The SS Connemara was a twin screw steamer, 272 feet long, 35 broad and 14 deep with a gross register tonnage of 1106.

She sank on the night of 3 November 1916 at the entrance to Carlingford Lough, Louth, Ireland after being hit amidships by the coalship Retriever.

97 people died that night and the only survivor was James Boyle – a fireman on the Retriever and former caretaker of Warrenpoint Town Hall and a non-swimmer.

Both men were experienced seamen and the accident was attributed to the atrocious weather conditions on the night.

[citation needed] The Retriever had departed Garston, Merseyside at 4 a.m. on Friday, and was headed to Newry.

[citation needed] The outbound Connemara met the inbound Retriever approximately a half-mile beyond the Carlingford bar.

The watch at the Haulbowline lighthouse, seeing the ships too close for comfort, fired off rockets in warning.

The coroner and members of the jury journeyed to the scene of the tragedy to view the wreckage and the bodies that had been collected.