with a masters degree in archaeology in 1997. He has published widely on early maps, medieval ship graffiti, early medieval ecclesiastical remains and shipwrecks. He has also published a book in 2008 on shipwrecks entitled The Shipwreck Inventory of Ireland: Louth, Meath, Dublin & Wicklow. Karl has responsibility for the management of the Shipwreck Inventory of Ireland and has undertaken surveys of several shipwrecks.
Charise McKeon is a marine geologist with the Geological Survey of Ireland. She graduated from University College Dublin in 2002 with a BSc in Environmental Geochemistry and has since completed an MSc in Geographical Information Systems from the University of Ulster, Coleraine. She joined the GSI in 2002 initially working as part of the Minerals Programme. Since 2007 she has worked in the Marine and Geophysics Programme primarily on the INFOMAR project. In addition to hydrographic data processing she has also worked extensively on the creation of physical habitat maps of the seafloor and on the shipwreck inventory of the Irish National Seabed Survey and INFOMAR
