A Time To Remember / Newry Man Lost
A TIME TO REMEMBER
By The Greenore Dama Group
Last night I had the absolute privilege to be invited along to the Greenore Drama Group’s production of “A Time To Remember.” The play is based around the story of the SS Connemara and Retriever disaster which took place on the 3rd of November 1916.
Written and Directed by the very talented Michael Ferguson and featuring the fantastic cast of the Greenore Drama Group ” A Time To Remember” will have you on the edge of your seat.
The collision between the SS Connemara and the Retriever, a collier bound for Newry, took place in treacherous sea conditions just past the Haulbowline Lighthouse about three miles from Greenore.
Both ships had entered the narrow channel at the same time. In normal calm conditions it would have been possible for the two ships to pass out but, in the treacherous weather that prevailed on that night, this manoeuvre was very difficult.
However, a sudden gust drove the Retriever into the Connemara penetrating that vessel from hull to funnel. Both ships sank within minutes about two hundred yards apart. 
There was only one survivor, James Boyle, a member of the Retriever’s crew. Some say at the time of the disaster they though thy could hear Seagulls when it was in fact the screams of the passengers and crews of the ill fated ships that perished in Carlingford Lough.
