Islands of Ireland: Taking the blueway to visit Horse Island

There have been lots of shipwrecks in Bantry Bay near Horse Island - alongside Rabbit Island, Hog Island and Chapel Island

Horse Island, Bantry Bay — with kayaker on the blueway. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

For an expanse of water that measures only about 10km sq, the inner part of Bantry Bay, County Cork, between Whiddy Island and the mainland has had an astonishing number of shipwrecks over the years. Wrecks are recorded on the archaeology.ie website with 55 red dots representing sunken vessels on this part of Bantry Bay — looking like an outbreak of measles.

Horse Island is a small rocky island which can be one of the waystops on the Bantry Bay blueway. The gorgeous kayak route has as its main destination the historically rich Whiddy Island. However, it encompasses four other islands as well: Rabbit, Hog, Chapel, and Horse. All, bar Whiddy, are uninhabited.

Wreck sale: Rio Formoso — Cork Examiner Saturday, March 30, 1878

The fate of the Rio Formoso illustrates the fate of some ships in that era in Bantry Bay. On April 4, 1878, a public auction took place at the sales room of Messrs Marsh & Son, South Mall, Cork to sell off the artefacts of one of the sunken ships. The screw steamer Rio Formoso ran aground at Horse Island, Bantry Bay, County Cork. Screw steamers were a regular sight on the high seas in the 19th century and include two of the most iconic ships to ever set sail — the Titanic and the Lusitania.

The Rio Formoso was built in 1870 and only had a short life. The auction laid out the last effects of the ship like some deathly manifest.

For sale were the hull, boiler, engines and boats. The ship, hailing from Glasgow, was described as stranded, with its masts and funnel still standing. It was carrying a cargo of 25 tons of pig iron, which was also listed for sale once salvage was carried out. The ship’s gear was also under the hammer and consisted of steam winches, anchors, kedges, cables, warps, sails, davits, and capstan.

Twelve years before the Rio Formoso sank, another British vessel, the HMS Liverpool frigate, armed with 50 guns, was stranded at Horse Island emphasising the hazardous passage for shipping there. The gunboat Skipjack sailed down from Queenstown (Cobh) to the rescue but, by the time it arrived, the ships’ hands had managed to refloat the Liverpool.

Another ship to founder was the British HM torpedo boat Thresher which ran aground at the western end of Horse Island in fog in 1902.

“Many such accidents occur in the same place from time to time,” a report at the time stated. There was a growing sense of urgency among seafarers as to enhanced safety measures around the island.

Horse Island, Bantry Bay measures about 10 sq kilometres. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

The island was thus mentioned in the House of Commons on one occasion. In a session where West Cork MP James Gilhooly enquired whether tenders had been offered for a mail car service further out the Beara Peninsula between Castletownbere and Lehanamore and received a negative response from James Ferguson MP, a further question relating to Horse Island in Bantry Bay was asked.

Gilhooly enquired whether buoys erected by the Commissioners of Irish Lights at Horse Island would be kept in order to prevent boating accidents in the area and following on from the several accidents. He was informed by George Hamilton MP that they would indeed be kept. A further question at this Westminster parliamentary session related to poaching in Cork Harbour.

Despite its diminutive size, there was even a discovery of a small quantity of copper on Horse Island in the 19th century. The Beara and Mizen peninsulas are famous for their old mines, predominantly copper, as are some of the islands in Roaringwater Bay, including another Horse Island. In 1871, the Royal Cork Institution museum received samples of ore from what the ‘Downpatrick Recorder’ referred to as ‘noblemen’, namely the earls of Bandon and Bantry. Somewhere on the latter’s estate, a Captain C Thomas made discoveries of 'argentiferous ore’ including small quantities of gold, silver, copper, and lead.

There are at least 10 horse islands in Ireland with prime specimens at Castletownshend and the aforementioned one at Roaringwater Bay in West Cork.

How to get there: No ferry. Kayak on the Bantry Bay blueway bantrybayport.com

Other: Cork Weekly Examiner, 28/07/1906; Downpatrick Recorder 13/05/1871; Southern Star 12/03/1892