Kitty of Coleraine - Song, Boat & Red Sails (855 words)

A boat at the Red Sails Festival.

Okay, this is a short story about a song that inspired a boat name that inspired a song, if that makes sense?

The first song - Kitty of Coleraine although it's recorded author is anonymous. It is believed to have been written by Edward Lysaght (1763 to 1811) as a poem. 

The song was made famous in Top o' the Morning, an American romantic comedy (1949), where Bing Crosby sings it.

The song tells of a beautiful Coleraine girl called Kitty who drops a pitcher of milk to flirt with a bloke, not much has really changed in Coleraine then :)

The song:

As beautiful Kitty one morning was tripping
With a pitcher of milk from the fair of Coleraine,
When she saw me she stumbled, the pitcher down tumbled,
And all the sweet butter-milk watered the plain.
Oh! what shall I do now? 'twas looking at you, now;
Sure, sure, such a pitcher I'll ne'er meet again;
'Twas the pride of my dairy! O Barney M'Cleary,
You're sent as a plague to the girls of Coleraine!

I sat down beside her, and gently did chide her,
That such a misfortune should give her such pain;
A kiss then I gave her, and, ere I did leave her,
She vowed for such pleasure she'd break it again.
'Twas hay-making season--I can't tell the reason--
Misfortunes will never come single, 'tis plain;
For very soon after poor Kitty's disaster
The devil a pitcher was whole in Coleraine.

Kitty of Coleraine, cigarette card / Wm. Ruddell Ltd.

The boat - Kitty of Coleraine was built by Harland and Wolff in 1863, one of them anyway. 

Harland and Wolff were a major ship builder of the time and built such vessels as the Titanic in 1911.

Note, that while researching this blog I seem to get details on two Kitty of Coleraine vessels, one a sloop and the other a steam vessel. I think it may be possible that the steam vessel was built in Harland and Wolff, but the sloop is the link to our next part of the story.

During the 1930s, various boating races were held along the North Coast between Portrush and Portstewart. One vessel that took part in such races was the sloop Kitty of Coleraine.

The Kitty of Coleraine was rediscovered in 1992 and after local interest was raised through an article by Speedy Moore (a local journalist), two local businessmen (Norman Hutchison and Ivan Campbell) funded her restoration.

She now sits in the Transport Museum, Belfast undergoing further restoration.

The second song - Red Sails in the Sunset by Jimmy Kennedy (published 1935) and covered by almost everyone from Bing Crosby (he must have loved the North Coast), Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and even the Beatles. Here is a list of (39) artists that have covered the song.

The story goes that Jimmy Kennedy was watching another beautiful Portstewart sunset with his sister who was an artist, when the sloop Kitty of Coleraine sailed past. The magnificently red coloured sky reflected on the white sails of the Kitty of Coleraine turning them red. His sister apparently captured the scene on canvas and it was this Portstewart sunset that inspired Jimmy Kennedy to wright Red Sails in the Sunset. He wrote approximately 2000 songs in his time, of which over 200 were hits, including Teddy Bears' Picnic.

Now, if you have followed me on Twitter (@BC_Tweeting) you will have noticed that a majority of my tweets have been Portstewart Sunsets, they are among the best I have seen around the world.

Just a few spectacular but pretty common Portstewart Sunsets.

To celebrate Red Sails in the Sunset there is an art installation on the Promenade near the Harbor. There is also a set of metal sails on the Coleraine Road Roundabout, at times this piece of art reflects the red sunset. 

Art installation on the Promenade.

Metal sails at the roundabout.

The Red Sails Festival is now an week long annual festival that is held in July. Most events are free with the finale being a evening of entertainment including fireworks, the Promenade is closed to traffic and draws large crowds. 

So there you have it. a chain of events first sparked by a girl spilling milk to get noticed over 200 years ago :)

The sunset of the evening I wrote this blog.

References and sources:

http://www.libraryireland.com/articles/EdwardLysaghtKittyCIL/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_built_by_Harland_and_Wolff

http://www.portrushyachtclub.com/history

http://nmni.com/uftm

http://www.itma.ie/digitallibrary/image/kitty-of-coleraine

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LyJi8pge5KsC&pg=PA260&lpg=PA260&dq=kitty+of+coleraine+boat&source=bl&ots=AOaD4JeqSC&sig=PEG0qsxBuelBvSUbf5txAw85zNs&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=kitty%20of%20coleraine%20boat&f=false

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LyJi8pge5KsC&pg=PA260&lpg=PA260&dq=kitty+of+coleraine+boat&source=bl&ots=AOaD4JeqSC&sig=PEG0qsxBuelBvSUbf5txAw85zNs&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=kitty%20of%20coleraine%20boat&f=false

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Kennedy

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