On the 30th day of January 1816, the Sea-Horse Transport under Capt. Gibbs was driven into Tramore Bay by a raging tempest. Among those who perished within a mile of the shore in broad daylight were:
264 Non-Commissioned Officers & Privates of His Majesty's 2nd Battalion, 59th Regiment, 12 officers, 15 sailors, and 71 women and children. Only 4 officers and 62 soldiers and seamen survived; their companions and relatives interred in one mass grave. A considerable number of the soldiers were interred in the sand, just a hundred yards from the sea.
In the burial-ground of the new parish church in the village of Tramore, a monument was erected by Lieut, Colonel Austin, Lieut. Colonel Hoysted and the other surviving officers, in memory of those who died that fateful day:
Major Charles Douglas age 29
Lieut. William Gillespie age19
Capt. James Macgregor age 23
Ensign Andrew Ross age 19
Lt. & Adj. Abraham Dent age 26
Ensign Rowland F Hill age 19
Lieut. William Veall age 21
Surgeon James Hagan age 30
Lieutenant Robert Scott age 23
Assistant Surgeon Lambe, age 26
Lieutenant James Geddes age 21
Quarter-Master W. Baird age 38
Lieut. Allen, R. N.
There is also a monument at the Church of Tramore
"Returning to their native land | where they looked for solace and repose, after all the toils and dangers they had endured, For the security of the British Empire, and the deliverance of Europe, Their lives were suddenly cut
short By the awful dispensation | of an all-wise but inscrutable Providence: But the memory of those gallant achievements, On which they bore so distinguished a part under the guidance of the Illustrious Wellington will never be forgotten,but shall continue to illuminate the historic page and animate the hearts of Britons to the most remote period of time."
The 2nd Battalion of the 59th Regiment was returning home from the Napoleonic Wars. They had begun their Military Career in the Autumn of 1808 when they accompanied Sir David Baird to Corunna and were conspicuously brave in the arduous campaign under Lieut. General Sir John Moore. They partook of the Expedition to Walcheran. They also bore a distinguished part in the principal actions that were fought on the Peninsula in 1813 & 1814 under the command of The Illustrious Wellington; and finally participated in the renown of the ever-memorable day of Waterloo (Battle of Waterloo, 18th June, 1815) and the second surrender of the French capital.." (Surrender of Paris, 6th of July, 1815).
[From "A History of the County and City of Waterford," Rev R. H. Ryland' 1824]
