A record of the trust which was established to help bereaved families in the lifeboat disaster on Christmas Eve 1895 off Dun Laoghaire has been published digitally by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown (dlr) archive services.
The Kingstown Life-Boat Disaster Fund Letter Book has become the first item selected for the new digital series: Miscellany from the dlr Archive Collection.
All 15 crew on the lifeboat died after it capsized while trying to rescue the crew of the Finnish barque SS Palme which was sheltering from a storm in Dublin Bay. The event is commemorated every year on Christmas Eve.
The original book is now “extremely fragile”, the dlr Archive Services say, and making it available digitally brings it to a “much wider audience than is possible in a traditional archive while still preserving the original item”.
Councillor Denis O’Callaghan, Cathaoirleach, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council; Harry Duggan, Harbour Master, Dún Laoghaire Harbour; Ed Totterdell, RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager; with RNLI crew members Nathan Burke, Andrew Sykes and James Traynor at rear
Dlr cathaoirleach Denis O'Callaghan said the archive collection is “important for the history of the county, and I welcome this first example of the council extending the reach of our historic records while ensuring the integrity and preservation of the originals”.
“ We are looking forward to adding to the new collection over time," he said.
The new publication is central to the history of lifeboats in Dún Laoghaire and this year is the 200th anniversary of the RNLI.
To mark this, O’Callaghan made a presentation to Eddie Totterdell, RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager.
Georgina Sweetnam, dlr Archives described it as “an exciting step forward for dlr Archive Services”.
Kingstown Life-Boat Disaster Trust Letter BookDescription - Following the Lifeboat disaster in Kingstown [now Dún Laoghaire] on Christmas Eve 1895, a financial Trust was established to dispense assistance to the families of the fifteen men who lost their lives. This book contains copies of correspondence from the Trust's secretary to the grant recipients, Trustees and other interested parties. It contains copy letters from 1897-1902. A Descriptive Guide accompanying the work is included
The collection has been deposited with the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), a facility which provides long-term preservation, access, and discovery for Ireland’s social and cultural data.
DRI provides “stewardship of social and cultural data from a range of organisations including higher education institutions, cultural heritage institutions, Government agencies, local authorities, and community archives.
DRI Director Dr Lisa Griffith also welcomed the development.
She said “this moving collection, which sheds light on the assistance dispensed to the families of the fifteen men who lost their lives on Christmas eve 1895, highlights the profound bravery, experiences of loss and community responses to the shipping disaster”.
You can view the digital archive on the Kingstown Life-Boat Disaster Trust Letter Book – Digital Repository of Ireland (dri.ie) here.