Pete's Irish Lighthouses

The LV Seagull when she was on the Coningbeg Station in 1908 On the 10th April 1930, Denis McCallig of Dunkineely joined Irish Lights to work upon the lightships. He was a week shy of his 27th birthday and was one of the sons of William McCallig, a farmer cum fisherman and Mary Anne McBrearty of Ballysaggart, halfway down the sliver of a peninsula that runs down to St. John's Point. Like lighthouse keepers, lightshipmen had their own service numbers. Denis was 108. Life on any of the ten light vessels on the south and east coasts of Ireland was tough. The vessels had no engine and had to be towed into position by one of the Irish Lights tenders when required. They were kept in position by an incredibly long chain and anchor and thus, when things went wrong, as with the Daunt lightship outside Cork harbour in 1896, they were completely at the mercy of the elements with no way of manouvering the boat to ride the waves. As such, the crew were on the receiving end of a buffeting more t...

  They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me I can’t help it if I’m lucky Okay, well I'm not as lucky as Bob and I've had my fair share of rainy day holidays in the past but sometimes the gods nod my way. Five nights near Banna Strand in September. I knew Little Samphire lighthouse wasn't far away but I'd already seen it from Great Samphire seven years ago, so I'd only really be repeating myself. I made a few enquiries about old photographs or artefacts that might be still in the area and then Mary Browne - who had helped me greatly while I was writing the book - asked "We have a tour on Saturday at 2pm, if you're interested?" Hmm, let me see, I'll check my social calendar... A nasty little rock in between Great and Little Samphire called the Wheel Rock. The light on it came down in the winter gales of 1946, 1965 and 1967 to name but three! Mary and Alan Browne run Trale...

Belfast's East Twin Light c.1912 (From the John Kempster album, courtesy Senan Molony) On the morning of April 2 nd , 1912, the ship groaned inwardly and eased out from the fitting-out jetty, as the crowd cheered excitedly. Gazing at the delirious scenes ashore, Able Seaman Charlie Dumigan’s 45-year-old hands lightly rested on the handrail, and his thoughts strayed back to the Ailsa Craig and the deafening lack of fuss whenever she sailed. There was much to be said for coastal steamers, he thought. Far less hullabaloo and watching your language. At least, they were only delivering this girl to Southampton and then they’d be back home to Portaferry, while she sailed the world for many years. Escorted by four tugboats, the ship approached a curious wooden structure on the quayside, maybe twenty-five feet tall and bearing a resemblance to a Chinese pagoda. Fortunately for this semi-factual account, Charlie Dumigan was a lighthouse enthusiast and recognised the East Twin Light im...

A few years ago, I came across a video on Youtube of someone who had entered the lightkeeper's cottage on Scattery Island and recorded the dereliction thereof. I was therefore not expecting very much improvement last month when I visited Inis Cathaigh courtesy of Scattery Island Tours. It was actually the day after Storm Betty and my morning trip was cancelled, but they managed to go in the afternoon and a very enjoyable experience it was too. A short 15 minute walk down a green road lined with blackberry bushes (I should have brought a bucket) and I was at the cottage and the lighthouse beyond. The lady in the tour boat office in Kilrush had asked me not to enter the cottage as it was unsafe, but it seemed all locked up anyway. It seemed in pretty good condition. I shrugged and went on to the lighthouse, which I will cover in another post. Returning past the cottage, there was a couple sitting in the front garden and the front door was open. We got chatting and I explained my inte...