Galway In Days Gone By

1919

Storm wreaks havoc

As a result of the severe gale that blew on Saturday afternoon the Inisheer (Aran Islands) mail bag and some luggage were lost.

As the crew of the curragh, in which the mails are taken ashore from the Dun Aengus, were starting to pull away from the steamer a toll-pin broke, and the frail crate got half full of water. The gale was blowing heavily, and the two men were unable to make for land.

The curragh was being blown out to sea when a rope was thrown from the Dun Aengus, and the men jumped from the curragh and seized it. They were then hauled aboard the steamer with some difficulty.

The Dun Aengus had a rough time of it while the gale lasted. She was moored in the bay at Aran when the storm broke out, and the violence of the gale caused her to drag her anchor. She had to proceed at full steam ahead for ten minutes before the anchor could be lifted. Several heavy seas washed over her on her passage home that evening.

Dearth of employment

In the forefront of our editorial currency we place an appeal that must go straight to the heart of every human being who has preserved in these selfish times one ounce of sympathy for the suffering of his fellows.

Unfortunately, increased and increasing wages do not bring increased employment to the towns of the West. On the contrary, there was never a greater dearth of employment. Dire poverty stalks abroad. There will be many cheerless Christmas Hearths, without a spark of a Christmas fire, unless something is done and done quickly.

One has only to watch the bare-footed women and children gathering the cinders that have been thrown from the incoming engines at Galway railway station, to note the scramble for milk at the Galway depot which has done and is doing such magnificent work, to witness the buying of half-pints from extortionate vendors at street corners, in order to be confirmed in the belief that the hardships and sufferings of the poor in these days are bitter indeed.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app

The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.