31/08/2026
"A Fintastic Tale".
If you brave a cold dip in Ireland, thankfully the most likely encounter with a shark you may encounter is the harmless ‘Lesser Spotted Dogfish’, a spine tingling 60 centimeters!
However, the 49th Regiment at Charles Fort in the 1820’s were not so convinced that there was not anything more sinister lurking in the depths…
A day which began in a normal fashion, bathing at the nearby beach, ended in a terrifying stand-off with an unknown ‘large, black looking fish.’
While ‘performing their ablutions’, two of the men challenged themselves to swim across the harbour from Charles Fort to James Fort. When they reached the halfway mark the ‘fish’ was observed by the concerned accompanying officer on shore.
One of the men would skirmish with the creature several times while swimming towards the safety of land. The remaining regiment on shore armed themselves with stones to volley at the mysterious fish and help their man in need.
The man eventually made it back to shore with a strange red bite mark on his leg. ‘By the Lord Harry, what a d—-d soft belly the beast had!...I’m shot if it wasn’t as soft as velvet’ was all he could report of the incident when he composed himself.
A small bottle-nosed whale spotted in the area a few days later certainly received the blame, whether guilty or not.
Kinsale is the home to a variety of dolphin, whale and seal species. While sometimes known to curiously approach humans, a negative encounter is extremely unlikely, so long as their space is respected.
This event adds to the long and ever growing list of mysteries surrounding the history of Charles Fort. What is certain however, is that the men were never brave enough to attempt to swim the great crossing between Charles Fort and James Fort again!
Text: OPW Guide, Kate Ahern
