For many years I was intrigued by the copper mining at Bunmahon on Waterford's coast, but it was only recently I realised that the industry had a connection with one of this pages passions, ships.
Bunmahon, on Waterfords coast is home now to the Copper coast Geo park visitor and interpretative centre. The visitor centre brings the working of this mining centre to life in all its glory...or should that be hardship and drudgery?. The mines ran in the area principally between 1825 - 1880 and at the height of production and profitability employed 1200 people. What never occurred to me, until Robbie Galvin the manager of the centre explained it to me, was that one of the key drivers of demand for copper was the sheathing of ships.
In the past various methods were employed to maintain ships. A process called 'Careening' ships was used where ships were beached or heaved over and regularly scraped and maintained. Graving banks were used where "graving" took place. To "grave" a ship originally was a process of smearing a residue of boiled tallow and resin onto her hull often accompanied by the nailing of thin strips of timber to act as a barrier. Eventually the term was used for any area where a ship was overhauled, or even for dry docking. Pitch and tar mixtures were also employed, a process I am no stranger to.
Louis Le Breton - Scanned from Louis Le Breton, témoin des marines du XIXème siècle.