"There were boats at hand, and presence of mind, even among the onlookers, could have averted the tragedy"

"There were boats at hand, and presence of mind, even among the onlookers, could have averted the tragedy"

Lough Derg--Pilgrimage--Description--Alice Curtayne

"Ninety-three people were then crowded into an old and leaky boat, despite their protests. The fact that the boatmen were drunk made the passengers still more uneasy..."

Alice Curtayne, 1898-1981

Curtayne, Alice, Lough Derg: St. Patrick’s Purgatory, p. 105

Burns Oats and Washbourn, Ltd., London and Dublin

1944

Citation for the purposes of criticism

Monograph

English

History

DD_0136

54.608901, -7.869309

"Ninety-three people were then crowded into an old and leaky boat, despite their protests. The fact that the boatmen were drunk made the passengers still more uneasy. In those days, ill-treatment of pilgrims on the part of those who made money out of them was taken almost as a matter of course. The boat pushed off. The distance from mainland to island can be covered in ten minutes. Halfway across, however, the boat was seen to be taking in water. The boatment were in too stupid a condition to be able to quiet the passengers' fears. Between Friars' Island and Station Island such confusion developed on board that the boat capsized. It is said that a dozen more strokes of the oars would have brought it to safety. Pilgrims grouped on the island wharf, watching the boat's arrival, were petrified with dismay to see the water suddenly filled with struggling human beings. Ninety pilgrims were drowned in less than ten feet of water; there were only three survivors. There were boats at hand, and presence of mind, even among the onlookers, could have averted the tragedy."

Monograph