Ship-owners - 3 male, 1 female;
Steam navigation service - 3;
Seamen, merchant service - 281;
Pilots -11;
Boatmen -18;
Harbour/Dock Service - 54;
Others - 7;
Shipbuilders/Shipwrights, etc - 48;
Sailmakers - 7.
In 1874 a new act was proposed to replace that of 1794, which had established a quay Corporation of over 36 members. The new act reduced the commission to 16 members to be elected from the following groups:
6 persons to be elected by those eligible to vote in Parliamentary elections
6 to be elected by the registered shipowners of Wexford
1 person to be elected by the Corporation.
2 persons to be appointed by the Board of Trade
Plus the Mayor.
In 1871, the number of persons eligible to vote in the Parliamentary Elections out of Wexford's population of 12,163 was 488, due to land owning regulations etc. In order to qualify for election as a Harbour Commissioner a person had to be a resident of the town or live within 10 miles and have a premises with an annual rateable valuation of £20 or have personal estate £500 above his debts. Ship owners with vessels of 30 tons or upwards had one vote in such elections while those possessing over 500
tons could vote twice. The aggregate tonnage of all his or her vessels counted in this. With such an electoral system it is hardly surprising that the Wexford Harbour Commission was dominated by the major shipowners; Devereux, Gaffney, Allen, etc.
In 1874, the W.H.C. accounts showed
Import/Export dues £492-6-4.
Towage £10-3-3 plus £83-10-0.
Among the expenditure for the year was £114-10-10 for Harbour Police, £30-16-1 for broken stones and
£24-6-0 for scavenging.
Comparing the income for pilotage and dues with that of 1835 we see a port already in decline although at that time the port had in its employment a pilot master, 11 bar pilots, 5 harbour pilots and 1 boy as well as 11 extra men in the harbour and 2 at the Fort.
Five years later, in 1879, there were 212 boats registered in the Port of Wexford and 799 men and boys were crewing them; there were a further 83 boats, 80 sailing and 3 steam registered under the Merchant Fishing Act.
In the same year, 639 sail vessels and 123 steam vessels entered Wexford while 652 sail and 165 steamers cleared the harbour in the coastal trade. A further 20 entered from foreign ports while 3 sailed from here to foreign ports. The tonnage imported of foreign and colonial merchandise amounted to 78,222 tons.
A further census taken on April 3rd. 1881 showed 40 vessels at anchor in Wexford on that night. Of these, 1 was in Government service, 6 were pleasure craft and 33 were involved in the coastal trade. The number of persons on board these boats amounted to 111.
Classed by occupation, the maritime element of the Wexford population was composed thus;
Naval Officers - 5;
Naval Seamen - 37;
Navy Pensioners - 13;
Barge or Lightermen - 13;
Merchant Seamen - 321;
Pilots - 20;
Ships Steward/Stewardesses- 2;
Boatmenonseas- 6;
Harbour/Dock/Wharf/Lighthouse service - 53;
Ship/Boat/Barge builder - 6;
Shipwright/Ships carpenter 39;
Ship Rigger/Chandler/Fitter - 3;
Sailmaker -4.
This shows an increase of 40 seamen and of 9 pilots in 10 years but a decrease in boatmen, sailmakers and ship-builders/shipwrights.
There were also 494 fishermen.
The main ship owners were still Devereux, Gaffney, Lambert & Walsh and Allen, but changes in the fortunes of Wexford port were on the horizon.
The Dublin-Wicklow-Wexford Railway had reached Carcur in 1870 and 4 years later, the present station at Redmond Place had been opened. Over the next few years the railway changed the very fabric of Wexford Harbour. The Woodenworks or Pilewharf was built parallel to the quays at a cost of around
£20,000, to carry the railway past Wexford to Ballygeary, Rosslare. This gave merchants and importers/exporters the first real alternative to carriage by sea and in many minds this was the beginning of the end for Wexford Port.
On December 27th 1881, another part of Wexford maritime history ended.
The "Hantoon", a barque belonging to Richard Devereux, one of the stalwarts of the foreign grain trade, was on a homeward voyage from Galatz when a steamer in the Bay of Biscay ran it down. Four of the crew were killed in the collision; John Neill, John Garret, John Carley and John Kelly, a boy on his first deep-sea trip. As is common among seafarers, people were quick to point out the sad co-incidence that, in a tragedy, which occurred on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, all crewmen named John died.
It was at this time also that sailors began to become more organised. In 1887 the National Amalgamated Sailors and Fireman’s Union of Great Britain and Ireland came into being with members in 60 ports including Wexford. Its aims included the establishment of reasonable hours of duty at fair rates of pay.
They also set out to improve conditions on board ships, to establish proper homes for seamen in ports, to obtain compensation for accidents and to provide legal assistance. The union also endeavoured to protect members from crimps and other pests while in port. Another aim was to eliminate the situation whereby unscrupulous publicans duped men and merchants who offered to cash their pay dockets but charged a large commission for the service.
With 80 hours as a normal working week, payment averaging 50/= per month, and food of variable quality and quantity provided by the shipowners, the unions were very much a necessity. A measure of their effectiveness was that they were forced into liquidation within about 10 years, due to opposition from a Federation organised by the shipowners. The union
