The idea of ships leaving Glasgow, picking up passengers at Moville/Lough Foyle raises the question of what the ship's manifest would have shown as their point of embarkation, Glasgow(Greenock) of Moville (Lough Foyle) or ??? My gr grandparents and family lived in Derrygonnelly Co. Fermanagh (just 10 miles or so north-west of Enniskillen) and are shown as boarding the "Maryborough" for Brisbane, Australia in 1866 from Glasgow. The ship's papers/passenger list show "from Glasgow May 5th. 1866....." . The Medical Officer's report states she left from "Greenock", which is the port for Glasgow. The Brisbane newspaper report of her arrival states "...from Liverpool via the Clyde,...". So 3 questions arise I. Could the ship have called at Moville/Lough Foyle without it being noted on the ship's Passenger List or Medical Officer's report? 2. How/why would my gr grandparents have gone to Glasgow to catch a ship to Australia? 3. Is there any way of getting further information from Ireland or Australia about this? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Peter Dolan PS Ben, love your story about your Gr Grandfather ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ben Palmer" <benlpalmer@hotmail.com> To: <DONEGALEIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 6:57 AM Subject: [DONEGAL] Irish ports - Moville > Margaret, > > Just as a postscript to your message, the liners anchored in the deep water > channel in the middle of Lough Foyle opposite Moville, and passengers were > ferried to and from the shore using the tenders. The ships would sail in, > anchor, swing round with the tide and then sail out again. Most of the > liners originated in Liverpool or Glasgow, and stopped at Moville to pick up > the Irish passengers, much as the Southampton steamers stopped at Cobh, to > pick up passengers from the south of the country. > > The tenders sailed from Derry and also from Moville itself, so I wouldn’t > give up hope that your ancestor left from Moville, directly!. Many people > from the north of the country left from there. You might have seen, by the > side of the Pier in Moville, a pub with a rather daft name – “The Hair of > the Dog” or something similar. That building used to be the Shipping Office > where emigrants would buy their tickets to America. > > However, this is Irish genealogy, so just to complicate matters, many > impoverished would-be emigrants from rural Inishowen, even from Moville, > went to Derry first (or Belfast, or even as far away as Liverpool or > Glasgow), to try and earn enough money to buy their ticket to a new life. > > My grandmother came from Moville, and I’ve taken a bit of a shine to the > place, as they say. If you are interested, I’ve got some old pictures on my > web site of tenders leaving Moville Pier heading to the “American Liners” in > the Foyle, amongst others. If you want to see them, please click on the URL > below and then follow the links to Moville - Then and Now. > > I was interested in your comments on the new Greencastle – Magilligan ferry. > One of my relatives told me that on the first Bank Holiday after it was > re-opened there were so many day trippers to see the ferry that the first > traffic jam in living memory occurred in Moville!! I hope you fared better > than that! > > And then I got to thinking …. (always dangerous with me) ….. > > Did people have to book in advance for places on these ships? The “Derry > Journal” of the time is full of adverts for “Liners leaving in seven days > for New York / Boston / wherever” and similar, which suggests that they did. > But how did the Moville Shipping Office know how many tickets to sell in > advance on a particular ship? Or was a case of just filling up the vacant > berths as the ships came into Moville? Or was it allocated a set number of > places? > > And then there is the family story which suggests that one could almost turn > up and travel on the Liners …… > > In the late 1880s, my great-grandfather, John Crumlish, drove some beasts > from Moville to the market in Derry. He got a good price for them, and > celebrated his good fortune in the appropriate manner. In his (shall we say) > “overtired and emotional” state, he ended up on one of the tenders from > Derry and, in the words of the song Mursheen Durkin, > > “ ... the next thing that we knew was a letter from New York … ” > > And it took him four years to come back to Ireland. He would have had the > sale proceeds from the beasts to pay his fare, but whether the circumstances > are true or not, I don’t know – but the Irish can always tell a good > story!!. However, John certainly went to America for four years! > > Does anyone have any thoughts on this (.. not John, but how to book a ticket > ..)? > > Ben > http://www.benpalmer.co.uk/movillerecords.htm