'Amazing discovery' of shipwreck on Irish river almost 100 years after it sank

CLARIFICATION: It has since been revealed that the shipwreck is common knowledge to river users locally in New Ross and the wreck is marked hazard on the river.

Volunteer OpenStreetMap contributor Anne-Karoline Distel came upon a shipwreck earlier this month in the River Barrow.

It was soon identified as the Tresness, a three-mast schooner which sank on August 21, 1929 on its way from New Ross in Wexford to St Mullins in County Carlow.

Anne-Karoline had been mapping along the River Barrow using new satellite technology, when she made the amazing discovery of the wreck; which is about 25m long.

After consulting with underwater archaeologist Jimmy Lenehan, she reported the discovery to Karl Brady at the Underwater Archaeology Department of the National Monument Service.

Karl was able to identify the ship as it had been in newspapers at the time. 

As many as 17 Irish and British newspapers mentioned the incident to some degree.

The Tresness of 129 gross tonnage with an auxiliary motor was registered in Kirkwall on Orkney.

Chartered by Mr Dixon and in charge of Mr Symonds, it had been stopping in Rosemount on its way from New Ross to St Mullins.

There, it was to pick up a load of timber to bring to England. It struck a rock in the evening of August 20, 1929 at
high tide and sank in the townland of Mountelliott the following evening.

While it was reported at the time that "The crew are safe", the wreck was never recovered from the water. 

Anne-Karoline is delighted about the find: “These are the rewarding moments for a volunteer mapper like me who has spent thousands of hours to make geodata material available for free.”

The vessel was originally constructed in Denmark in 1871 and navigated the seas and inland waterways of northern Europe for 58 years before tragically sinking in the River Barrow in 1929.