The Wrecking of the Bell Hill
Peter Mc Nally
On the morning of 26th February 1875, the people of Balbriggan awoke to the fury of a south easterly gale worse than any in living memory .Huge seas hurled themselves onto the jagged Cardy Rocks just north of the harbour entrance. At about 9o’ clock the hulk of a massive sailing ship with its sails reduced to rags, came scudding out of control towards those rocks. She was the Bell Hill , a one thousand ton iron clad three masted barque not twenty four hours out of Liverpool and bound for Valparaiso but driven off course by the howling gale.
Word of the sighting spread quickly about the town and soon a large crowd gathered on the cliffs above the Cardy rocks .The horrified onlookers watched the Bell Hill career uncontrollably towards shore. They witnessed her last desperate attempt to avoid disaster as the exhausted crew threw out anchors and the captain attempted to wear the ship around. But she was caught on a lee shore in a shrieking gale where no anchors could hold her. Desperate crew lashed themselves to the masts to avoid being washed across her decks but when she hit the rocks her masts sheared dragging those hapless sailors over the side with them.
The coastguard rushed a breeches buoy apparatus to the shore. Twice they fired rockets with lifelines attached and twice the lines fell short of the Bell Hill. The third line fired reached the stricken ship but it snagged under a rock half way along its length rendering it all but useless. The lifesaving breeches buoy could not be deployed.
Meanwhile the coastguard telegraphed for the Skerries lifeboat. The lifeboat crew knew that their lifeboat would founder for sure were she launched into such a maelstrom, so they towed her to Balbriggan using a team of horses. As it happens, a low railway arch straddles the entrance to Balbriggan strand and on reaching it, the lifeboat men realised to their horror that the superstructure of the lifeboat was too high to fit under the arch and the lifeboat could not be launched!
By this time the incessant pounding on the sharp rocks had broken the back of the Bell Hill. Her cargo of spirits and textiles spilled out among the spume. Captain Edgar called for every man to save himself. All but three of those left on deck took their chances and jumped over the side only to perish in the boiling ferment. Three of the crew managed to shin down the breeches buoy line to the rock under which it was snagged. There they clung for three hours until a boat was finally launched to try to rescue them. All three were successfully snatched from the rock only to be thrown once again to the mercy of the waves as the rescue boat upended on its way back to shore. So great was their distress that although still alive on being washed ashore, two of those rescued died of exposure and exhaustion shortly after reaching shore. The third crew member and the only Irishman aboard the Bell Hill, a man called James Mac Donnell ,became the sole survivor of the sixteen sailors on board the ill fated Bell Hill.
The dead were taken to the village graveyard at Balrothery where you can still see the headstone listing the names of those fifteen unfortunates who died on that dreadful morning in February 1875
The Cache
The cache is about 1.2 km along the beach from the parking waypoint and is about a 20 minutes easy walk along the shore.
It is a small container hidden close to the cairn itself. It is NOT hidden on the cairn or anywhere near the memorial itself. Those seeking this cache should not have to disturb either of these in order to find the cache.