It
was sixty feet wide, twelve feet deep and capable of handling vessels of up to
one hundred and fifty tons. This was
well in excess of the average tonnage of ocean-going vessels of the time, but
unfortunately developments in ship-building soon led to much larger ships quite
incapable of navigating this narrow and shallow waterway. Newry
Ship Canal was unfit for
purpose (much like the inland canal that preceded it) within decades of its
construction.
It
did however serve a very useful purpose for more than a century, especially in
the importation of such primary materials as timber and coals, and for the
export of agricultural produce.
Other
cargoes were of course carried in abundance over that century. Sugar
Island was the final destination of
much imported sugar from the Caribbean. Perhaps we should walk in the mind’s eye
along the route of that waterway from the perspective of people of that time.
‘The
Salt Works was the warehouse furthest north of the mouth of the tidal river. Then we had the docks adjacent to Beatty’s
Mill. Close by too vessels unloaded
materials for Felix O’Hagan’s Mill, although his premises were located at the
junction of Edward and Catherine Streets.
The
coal yards of Mr Greer, usually a very busy place, were sited next to the yards
of Carville & Company. It was not
just coal that was unloaded here but lumber from the New
World, to be further carried all over the North of Ireland.
Further
down the Quay were the premises of Redmond and Company. Redmond
was a merchant of slate, sand, cement and steel for the manufacture of spades
and shovels. There were a number of the
latter in the vicinity, notably one adjoining the railway line at Monaghan Street
beside Haldane’s, Builders’ Suppliers.
Close
to Ballybot Bridge was the site of a weaving factory
as well as Fennell’s Mill. Ships would
dock beside a large crane there, with a huge bucked attached. The bucket was lowered into the ship’s cargo
hold where it would scoop up the corn and swing it across the road to be
deposited in the maw of Fennell’s Mill. In Mill Street
was Walker’s Mill said to be one of the first
establishments in Europe to have electrical
light of its own generating.
The
largest, busiest and most enduring establishment at the south end was the warehouse of the ‘Dundalk and Newry Steampacket
Company’. Quay porters loaded steam ships
by hand here across wooden planks. There
were other cargos at different times. For many decades the local granite was in great building demand ‘across
the water’. There were hides, and
finished leather from many Newry tanneries, distilled spirits in casks and kegs
from the warehouses of Matt D’Arcy and Company and from Henry Thompsons; there were crated fowl and livestock for the Liverpool market; bales of linen yarn and many other commodities manufactured in or near
the town.'
The
Ship Canal continued its thriving business up until Tuesday 26th
March 1974. On that date the ‘Anna
Broere’ sailed as far as the Burma Oil Depot on the Fathom Line to discharge a
cargo of 650 tons of acetone. On the
following day it exited the Newry
Ship Canal to bring an
illustrious era to a close.
Soon after the swing
bridges at Dublin Bridge, Ballybot, Monaghan Street and Sugar Island
were turned into fixed bridges and another era was ended.
History 
