Royal Sturgeon - the Cot men's nemesis

Living beside the meeting of the three sister rivers, and having fished it for over 15 years, I’ve been lucky to see quite a variety of fish over that time.  By far the largest and most incredible was a Minke whale (a mammal of course, thanks to Bob Scientist), which beached but which my brother Robert, Pat Moran and I managed to refloat in 1993.  But one fish has eluded my sight, another fine sized fish, and a contemporary of the dinosaur; the Royal Sturgeon.

Royal is an appendage associated with the Sturgeon which dates to the reign of Edward II.  An act decreed that “…the King shall have the wreck of the sea throughout the realm, whales and great sturgeon.”[1]  As Ireland was part of the realm, the rules applied here too, (after independence it seems the President took on the role). Essentially if you caught a fish you were expected to hand it over to the crown.  In fact one of Waterford’s Royal charters granted by Charles I “…granted to the mayor, sheriffs and citizens of Waterford…the fishing of Salmon and other fish of every kind, (Whales and Sturgeons excepted) [2]

Carrick Cot men from top left. Francie Casey, Nicky Fitzgerald, Johnny Clancy and Paddy "Paw" Fitzgerald.
with thanks to Maurice Power of Carrick On Suir

The fish itself is an amazing creature.  It can live to a great age, a huge size and is so old; it swam in the seas in the times of the dinosaurs.  It’s a bottom feeder and tends to swim in the seas.  But like salmon, these anadromous fish, migrate to fresh water to spawn and this has brought them into contact with local fishermen.  

But not by me, and I can never recall hearing of one being caught in the Cheekpoint area.  However on a recent trip to the local dispensary I fell to mentioning this to Dick Mason.  Dick who has lived here almost 30 years and fished all his life remembered his father catching one in a driftnet in the 1950’s in Passage East.  The fish was taken away by the fishmonger Michael O’Neill, but Dick recalled that for all the hype about royal fish, the payment later received was less than regal.

A trawl of the newspaper archives was most revealing about the fish, and in brief there are accounts of them being caught from Baginbun to St Mullins, Dunmore East to Carrick On Suir. The largest I have found thus far was caught by snap net fishermen near Mount Congreve and was recorded as 9ft 3” and weighing 2¼ cwt. This fish was sold to Mr Crawford, fishmonger of Lombard St Waterford and it was said that the roe(fish eggs, or caviar as Sturgeon roe is more popularly known) in the fish was such that it would have filled the Suir with Sturgeon [3] Crawford comes up frequently as a purchaser.

A frequent sentiment expressed in the papers is that the cot men (on both the Suir and Barrow)who fish the snap net are often "terrorised" by the creature, apparently damage to their nets was common and their were fears expressed of their boats being upturned.  It appears it’s the power of the fish, rather than any maledictive intent on the fishes part that is the issue. Given the cot size of 14ft with little by way of freeboard[4], such concern is perhaps unsurprising.

New website coming soon

The appendage of Royal fish seems to be often repeated in the newspapers, and many but not all, seem to find their way to London.  Some appear to be sold locally and others end up in Dublin.  “A very fine Sturgeon was taken in the river on Wednesday, and was on view at Mr Crawford's next day.  The greater part of it has, according to ancient usage and custom, been sent to the Lord Lieutenant”[5] 

Some purchasers were more entrepreneurial than others of. Three fishermen near Fiddown Bridge spent two hours wrestling with a sturgeon on a fine May morning in their cots.  The specimen was eventually tired out and dragged ashore where it was killed.  A “speculator” snapped it up for a pound, but headed straight for the Tipperary racecourse and “…exhibited the curiosity at 2d per head…”   The report states the fish was nine feet long and weighed 100 pounds. We don't get any information on how much the speculator realised however.[6]

Carrick on Suir is the scene of the most drawn out encounter in the summer of 1848 which involved 12-14 cots, the majority of the town as onlookers and “…an immense sturgeon…” which was later said to be 7½ feet long and weighing 169lbs.  From the article it would appear the cot men went out with the specific intention of catching the fish, as they were “…armed with spears and boat hooks…”

The onlookers on shore assisted by watching the Sturgeons progress and when it travelled under the arch of the old bridge they quickly alerted the cot men who formed a line to prevent it moving back down.  A man named Healy managed to pierce the side of the fish with a spear, but it recoiled so heavily that the spear shattered off the side of the cot, and Healy was thrown from the boat.  The river became crimson with blood as the fish swam away, but was prevented from escaping downriver by the cots.  Meanwhile on shore the spectators were shouting encouragement, directions and advice.  The fish turned away again and was driven towards shallow water by “…Mr Freemans *Brewery…” where another cot man George Coghlan managed to harpoon the fish with a boat hook. The Carrick fishermen later exhibited the fish to the public in the town and afterwards in Clonmel by which they realised £4 and later sold it Mr Pim of Clonmel for £2 10s.[7] Although a horrible end for the sturgeon, for the local fishermen in famine era Carrick it must have been a windfall.

A Royal Sturgeon was landed at Dunmore East 13 May 1952 by MFV Tulip

l-r Frank McDonald (skipper), Tommy McGrath (owner) Johnny Rooney, John Dando Whitty & Davy Muck Murphy

The fish was displayed for two days in the Dunmore East fisheries shop High St Waterford

before being sent as a gift to Eamon de Valera, then president of Ireland. 

Photo via Michael Farrell, Barony of Gaultier Historical Society.  Supplied by John Burke

There does not appear to be any regularity of capture, from the papers at least, except to say all the incidents were in the summer. The fish appear to be occasional visitors, or perhaps occasional catches.  A report from 1852 on the harbour is interesting in relation to this.  “On Thursday last a splendid Sturgeon, measuring eight feet in length, and other proportions corresponding…is the first of the kind which has been taken in this district for the past 14 years…”[8]  The capture was in a weir in the lower harbour.

Despite all my searching I cannot find any reference to a fish being caught at Cheekpoint.  But then again I should not be surprised.  My father never told me of any!  In recent years attempts have been made to preserve and encourage Sturgeon back into European waters.  I’m not sure that even if successful we would ever see Sturgeon of such a scale as reported in those papers of the nineteenth century, but I for one would dearly love to see them make a return.

I'd like to thank Dick Mason, Denis O'Meara, Michael Farrell and Maurice Power for assistance with this piece.
* According to Patsy Travers Mullins, most likely Feehans Brewery. And the following local ditty to support this written by a man named Baird,                             
Guinness's stout is good no doubt                                     
In barrel or in bottle,                                                   
But it cannot compare with Feehan's beer ,                 
To cool a thirsty throttle.

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