TRADITION had it that any 'eligible maiden' who hopped three times around the base of the Metal Man's tower marking Tramore Bay, Co. Waterford, would find a good husband within the year. And same husband would find a fine spouse, given that the hopping distance was a good 80 yards on bumpy ground. The pisreog never really applied to the beacon's brother over in the north-west, however, given that Sligo's famous Metal Man stood out to sea.
It was the local shipowners who asked that the effigy of the sailor-arm outstretched to warn ships away-be erected on Perch Rock, off Oyster Island in Sligo Bay, some 192 years ago. In March 2003 this Metal Man entered the 21st century; he was 'solarised' by his masters, the Commissioners of Irish Lights, as part of a programme to convert both offshore and onshore lights to renewable energy sources.
The previous gas-powered lights on the Metal Man and on Oyster Island were replaced by new, synchronised solar electric installations from March 13th. It was back in 1989 that the Commissioners began switching all their buoys to solar power, with much success; over the past three years the organisation has been engaged in converting its off-shore lights, including Eagle Island, Co. Mayo, Skellig Rock off Kerry, and Slyne Head, north of Galway.

Unique images
Even as they fine tune those new energy sources, the Commissioners have marked a little bit of history with the publication of a series of unique images. For a period of 29 years, during the late 1800s and early 1900s, over 100 photographs of navigational marks around this coast were taken by a former scientific advisor to the Board, Sir Robert Ball. Ball was an astronomer, mathematician, author, and lecturer and one of his duties to the Commissioners was to participate in the annual coastal inspection.
Long before the days of air transport and helicopters, this inspection was a serious affair. It entailed visiting up to 100 lighthouses, lightships, and smaller navigational marks to make sure that the aids to navigation were maintained properly. Ball never travelled without at least one camera and he took it with him when the hardy Commissioners disembarked from their steamer, Alexandra, into small rowing boats to reach hazardous jetties. Sometimes they had to be hoisted ashore by lighthouse staff, using manually operated derricks.
Ball coped with all this, and with using his cumbersome equipment on a heaving deck, though he had no sight in one eye. His collection was a photographic equivalent of essential information gathered for Admiralty Charts; it is also an invaluable historical record, given rapid developments in maritime technology. At the time fog signals, including cannons, had to be ignited by hand, while bells were rung by an electrically-charged striker, and large telescopes were deployed to receive signals. The images include the construction of Fastnet, and also capture the harsh lives lived by Keepers and their families.

Ball's lighthouse record was donated by the Commissioners to the National Photographic Archive three years ago, as part of a collection comprising some 1,000 of his shots. An exhibition of his work was mounted by the Archive at the time, and was opened again on 21 February 2003 to coincide with publication of a book of the same by the National Library, in association with the Commissioners.
By pure coincidence, lighthouses were also the theme of an exhibition, named Counterpoint, opened in the Kenny Gallery, Galway, the previous evening by the maritime historian Dr John de Courcy Ireland. Lights and their remote locations have always fascinated the Sligo-based artist Vivien Murray, who is a fifth-generation Australian. A qualified nurse and mid-wife, she has benefited from the navigation marks herself as someone who has spent some time at sea. She worked for a year on a Greek passenger liner cruising the world, and spent several more stints on ships, in between time in a kibbutz in Israel. She has lived in Sligo since 1975, and taught yoga until enrolling in her first course in art and design.
Three pink pears and a jug, three red pears and a fruit bowl in a window looking out on Hook Head light, and many more snapshots of light in round rooms built to withstand exposure to the elements featured in the paintings on display. They 'appear straightforward, yet are deceptively complex', according to fellow artist Catherine MacConville. The 'simplicity, stillness and self-sufficiency of the interiors' created by Murray 'contrast with the ephemeral activity viewed through her windows', she says.
Also in Galway, there has been a second print run of Brendan O'Donnell's photographic record Galway, A Maritime Tradition, produced with assistance from the Heritage Council at €12.
And that book of images from Sir Robert Ball's collection, entitled For the Safety of All; images and inspections of Irish lighthouses, is available from the National Library, the National Photographic Archive, the Commissioners of Irish Lights, and bookshops, priced €13.