In the early afternoon of Friday, 11 March 1597, a consignment of 144 barrels of gunpowder were landed at a place known as 'The Crane' at the northern extremity of Winetavern Street (a building used as the custom house of Dublin prior to the erection of the nearby Custom House in 1707). At the time, ships generally discharged their heavier cargoes at the port of Dalkey, and the remainder at the Crane. The barrels of gunpowder were considered manageable enough to be unloaded by crane from a lighter (a barge) moored at the dock close to Wood Quay.
