IRON LADY L
She had lain in her Irish lough for over 140 years, until a chance encounter led to her rediscovery. Theo Rye reports
ike many good stories, this one starts “There was an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman...” It was the Scot, Iain McAllister, who in April 2004 was in Scotland at McGruer’s old yard, supervising the loading
of the Wm Fife Snr Ayrshire Lass for transit to Dunmore East in Ireland, to be restored. When the boat transporter arrived, rather to Iain’s dismay, already loaded on the trailer were two narrow-gauge shunting locomotives. It emerged that these were the property of a Micheal
Kennedy, owner of a transport museum which includes a part of the narrow-gauge Cavan & Leitrim Railway. When he heard of a transporter going between Scotland and Ireland with some spare capacity, he’d hitched a ride. As they stood waiting to load the Lass onto the small section at the back of the trailer left to her, and perhaps to deflect any awkward questions about why there were locomotives on it already, Micheal Kennedy mentioned that he knew of a yacht, a bit like the Lass but “much bigger and with a bit sticking out of the back,” in a yard not far from his home; and that she was made of iron. Iain asked a few questions and confirmed that this was a bona-fide iron-hulled yacht of considerable size. Despite it being about as far from the sea as you can be in Ireland, Iain was rapidly convinced that this required further inquiry and called Hal Sisk, owner of Peggy Bawn and a veteran yacht historian and restorer. The hull was in the yard of retired agricultural engineer John Conlon, of Braenrisk, Drumlish in County Longford, who had offered it a home after it had been extracted from Lough Gowna in the late 1980s. Micheal cheerfully took Hal over to see for
himself.There, sure enough, just off a country lane in the Irish midlands, was a 44ft (13.4m) riveted iron yacht of obvious antiquity. John Conlon knew very well what he had in his yard, and apart from being used for some light storage duties, it was doing pretty well sitting there. The yacht was called The Nita, built by ‘Bewley’ in Dublin in 1868 in five months for a Lieutenant-Colonel Dopping-Hepenstal, 25 tons Thames measurement, home ‘port’ Lough Gowna. The Irish midlands have several large lakes used for sailing, but Lough Gowna is, by any standards, a pretty odd place to contemplate yachting around in a 40ft,
56 CLASSIC BOAT MARCH 2012
25-ton yacht. It is actually a collection of comparatively small interlocking lakes and stretches of water, best known now for its appeal to coarse fishermen. The depth of water varies through the year; at its deepest points it is about 40ft but it is littered with shoal areas. Its shores were, however, the location of the Dopping- Hepenstal family seat, Derrycassen House. The Doppings acquired the estate in 1765, but by the mid-19th century it seems to have been barely viable. Despite this, they enjoyed genteel Victorian boating on the lough, with a succession of sailing yachts, steam launches and even the odd paddleboat.
UNLUCKY OWNER The first owner of The Nita was Ralph Dopping- Hepenstal, who commissioned her, possibly as a present for his second wife Annie Fox, whom he married in July 1867. Ralph was, it seems, a somewhat unlucky man; by 1887, the year of his death, he was reported to be living, an emaciated and reclusive figure, on board The Nita to escape his creditors (and possibly members of his family). The start of the yacht’s life was, though, in better times. The Longford Journal of Saturday 30 May 1868 reported that ‘a very fine yacht... was launched on the picturesque and limpid waters of Lough Gowna, and was christened The Lady Dopping Hepenstal’. This was possibly a journalistic error as the yacht has only ever bee recorded as The Nita – or maybe the longer name was frustrated by the narrowness of the transom. The report notes that the yacht was built in Dublin ‘by the eminent firm of Messrs. Walpole, Webb, and Bewley, and... was conveyed from Dublin in rather a curious manner. The matter was undertaken by Mr. Peter Byrne, jun., of Mayor street, carrier. The yacht, which weighed over 16 tons, was placed on an iron truck, specially made for the purpose, and drawn by 12 powerful draught horses. Mr Hepenstal, accompanied by his fair and accomplished lady, travelled in the yacht, and was much pleased at the way in which the whole affair was conducted. It finally reached its destination in about four or five days, when, as previously announced, the launch took place. She is a beautiful yacht, having fine, airy, and spacious cabins, elegantly fitted up’.
Opposite: The Nita – bits prised off but secure from determined scrap dealers Below right: A sailing photograph reveals valuable information on dimensions
THE NITA: IRELAND’S 1868
PHOTOGRAPHS BY IAIN MCALLISTER
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