Greyhound (1747 ship)
Greyhound was a coastal trading vessel launched in Whitby in 1747 or possibly before that was wrecked in a storm off the coast of County Sligo on 12 December 1770. "Lloyd's List" reported on 1 January 1771 that "Greyhound", Douthard, master, had been lost at Sligo while on the way from Galway to Whitby. The wreck has been known locally as The butter boat. Vessel. "Greyhound" was owned by a Mrs Alley in 1747 and was a transport in 1748. Wreck. The Greyhound had been caught in a storm off the coast of County Mayo. They  could not get shelter in Broadhaven Bay and were forced to anchor near Erris Head. The crew abandoned ship, then realised they had forgotten the cabin boy. Some of the crew, along with volunteers and crew of a passing ship "Mary", from Galway, returned to rescue him and managed to get aboard the Greyhound. The storm was so bad that the vessel was driven ashore at Streedagh point, where 20 of the 21 on board drowned. The sole survivor had stayed on board and when the vessel settled on the beach he alerted people, but the others had already been  lost. Speculation on identity. The identity of the vessel had been lost, leading to speculation that it might have been part of The Spanish Armada or a tourist boat. Identification. Oak timbers from the wreck were dated to some time after 1712 in the first half of the 18th century by dendrochronologist Dr. Aoife Daly. The National Monuments Service said that the timber was probably sourced from the English midlands or Yorkshire. This was cross-referenced to a database of over a hundred shipwrecks off the Sligo coast in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Irish Folklore Commission and newspaper  accounts, leading to the vessel being identified. Citations and references. Citations References