An Irishman's Diary on the Two Sisters ship and undelivered letters

In March 1757, the Two Sisters ship was sailing from Bordeaux in south west France to Dublin in Ireland when she was stopped coming out of the Bay of Biscay by a British privateer. The Seven Years' War was in full swing and there was not supposed to be any trade between France and Great Britain (which made things very difficult for Ireland at the time).

I have just written an Irishman's Diary article in the Irish Times newspaper about the fascinating story of the Two Sisters ship and her unusual cargo. Read it here. The 125 letters that the ship was carrying from France to Ireland are really interesting to read. The letters are reproduced in the book The Bordeaux-Dublin Letters, 1757: Correspondence of an Irish Community Abroad, ed. by LM Cullen, John Shovlin and Thomas M Truxes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).

They provide a privileged insight into the private lives of a range of individuals and highlight the many connections that existed between Ireland and the outside world at this time. The letters include everything from the birth of children and the death of loved ones to family disputes, debts and a father advising his son how to behave in business and in life in general.

Front cover of The Bordeaux-Dublin Letters, 1757: Correspondence of an Irish Community Abroad

The letters also show that even though the language may have changed over the years, their concerns were not that different from today. They are mostly written in English, but there are also some letters in French. One letter includes a quote about the power that letters can have over their recipient, "ut clavis portam sic pandit Epistola pectus" [As Keys do open Chests, So Letters open Brests].

FRANCO-IRISH CONNECTIONS

The links between this part of France and Ireland began to develop when Irish communities became established in France. This came about when Irish soldiers, scholars, priest and merchants arrived in France.

Soldiers
Irishmen had been travelling to France to join armies from as early as the 1590s. Thousands made the journey in the following decades, eventually forming their own regiments within the King's armies. It was said that the French admired the Irish soldiers for their bravery. Here is a short article from History Ireland about the Franco-Irish military connections.

Scholars and priests
Irishmen could not be educated for the priesthood in Ireland during the 16th century because of the Penal Laws. For this reason, Irish Colleges sprang up in cities right across Europe to cater for the theological and academic needs of these young men.

The first colleges were established in Salamanca and Madrid in Spain in the 1580s by a Jesuit priest from Kilkenny named James Archer. A college was opened in Bordeaux in 1603 by a priest from Cork named Diarmuid MacCarthy.

Merchants
Trade between France and Ireland has been going on for centuries. Amongst other goods, butter and beef were exported from Ireland to France and wine was exported from France to Ireland. By the 1610s, Bordeaux was the largest single exporter of wine to Ireland.

With few business opportunities in Ireland in the 17th century, some Irishmen traveled to France to try their hand at the wine trade. The name Hennessy immediately comes to mind. Richard Hennessy left Cork for France in the mid 1700s. He initially fought in the King's Irish Brigade. He eventually settled in Cognac in 1765 and the rest as they say is history. Other names include, Thomas Barton who arrived in Bordeaux in the 1750s. For more on the history of Franco-Irish trade, search for books and articles by Mary Ann Lyons and Louis Cullen.