Pete's Irish Lighthouses

View from the balcony. Photo Damien Mcaleenan Many thanks to the  Steady As She Goes  maritime podcast, no 11, for alerting us to the intriguing news that a social media video (reel? short? - sorry, too old to learn new tricks!) has recently appeared on Facebook from Saltee Sea Safaris, based in Kilmore who have hitherto run exciting trips to the Saltee Islands off the south coast of Wexford. Not only Facebook but Instagram too and probably Tinder and Spotify and Snapchat and other internet places I have never visited. There  is no commentary to the piece. It says that they have, or are going to have a 'new boat.' The graphics read 'Something exciting is coming,' 'A New Adventure' 'Soon To Be Revealed' 'Prepare for What's Next' and 'Are You Ready?'  Following this, there are three arty shots of Tuskar Rock lighthouse!

  The Dingle lighthouse and the slightly over-kitsch dwelling house at the entrance to Dingle harbour. Photo Dave Lowcher My previous posts about this picture-postcard lighthouse and other Dingle navigational marks   here, here and here  failed to touch on the history of the light and the people who manned it. As usual, there are gaps in both chronology and detail that I hope local knowledge might be able to fill. An Irish Fisheries report for 1884-6 mentions that the Dingle fishermen were complaining of the shallowness of the water in mid-channel and the absence of a light at the entrance of the harbour. Combined, this meant they often had to lay their boats to under small canvas at night and wait for daylight before safely landing their catch. The Dingle Harbour Board, good men themselves, sought tenders at the end of October 1886 and the lamp shone forth on 1st April 1887, costing £589, a considerable saving on the £800 tendered. It was a fixed red light, ostens...

Hank Marvin with shadow at a lighthouse I f you didn't already know, and were asked at which Irish lighthouse the first helicopter rescue occurred, where would you say? And what was the reason for it? And who was rescued? Possibly, like me, you'd probably plump for some lighthouse off the west coast, maybe Tearaght or Skellig, where a keeper had suddenly become very sick and had to have urgent medical attention. Somewhere noted for its maroonings and overdue reliefs and not being able to get home for Christmas. And like me, you'd be wrong on all accounts, except the fact that it was off the west coast. Black Rock Sligo (like its namesake in Mayo, I never know if its one word or two) was not a station that made headlines for its overdue reliefs, particularly as it had been automated very early in 1934, more than 99 years (but less than 100) after the light was first established. From the shoreline at Rosses Point, it doesn't seem that far away – almost wadable at low tid...

The SS Alexandra Yet again I am indebted to Jane Sims for this little gem, Steamers and Motor Tender 1940, which was published by the Commissioner of Irish Lights dated 1st June 1940. Basically, as the cover page shows, it is a list of the four ships owned by Irish Lights at the time to do reliefs, inspections and buoy work around the coast of Ireland. They were also available for hire by the hour, as their particulars show.  It may not have won the Booker Prize (not even shortlisted, if you can believe that) but it is a treasure trove of information for one day in the life of the Irish Lights tenders. It also contains a list of the officers and men who served on the vessels in June 1940, which is particularly poignant as the six men who died when the Isolda was sunk six months later, were still alive and healthy when these particulars were listed. Their names are Patrick Dunne, Patrick Farrell, John James Hayden, William Holland, William Rushby and Patrick Shortt. RIP. The SS Ie...

The non-nuclear Blackrock lighthouse Many lighthouse lovers in Ireland are aware that the tiny island of Rathlin O'Birne, just off the coast of Malin Beg in county Donegal, was the first and, so far, only Irish navigational light to be powered by nuclear energy, rather than the old, fuzzy sort. However, it was very nearly not so, as the original location was supposed to have been Blackrock (Mayo), our most distant light from the mainland, and the second-highest above sea level. (Kudos to anyone who knows the highest without looking it up. I made hen stumble over southern promontory (4,4)) In 1964, Irish Lights was contacted by the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, Oxfordshire, about the possibility of converting one of its lights, Blackrock, to nuclear energy. Presumably, this was a pilot project; if it worked, others could have followed suit. Talks continued for a further six years. Several lighthouses were canvassed but the overwhelming favourite, Blackrock, messed...

  Difficult to get a photo of a Spanish or French fishing boat passing an Irish lighthouse, so here's the Glor na dTonn at Rotten Island (note the complete absence of brandy) From the Irish Times 15th June 1962 :- "A charge that some lighthouse keepers around the Irish coast were accepting presents of brandy from poaching trawlers as a reward for signals about the  pending  arrival of fishery protection corvettes, was made in the Dail yesterday. 'Mr Leneghan (Independent) said that there was mass poaching by French, Spanish and English trawlers. These gentlemen were usually equipped with large stocks of brandy and our coasts were well equipped with lighthouses, and the men in them were not averse to drinking brandy. If his information was correct, these gentlemen were able to signal to those foreign boats when the corvettes were coming in sight. 'Mr Tully (Lab) - I hope deputy Leneghan can prove that statement himself. If not, he should not have made it in the House w...

The Tuskar. Photo by Richard Cummins I'm currently researching pre-1900 lightkeepers, which is quite a thankless task, as records are few and far between. It seems that, at most lights, nothing newsworthy happened for many years; as a result, most potted biographies of keepers are along the lines of ' Served on the Fastnet 1871 and 1875. Moved to Loop Head some time before 1880. Transferred to Ardglass about 1883' and so on, which doesn't make for interesting reading, unless the person was your ancestor. However, I recently came across 'an old friend,' whom I encountered while writing my Eagle Island book, called Rickard Hamilton and detailing an account of a shipwreck on the Tuskar Rock. To be honest, a musical could be written about Rickard alone (though it would be hard to come up with a short, snappy title) but I will confine myself to the six years and four months that he spent on the Tuskar between 1880 and 1886. Rickard Hamilton (1845-1932) Like my broth...