A terrible accident happened out on Lough Corrib in the year 1828. There were 31 people in the boat altogether. They were going to the Fair of Galway with sheep. The boat was old and there were rotten boards in it, and one of the sheep put her foot through the bottom of the boat. When Thomas Cahill saw this, he took off his coat and pressed it into the hole. He put the whole board out and the water started coming straight in. The boat went down then and the the sheep and people were scattered in the lake. Nineteen of the people were drowned and I heard that twelve of them came safe out of it. A man, one of the twelve who came in, he came back to Annaghdown and he brought the two sheep with him through Claregalway and he sold the two sheep in Galway the same day the other people were drowned. Wasn’t he the strange soldier that was able to go to Galway again that day and sell sheep. The same afternoon, those who were drowned were taken out.
Written by Eibhlín Ní Ghráinne / Eileen Greaney of Kilgill, from her father Seán Ó Gráinne/John Greaney (61).
Corr an Droma, Book 2, pages 790-791. Link: https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4566057/4562955/4570159?ChapterID=4566057
