The Bay: Episode 1

May 4th, 2005, 7:30 PM, RTÉ One

Fish and Ships

Episode One takes viewers on a trip from the Forty-Foot bathing point in Sandycove, through the fishing community in Bullock Harbour, and on to Dun Laoghaire. Fishermen and sailors, lifeboat crew and historians populate this first programme, explaining why the bay was once one of the most dangerous in the western world, and why it has now become a vast playground.

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Episode one opens with a swim at the famous Forty-Foot bathing point in Sandycove, on the city's southern shores. James Joyce set the opening scenes of Ulysses here and hundreds of ordinary Dubliners still enjoy the experience of jumping into the bracing sea here every day. As long-time swimmer Martin Miller puts it, "the guys down here don't need Viagra".

And swimming isn't the only tradition to have survived on the bay - there is still a small fleet of fishing boats taking a living from it. Just a short distance from the Forty-Foot, at the small harbour of Bullock, lobster and crab are landed each morning - and early morning visitors are very welcome to make an offer for the catch. Fish life in the bay has improved dramatically since the opening of the new sewage treatment plant at Ringsend, and Bullock is now a popular venue for visiting anglers to rent boats.

But if Dublin Bay is now yielding up such richness, one question remains. During the bad old days of Dublin Bay, did the prawns really still survive? More to the point, perhaps, do today's Dublin Bay Prawns really come from Dublin Bay? Derry Clarke, chef/patron at top city restaurant L'Ecrivain provides the answer.

Episode one goes on to examine the development of Dun Laoghaire harbour, and its place in Irish life. It hosts the largest yacht fleet in the country, and it's the breeding ground for many of Ireland's international sailors. But time was when sailors sought to avoid the bay altogether, because it was known as one of the most dangerous places in the western world. Thousands died as ships were cast up on its shores, but it was as a result of one storm in 1807, in which over 400 people died, that Dun Laoghaire was developed as an asylum harbour. It offered protection to ships caught in storms in the bay, and helped to maintain Dublin's place as an international trading port.

It was from Dun Laoghaire that the mailboat, the Leinster, set out in October 1918, and the vessel had barely cleared the bay when it was struck by a torpedo from a German U-boat. These were the closing days of the First World War, and the Irish sea was a rich hunting ground for the German submarine fleet. The Leinster put out a distress call, but sank quickly. Out of its 780 passengers and crew, over 530 perished. It was the greatest loss of life ever on the Irish sea, and the wreck of the Leinster, which lies on the sea bed just beyond the Kish lighthouse, serves as a reminder of how close war came to Ireland's shores.

Episode 2 ›