Learn about our social enterprise Teach Solais Fhánada, and why the wrecking of HMS Saldanha was the motivation for the building of Fanad Lighthouse.
Photograph courtsey of Brian Cannon. His grandmother Mary Agnes Cannon of Ballymichael took this photo circa 1950s.
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
‘Inspired by our landscape, language and heritage we promote Fanad globally to benefit Fanad locally’.
Fanad Lighthouse was opened to the public as a visitor attraction with accommodation in three beautifully restored lightkeepers’ cottages in 2016. It is a not-for-profit social enterprise run by voluntary local committee Forbairt Fhánada Cuideachta. Rooted in the community, it is the flagship visitor attraction of the Fanad peninsula, an area of outstanding natural beauty which has much to offer the visitor.
Fanad Head is one of three Signature Discovery Points on the Wild Atlantic Way in Donegal.
Fanad Lighthouse has been a working lighthouse since 1817.
Fanad Lighthouse is an iconic working lighthouse at the mouth of Lough Swilly. It has been voted one of the most beautiful lighthouses in the world and it’s easy to see why. Photographers regularly capture stunning, atmospheric images of this evocative structure and the surrounding wild coastline.
We offer fully guided tours where you can hear all about the lighthouse and climb the tower in the company of a local guide. We also welcome group tours all year round by appointment.
(A ship was often lost close to shore)
WRECKING OF
The wrecking of HMS Saldanha was the motivation for the building of Fanad Lighthouse. On the night of 4th December 1811, the Saldanha – a Royal Navy frigate – struck rocks near Fanad Head during a violent storm and ran aground at Ballymastocker Bay.
The ship, along with the sloop HMS Talbot, was sailing from Buncrana to enforce a naval blockade against France in the North Atlantic when tragedy struck. As the storm rose, both ships decided to turn back to seek shelter in Lough Swilly, but the Saldanha struck rocks at Carraig Dhónaill. Some of the guns broke loose, wreaking havoc. Over 250 souls were lost, including the young Captain William Pakenham. The only survivor was the ship’s parrot, who was shot down a few weeks later.
The lighthouse was designed by George Halpin, one of the prominent civil engineers of the era. The light was first lit on Saint Patrick’s Day 1817, using sperm oil wick lamps and parabolic reflectors, showing red to the Atlantic and white to Lough Swilly.
Soon after the Saldanha was wrecked Captain Hill of the Royal Navy in Derry wrote to a member of the Ballast Board suggesting that a lighthouse should be built at Fannet Point, as Fanad Head was then known. The Saldanha would not have been wrecked, he insisted, if there had been a lighthouse at the entrance to Lough Swilly. Permission was granted and work began in 1815 with a budget of £2,000.
By the 1870s, investigations were being made into how the light at Fanad could be improved. The tower needed to be taller in order to be more visible from the Atlantic side. And so, a new, higher tower was built, and commenced operations on 1 September 1886.
The North Atlantic is an area rich in maritime history, and there are numerous fascinating shipwrecks off the coast, many of which can be dived today.
In 1914, HMS Audacious was one of the early losses of World War 1. A King George V-class battleship, she never actually got to engage in combat. On 24th October 1914, while on training exercises, she struck a German naval mine northwest of Fanad Head and was lost, although thankfully her 900-strong crew were saved. Three ships including RMS Olympic were tasked to try to tow her into Lough Swilly but the tow lines snapped in the heavy seas and Audacious was lost.
The wreck of the SS Empire Heritage is one of Europe’s most significant dive sites. This 15,000-tonne steam tanker was sunk by a U-Boat torpedo attack in 1944, 20 miles north of Malin Head, en route from New York to Liverpool with a cargo of war supplies. 113 lives were lost. The wreck site today is renowned for the array of Sherman tanks strewn eerily around the seabed.
One of our closest shipwrecks is that of SS Laurentic, a British ocean liner of the White Star Line. Built in Harland & Wolff in 1908, the same year as Titanic, the Laurentic was converted to an armed merchant cruiser at the beginning of WW1.
On 23 November 1917, Laurentic departed Liverpool for Halifax, Canada with 479 on board and a secret cargo of gold, payment for munitions from Canada and the United States. She stopped at Buncrana two days later, under doctor’s orders to let a small number of passengers with yellow fever symptoms disembark.
From Buncrana she sailed for Fanad Head, where they were to meet an armed escort. The weather was ferocious with a blizzard blowing, but when the escort didn’t show, Captain Norton decided to proceed regardless, despite reports of U-boat sightings in Lough Swilly earlier in the day. Within an hour of leaving Buncrana, disaster struck.
The Laurentic struck two mines laid by the German submarine U-80. One of the mines hit near the engine room causing the ship to lose power. The ship was plunged into darkness, and was unable to send a distress signal. She sank within the hour.
354 men were lost in the disaster and bodies washed up on shore for weeks afterwards. Many had frozen to death in their lifeboats as they tried to reach land. Over the next seven years, more than 5,000 dives were made by Royal Navy divers and most of the 3,211 gold ingots were recovered. However, 22 bars have never been recovered.
The bell of the Laurentic hangs in the COI church in Portsalon village, and in 2007 a gun was recovered and put on display at Downings pier. The wreck of SS Laurentic lies 3 miles north-east of Fanad Lighthouse.
HMS Laurentic
Wrecked in Lough Swilly 1917
Imagine watching the light’s beam sweep across the peninsula as darkness falls. Wake up to the sound of waves and seabirds. Explore the beautiful, rugged landscape of Fanad and North Donegal by day.
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