I came across the wreck of the Portláirge on a recent family trip to Co Wexford.
Built in 1907 by the Dublin Dockyard Company for the Waterford Harbour Commissioners, the SS Portláirge served for 77 years as a steam dredger. By its final year, it was regarded as Europe’s last working steam dredger. It’s famously know for transported two officers of the Irish Provisional Government to Youghal. The boat’s last journey, in August 1987, ended in Bannow Bay, where it ran aground at St. Kieran’s Quay during a storm and has been its resting place ever since.
