27/06/2026
27 JUNE 1854: The Emigrant Ships and the Battle over the Anchorage Tolls.
As the Foyle Maritime Festival draws crowds to the quayside this weekend, we are looking back through the archives at the system that governed the North West's emigrant trade. In the mid-19th century, late June was the peak season for transatlantic departures, with thousands of people from Derry, Tyrone, and Donegal crowding the city's riverfront to board wooden timber ships and early steamships heading for the United States and Canada.
The archives reveal a fascinating legal battle over sovereignty that displaced much of the passenger trade further down Lough Foyle.
The Irish Society in Derry claimed strict ownership over the waters of the River Foyle, demanding heavy anchorage tolls from any international vessel docking at the city quays. To bypass these steep taxes, enterprising ship captains began anchoring their vessels further out in the deep waters off Moville and Greencastle, arguing they were technically in Donegal waters and therefore exempt from Derry's jurisdiction.
This fascinating maritime loophole was a brilliant adaptation to the commercial restrictions of the era. By utilizing the deep, sheltered waters off the Inishowen coastline, ship captains avoided the steep anchorage and port taxes enforced by The Honourable The Irish Society on the River Foyle quays.
Because the exact jurisdictional boundaries of the estuary have historically been heavily contested, this offshore workaround created a lucrative boom for the Moville and Greencastle areas. Trans-Atlantic liners and merchant vessels frequently relied on tender boats to ferry cargo, passengers, and mail between these anchored vessels and the mainland. This turned the northern coast of Donegal into a bustling, semi-independent maritime hub that practically functioned as an offshore extension of the Port of Derry
We'll be sharing more in the coming days about this fascinating legal dispute that led directly to the growth of Moville and to the creation of the Port and Harbour Commissioners.
