Thursday, May 21, 2015

Calf Rock



It is nearly three years now since I started making plans to see the remains of the infamous Calf Rock Lighthouse off the tip of Dursey Island, a stark reminder of the terrible power of the sea. Two years ago we came down with the express purpose of seeing it but were thwarted by maintenance to the cable car, the only viable means for tourists to reach the island. This year we were luckier and crossed early in the morning, albeit on one of the windiest days I've ever known. Not blustery, just a constant driving wind that increased in intensity the nearer you got to the western tip of the island. Small wonder it has been called the windiest place in Europe.


Due to the frequency of shipwrecks off the south west coast of Ireland, a decision was reached in 1857 to construct a lighthouse off the end of Dursey Point. There were many (the contractor included) who argued that the Calf Rock was too low an island to place a lighthouse and that Bull Rock, a little further north and much higher, would be more appropriate. The Elder Brethren of Trinity House prevailed though and George Halpin's cast iron tower was approved for Calf Rock. The constructor, one Henry Grissell, later said that the waves were so fierce here, that they sometimes obscured the top of the tower for two minutes at a time. Indeed, only Wolf Rock - off Lands End in Cornwall - and the Fastnet have to contend with more ferocious seas.

The Calf Rock with the old temporary lighthouse in the foreground

The difficulty of landing men and provisions on the rock strung out the construction process and it was not until June 1866 that the light was lit. The lighthouse was 102 feet high, tapered from 20 feet to 14 feet under the balcony, and built of cast iron plates bolted to a central pillar. Ancillary dwellings for the workmen were hewn into the rock (see the black rectangular holes in the pictures) These rude dwellings saved six lives fifteen years later.


But before that, tragedy struck in 1869 when the keeper offshore thought he saw distress signals on the light. Hurriedly commandeering a boat and six men they set forth for the Calf, only to discover their mistake. Almost immediately, a huge wave capsized the boat and all seven were drowned. 
That same year, as a result of storm damage, the lower part of the lighthouse was strengthened.
Then in November 1881 during a prolonged bout of atrocious weather, the unstrengthened top of the lighthouse was swept away into the sea one night. The keeper on duty had fortuitously just nipped downstairs for a second when the wave struck. The six men managed to make their way to the workers' dwellings, which were waterlogged and there they stayed for 12 days, as high seas made rescue by boat impossible. The whole world waited for news. Eventually a local crew, skippered by one Michael O'Shea, managed to get a line onto the island and the three keepers and three workmen took a running jump into the foaming cauldron. Al;l were saved to great rejoicing.



A memorial to the six men and their heroic rescuers was unveiled on the mainland on Dursey Sound, in sight of the Calf Rock in 2013. Incidentally, with the Fastnet being constructed of the same material, it was hurriedly decided that another Fastnet needed to be constructed before it suffered the same fate. This only took 23 years to come to fruition.
A temporary light was erected on the end of Dursey Island in 1881 to replace the Calf. This lasted for eight years until the new light was exhibited on Bull Rock on January 1st 1889.

18 comments:

  1. Glad you got to go there and thanks so much for the great write up. Cheers.

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  2. I believe my husbands ancestor was one of the men who died during the storm on Calf Rock in 1869. I only have his surname, Duggan. Do you have any further information about him? I believe his great grandfather was assistant keeper in the 1880 storm

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  3. I believe my husbands ancestor was one of the men who died during the storm on Calf Rock in 1869. I only have his surname, Duggan. Do you have any further information about him? I believe his great grandfather was assistant keeper in the 1880 storm

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  4. Hi Lighthouse (is that your real name?)
    There was certainly a John Duggan from Ballaghboyanong the men drowned. Ballaghboy is the townland at the end of the Beara peninsular on the mainland. John's wife Ellen was 30 at the time and her maiden name was Harrington. They had one child, Patrick, aged 2. John's mother, Margaret, was also listed as being a dependant of John.
    Now, there was no Duggan marooned on the rock in the 1881 tragedy but one of the assistants on the rock was a John Harrington from Tilickafinna (the last townland at the end of Dursey Island) He could possibly be a brother of Ellen Duggan? John Harrington had worked for ten years on the rock and had a wife and two children at the time of the tragedy.
    However, there was another John Duggan who was assistant keeper on the rock at the time. He should have relieved one of the other assistants three weeks previously but bad weather had kept him on the mainland. He helped to direct the boat crews in the rescue attempt. This information from Penelope Durell's excellent book 'Discover Dursey' Mail me at gouldingpeter@gmail.com if you require further info on the two disasters!

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  5. That should be 'Ballaghboy among' !!!!

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  6. Thomas Fortune was my great grandfather.

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  7. Thomas Fortune, named on the memorial in your picture, was my great grandfather.

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  8. Hi. Just getting caught up on some of my ancestry. My great grandfather was Thomas Fortune, the head keeper on Calf Rock in 1881 and one of those rescued. I understand from an old newspaper article that he was the last one off the rock and almost didn't make it due to a large wave. Any info related to the incident or about Thomas Fortune would be very welcomed! Perhaps others reading this have ancestors that were part of the 1881 incident.

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    1. Hi Kim, I'm thinking of writing a book on the Calf Rock. Any chance of dropping me a mail gouldingpeter at Gmail.com

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  9. Thanks for the information. We were discussing the Lighthouse earlier today. It was great to get the story from you.

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  10. Came across this article by sheer coincidence. The names Denis and Daniel Healy seemed familiar, sure enough, cracked out the family tree, and they're my 3x great uncle and 3x great grandfather respectively

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    1. According to the info I have, which came from a blog no longer in existence, "On that day 53 years old Seine fishing Captain Michael O’Shea of Ballinacholla called together his 6 man crew to take out his rowing boat and made an all-out bid to rescue the men. Together with the Captain there were his 20 year old son Michael; the Captain’s brother-in-law 45 years old Daniel Healy and his 23 years old son Denis Healy; the Captain’s son-in-law 30 years old Tade Dudley; the Captain’s 29 years old nephew Darby (or Jer) O’Sullivan (Brohil); and 37 years old Batt Lynch. The whole crew lived in the Dursey Island townland of Ballinacholla." With Daniel being married to Cait O'Shea, that would explain the brother-in-law reference, I assume? Pete gouldingpeter@gmail.com

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  11. Hi My great grandfather was Mick Kelly and we held at gathering in 2013 to mark this event. We invited the descendants of the rescuers and rescued. and unveiled plaque to mark this feat. the family story is that Mick Kelly walked into his own wake smoking a clay pipe as his wife Mary thought he was dead as his jumper was found washed up on shore and they had no way of knowing that he was alive. Her 1st husband Philip Conroy was drowned rowing to the calf rock in 1869 and she later married Mick Kelly he was a "Cliamh Isteach" to the farm.

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  12. I can be contacted at angeldharma@gmail.com re Mick Kelly

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  13. has anyone ever returned to the rock

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    1. There hasn't been much reason to land on the rock. I heard that somebody whose ancestor was on the rock went back one time and was able to land. And, during Covid, some feller wound up there accidentally and had to get the RNLI from Castketown to come out and rescue him and also his dog on the Bull Rock. Nice chap. Couldn't even bring himself to wear a mask out of gratitude when rescued, whether he believed in masks or not.

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  14. My great grandfather Daniel Healy & his son my grandfather Denis Healy were part of the rescue boat. Any information on any Healy family still in dursey island?

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    1. Last time I heard, the island had a population of 4. Whether this was all year round or summer months only, I don't know. The messing about with the cable car certainly wouldn't encourage re-habitation.

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