Robert French - Steamboat, Lough Erne

Sticking with the same collection as yesterday, the catalogue lists this image as "Steam Boat on Lough Erne, Belturbet, Co. Cavan" - implying that it was taken in County Cavan. However, we have a similar Lawrence/French image in the catalogue ( vtls000323306 ) labelled "S.S. Belturbet, Lough Erne, Co. Fermanagh" - implying that the boat is called "Belturbet", and the location is Fermanagh. While almost completely distracted by the ~100% hat-coverage, we wondered which was correct - Cavan or Fermanagh. ..While there were fantastic insights from the community on location, date, subject and context, the text which sharon.corbet ( /photos/129555378@N07/ ) highlights largely confirms that the catalogue entry was likely incorrect - and that "Belturbet" is the boat rather than location. The same text also suggests that the earlier date in the range is probably in the 1880s:.."When it became clear that [a proposed steamboat passenger service] could not compete with the railway, [John Grey Vesey] Porter switched to tourism. In 1873, he opened a hotel and pier at Knockninny, a renowned beauty spot on the upper lake just north of Derrylin (fig 2.15). He redeployed the Knockninny and, from 1880, the Belturbet to ferry passengers from Enniskillen and for excursions on the Upper Lough. These services ceased with his death in 1903 and both vessels were scrapped during the first world war."...The detail sourced by John Spooner ( /photos/johnspooner/ ) supports a strong theory that our photo was taken at Crom Castle, County Fermanagh (Wikipedia) ( Crom_Castle ) - but we may hold-off on ringing the "location confirmed" klaxon just yet.......Photographer: French, Robert (1841-1917) ( http://catalogue.nli.ie/Author/Home?author=French, Robert, 1841-1917 photographer ) ..Contributors: Lawrence, William (1840-1932)..Collection: Lawrence Photograph Collection ( http://catalogue.nli.ie/Collection/vtls000313414 ) ..Date: Listing suggests ca. 1865-1914 (but probably no earlier than 1880)..NLI Ref: L_CAB_05569 ( vtls000334285 ) ..You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie ( http://catalogue.nli.ie )