To boldly go - the poetry of Captain Quirke
From Beam 12.1
I kind of like that poem, conjuring up an image of a lightship captain leaning on the handrail and gazing out onto a perfectly calm ocean. Not to mention the ambiguous last line - is it the crew of the vessel he is talking about, or the drowned mariners of yesteryear? And it appeals to my sense of symmetry, with the lines beginning A, A, A and And.
The Quirkes, like many lightshipmen, were from the Faythe and Parnell Street in Wexford (the Grandad in me is dying to say they were Quirkes of Faythe) but their naissance in the wonderful world of engineless boats seems to have started with a Gaul.
Philip Quirke was a carpenter / joiner in Wexford in the late 1800s and his children included Mary, John, Barnaby and Peter. It was Mary who started the ball rolling, marrying one Richard Gaul in 1898. He was a seaman aboard a 'floating light,' the Lucifer lightship, in 1911. John also worked on the lightships though on a more temporary nature, filling in for absent or ill crew members as the need arose. He had spent most of his working life serving on ocean-going vessels. In fact,
at the outbreak of the First World War, he had found himself on a vessel in a German
port and ended up being interred in a prisoner-of-war camp for four years. He died aboard the Lucifer LV in 1933.
Bernard Quirke joined the service in 1907 and served on many, if not all the lightships. He became Mate in 1927 and Master in 1933, finally retiring in June 1942. It wasn't to be a long retirement, for he died six weeks later at his home in Kilmore Quay.
Bernard Quirke c1933. Photo courtesy Leonard Cullen
(There were two later Quirkes, James and John, who joined the service. They may well have been Bernard's sons but I stand open to correction on that one.)
The final sibling, Peter, took over from his father Philip in the carpentry business but his son, Bernard, born in 1904, joined the lightships in 1929, becoming Mate in 1940 and later Master. He served at Barrels, Blackwater, Skulmartin and Codling during his long career of lightshipping and poeticising.
Captain Quirke, I am aggrieved to say, probably never had a first mate called Spock.
PS Please read the comments from Leonard Cullen below regarding some of the finer points of this biography.
Thanks Pete for the information you have provided on the Quirke family involvement with the lightships. I have been doing some research into my family history and came across your post and your reference to Bernard Quirke who was my uncle.
ReplyDeleteMy mother's name was Eileen Quirke and her grandfather was Philip Quirke the carpenter you mentioned who had four children, Peter born 1872, Mary 1874, John 1876 and Bernard (not Barnaby)1874. The 1901 Census records the Quirkes living at 40 Fishers Row and the 'Head of Family' was Richard Gaul who as you say was married to Mary Quirke and they had a two year old son at the time named Philip. Jane Quirke who was Philip's (the carpenter) wife was aged 60 and her sons Peter, John and Bernard are all recorded as 'Seamen'. There is no record of Philip senior so he may not have been living at that time. It looks like Richard married Mary and moved into the Quirke household.
You mention that Peter (my grandfather) took over the carpentry business from his father Philip but I don't believe that is correct. Peter had a long career with the Rosslare to Fishguard service and was quartermaster on the SS St David. In 1921 he received the Mercantile Marine Medal and the British Medal for his services in the merchant marine during the First World War. He died in 1956.
Peter fatered 12 children including Bernard 1904 (who wrote the poem) as well as James 1906, and John (Jack) 1918 who I suggest are the James and John you refer to in your post. There was another seagoing son Peter born 1914 and was a crewman on the SS Fort Nakasley when he became sick and died on 25 April 1946. He was buried in Mogadishu, Ethiopia.
Thanks again for your post and keep up the good work.
Many thanks for that Leonard. Not only does it set the record straight but it adds significantly to the story of a very prominent family in lightship circles. If you had a photo of Bernard, I'd be happy to add it to the blog - gouldingpeter at gmail.com
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