The Moresby Disaster

Most of the drowned in the Moresby disaster were buried in St. Mary's Church of Ireland cemetery, the majority in a mass grave. Here are buried the captain his wife and child, Martin Lose, Allen Barker, William Hunter, Eugene Siebert, William Chipperfield, Abraham Lavo, G. Jeffries, John Ronning and Knut Samuel.
Nearby are the individual graves of: Thomas Bird Sims, Thomas Hubins, John Richardson, Charles Gregory, David Michie and Edwin Joseph Dean. One body was never found and one was returned to England

The local Shipwrecked Mariners Society was represented in Dungarvan by Samuel Ruddell. He was in charge of the burials under direction of the Church of Ireland minister, Rev. Bain. Wooden markers were placed over the graves and afterwards maintained by Mr Ruddell, but on his death the graves were neglected and the markers disappeared.

A court enquiry into the loss of the Moresby was held in Dungarvan on 28 -31st January and from 1 - 6th February 1896.

In the matter of a formal Investigation held at Dungarvan... before William Orr, R.M. assisted by Captain Kiddle, R.N., Captain Kennet Hore and Captain William Erskine, into the circumstances attending the stranding of the British sailing ship 'Moresby', of Liverpool, on the Whitehouse bank, Dungarvan Harbour... and the failure of the Ballinacourty lifeboat to render her assistance, whereby loss of life ensued.

The enquiry concluded that the following contributed to the loss of life :

• The inability of the coxswain to get a crew in Ballinacourty to man the lifeboat.
  
• Mr Cullinane, Hon Sec. of the Lifeboat Institution Dungarvan did not act appropriately.
  
• James Hore, chief boatman of the coastguard in Ballinacourty ditto.
  
• Michael Cummins, coxswain of Ballinacourty Lifeboat ditto.
  

The wreck lay on the outer bank at the mouth of the harbour. In 1899 a wigham light buoy was purchased by Dungarvan Urban District Council and placed at the site on the 16th March 1900. The following noticed was issued -

"Notice To Mariners The Dungarvan Urban District Council (being the harbour authority) hereby GIVE NOTICE that they have placed A FIXED WHITE LIGHT at the north-east end of the wreck of the "Morseby"in DUNGARVAN HARBOUR on a WIGHAM BUOY, painted GREEN"

This buoy marked the wreck until 20th December, 1906 when the wreck was blown up by dynamite and the remains later sold for scrap. The buoy was beached for some years and in1930 the lamp was reconditioned. It was then put back into service until August 1954 when it broke its moorings in a gale, and was brought in to the Causeway. There it lay, until recently, in a very bad condition.

The bouy has now been restored by the Abbeyside Pattern Committee and sits on the Causeway which joins Dungarvan and Abbeyside as a memorial to those who died and as a tribute to the gallant men who manned the lifeboat. In 1988 Abbeyside Pattern Committee erected a memorial over the mass graves in the St. Mary's Church of Ireland graveyard.