The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-09-16
AN ( ODD CUSTOM
Archaic Ceremony In the "Rebel
0ity" Of Cork.
If the Kaiser Did 1t In the Baltic
War Would Follow.


Admiral Togo was no more triumph.
ant after the victory of the Sea of
Japan than was Lord Mayor Barrett
OF Cork on August 26, when, as Ad.
miral of the Port, he asserted his juris-
diction over the waters of the harbor
and the adjoining inlets of the sea "by
! throwing the dart" l can imagine his
lordship setting out on his maritime
expedition, cheered on his departure
by a crowd on the quay shouting Bon
zai' in Japanese fashion, and hoping
that, despite the onslaughts of the enc.
my, which, as Shakespeare has it,
men put into their mouths" the
members of his jocund fleet may re-
turn as safe and sound as if they had
never encountered foe in their lives,
says "Corkham" in the Dublin Inde-
pendent The chief armament in Ad-
miral Barrett's vessel was an abund-
ant supply of knives and forks, to be
utilized in attacking the viands pro-
vided, and the only occasion on which
the guns doomed in Cork Harbor was
when the wine bottles were uncorked.
; This quaint custom of throwing
the dart" is only incidentally referred
to in any of the histories of Cork 1
have seen. In attempting to trace
cursorily it's origin, growth and survi-
val, have to rely on the industry of
those literary ferrets-the antiquarian
explorers views on tfies sub
ject are to be found in fragmentary
form in ephemeral and other. pub1ica-
tons. The earliest mention 81 the OBJ
servance of the custom by the Mayor
upon which l have alighted is the fol-
lowing entry under date of May 80,
1859, in the records Of the Cork Cor
poration:
Ordered that the Mayor do provide
an entertainment at Blackjack Castle
, en- the LIST August next, and that the
expenses thereof be paid out of the
revenues of the Corporation; and it is
ordered that the Mayor and other
proper officers of the Corporation do
go in their boats to the Harbour's
mouths, and other parts of the chan
, mel and river to assert their ancient
| right to the government thereof, and
that the Mayor and other officers do
| land at convenient places in the said
harbor and proceed to high water
mark in evidence Of the right of juris-
diction granted by charter to the Cor
| poration in all creeks and. strands
| within the harbor as far as high water
mark"
An order of later date prescribed
that the Mayor and Corporation
| should proceed from Blackjack Castle
in suitable vessel to the limits of
their jurisdiction as conservators of
the river, where the Mayor shall
throw the DART" An entertainment
was, according to that order, provided
for the party on their return to the
Castle-"the expense thereof not to
exceed GS"-a whole Corporation en-
tertained at the absurdly low figure of
eS! No wonder our oldest inhabi-
tant" of the present day talks glow
ingly of the good old days!" The
cost Of keeping the house could have
formed no bar to matrimony in those
days. Probably the Tariff Reform
League will find in this item an argu-
ment in support of the revival of pro-
lection.
About that time the Corporation of
Cork enjoyed some very valuable priv
ileges, under which, no doubt, they
were able to procure wines and other
luxuries needed for an entertainment
at trifing cost. In the Gentleman's
Magazine for December, 1911, it is re-
corded that:
The important cause which has been
for some time pending between the
Earl of Ormond and the Corporation
of Cork respecting the prisage of
wines in that particular port claimed
by the Corporation, was last week de-
termined by special jury in a trial
at bar, which occupied two days, when
a verdict was given in favor of his
lordship, by which he receives s72,-
COO, and has thereby established his
exclusive right to the prisage in that
port.
The Corporation of Cork is of very
ancient date, and among its charters
is one granted by John, as lord of Ire.
land, in the reign of Henry H.. by
which "all the fields held of my city
Of Cork" together with the ground
on which the city stood, were given
to the citizens. In the fifteenth CEN
fury, in the reign of Edward w., the
franchise of the city was extended so
| as to include within the jurisdiction of
the Corporation 'as far as the shore
DOint or strand called Rewrawne m