Coffin Ship by William Henry

would have possessed nearly enough gold to fill such a box. These poor, unfortunate, starving people were fleeing from famine and had hardly enough money to feed themselves.
    Another account indicates that the chest was actually owned by one of the survivors. He supposedly left it at the Lothrop house in Sandy Cove after he had recovered from his ordeal and moved away. However, there is yet another story concerning the captain’s strong box to consider. In an undated letter, a local woman named Lucy Treat writes that her father had once told her of a strange scene he came upon the day after the St. John tragedy. He had been walking along the beach when he encountered a neighbour hauling a chest after him. The neighbour hid this chest near Sandy Cove. Shortly afterwards this man was said to have become ‘conspicuous by his ability to afford unusual luxuries and also paid off a mortgage on his house within the year’. According to the letter, two generations later the neighbour’s grandson gave Lucy’s brother a small portable chest, saying that it belonged to the captain of the St. John . Whether this story is true or not, both the chest and letter are now on display at the Maritime Museum in Cohasset. The chest has a secret compartment and looks authentic. Other items from the St. John are on display in the Cohasset Museum, including Captain Oliver’s writing desk, a limestone ballast and a masthead truck. [6]
    Another story surrounding the St. John claims that there was a curse on the ship and its fate was sealed long before it set sail for America. The story goes that Colm Conneely, a brother of Tony Conneely from Lettermullen, the reported first captain of the ship, wanted to join the priesthood, but he either failed the entrance exam or was unable to raise the necessary college fees. So great was his disappointment that he renounced the Catholic faith and became an Anglican minister in England. He became acquainted with many influential people in England and it was through these connections that the finance to build the St. John is said to have been raised. At the time of the St. John ’s fatal voyage, Tony Conneely was unable to sail as his wife was ill. Many conjectured that the sinking of the brig was God’s way of punishing Colm Conneely for abandoning the Catholic religion. This story was recorded in an Irish book called Stories of the Islands , written by Peter Dirrane and published in 1929. However, another source states that Colm Conneely was not an Anglican minister and there are also those who believe that there was another ship named the St. John which may have been the ‘cursed’ ship; this was smaller vessel, supposedly built in Galway, but again this has never been proven. [7]

Notes
    [ 1 ] Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, undated letter.
    Boston Irish Reporter : ‘Cohasset Monument Honors Famine Victims’ (October 1996).
    Brig St. John Memorial Mass, Ancient Order of Hibernians. Father John Murphy, Division 9, Plymouth (4-10-1997).
    Brig St. John of Galway was Cohasset’s Worst Shipwreck, Cohasset Historical Society. John Bhaba Jaick Ó Congaola collection.
    Fraser, Robert, Cohasset Vignettes (1981).
    Diary of Elizabeth Lothrop (11-10-1849, 25-12-1849).
    Ennistymon Parish Magazine , ‘The Shipwreck of the St. John ’. Article compiled from material supplied by Brud Slattery, John Flanagan (both Lahinch), and Frank Flanagan (USA) (1996).
    Miscellaneous articles and letters from the John Bhaba Jaick Ó Congaola collection: ‘Catholics to Honour Irish Immigrants Lost in Cohasset Shipwreck of 1849’ (1949).
    Notes copied from Newcomb Bates (Jr), the Town Clerk of (Cohasset) (7-10-1849).
    The Galway City Tribune; Tribune Extra : ‘Galway Victims of a Major Tragedy’ (27-11-1998).
    The Galway Vindicator : ‘Awful Shipwreck at Minot’s Ledge – Loss of St. John of Galway. About One Hundred Drowned – Men, Women