Book Reviews
Historic Hook
Reviewed by Frank Pelly
The Hook Peninsula, County Wexford-by Billy Colfer
General Editors F.H.A. Allen, Kevin Whelan, Matthew Stout
(Cork University Press, Crawford Business Park, Crosses Green, Cork);
ISBN 1 85918 378 6;
large format hardback 299 x 237mm,
249 pages, 516 colour illustrations, photographs, maps, paintings, sketches, inventories, appendices, endnotes, bibliography, and index
€40.00/£25.00/$40.00
The Hook Peninsula follows Newgrange and the Bends of the Boyne in the Irish Rural Landscape series, an offshoot of the internationally successful Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape. These case-studies are researched, analysed, and written to the highest academic standards. They explore the landscape, its archaeology and history, the impact of human footprints on the environment, and the resultant changes to the terrain through the centuries.
The Hook forms the eastern boundary of Waterford Harbour. Over the centuries the harbour has played an important role in Irish history. Its shores offered an obvious landfall for invading tribes and armies, and for the arrival of monastic and merchant classes from Britain and Continental Europe. With each came religious, political, and social change, change in language, and new ideas, methods of cultivation, and craftsmanship.
In the 5th century, St Dubhán, a Welsh monk, founded his monastery at Hook-Rinn Dubháin. A persistent tradition claims that Dubhán and his monks established a warning beacon for shipping at the tip of the headland as an act of practical Christianity. St Dubhán might well be regarded as the patron saint of the Irish Lighthouse Service.
Billy Colfer traces and analyses the physical remains around the peninsula: the origins of past and present-day families, and their contribution to local and national events; and the changes to the landscape brought about by political and monastic life, land ownership, and farming methods. In identifying individuals with events and changes Billy gives this work a strong human dimension.
Adam Loftus, founder of the Loftus dynasty in Ireland, was made Anglican Archbishop of Dublin in 1567. He subsequently became Lord Chancellor of Ireland and First Provest of Trinity College, Dublin, which he helped to establish in 1592. He built Rathfarnham Castle where he raised a large family. His son Henry was the founder of the Loftus Hall and Hook Tower branch of the family.
With the interspersal of information of this nature and the aid of many lavishly coloured illustrations, photographs, and maps the reader is taken on a pleasant and informative tour of the changing landscape. The need for modern developments to appreciate and respect the environment, and the need to conserve it for future generations is also examined.
Billy Colfer arrived in Hook at the outbreak of the Second World War as a newly-born infant from London. The seeds of his interest in local history were sown in his formative years at Loftus National School by his teacher Mrs Kathleen Conway (nee Walsh). He has spent a lifetime studying the written history and other social records of the peninsula, and has extensively researched and recorded the unwritten folklore, as handed down by word-of-mouth by successive generations.
A retired teacher, he is acclaimed as an authority and writer on the history, folklore, and families of the Hook peninsula. This publication is the culmination of his life's endeavours. Notwithstanding, being written to the highest academic standards Billy has utilised his experience as a teacher to communicate an intellectual study which is both easy to understand and a pleasure to read.
Cork University Press is to be congratulated on the publication's layout and the reproduction clarity of the illustrations, photographs, maps, etc. The cost of the book is reflected in the printing of a publication of this quality.
Irish Isles
Reviewed by Captain Owen Deignan
Donegal Islands-by Wallace Clark and Ross Harvey
(Cottage Publications-an imprint of Laurel Cottage Ltd,
15 Ballyhay Road, Donaghadee, Co Down, BT21 0NG);
ISBN 1900935 31 7;
hardback, 95 pages,
37 soft pastel illustrations
Price not stated.
Oileáin-A Guide to the Irish islands-by David Walsh
(Pesda Press, Elidir, Ffordd Llanllechid, Rachub Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 3EE, Wales; distributed by Cordee,
3a DeMontfort Street, Leicester, LE1 7HD, England);
ISBN 0-9531956-9-4;
paperback, 218 pages, 100 colour photos, maps, and index.
Price not stated.
These two books have a common theme in that their authors describe in detail and with obvious pleasure, the magic of visiting the many islands which encircle and enhance the coastline of Ireland.
What is it about islands that so attracts and beguiles? It is certainly not a recent preoccupation; I wonder did Homer start it all with his great Odyssey when he wrote about the fantastic adventures of Ulysses as he made his way back, after the Trojan wars, from island to island, to his wife, Penelope, on their own island of Ithaca? Or did Daniel Defoe put a spell on us all in describing the extraordinary survival of Robinson Crusoe? And what about Robert Louis Stephenson and his unforgettable Treasure Island? The attraction of islands, for whatever reason, is undeniable and in these two books it is palpable.
Donegal Islands is small in format for a coffee table type volume but makes up for this in its high-quality production and content. Wallace Clarke, that intrepid yachtsman and author of a number of books on sailing in home and distant waters, but perhaps best known for his Sailing Round Ireland, has written the text for this attractive book, while his co-author, the artist Ros Harvey, has contributed 39 excellent paintings, in pastel, of seascapes and landscapes of the Donegal coast.
Wallace Clarke writes in a gentle and engaging manner of the people, flora, fauna, history, and geology of these islands, but principally of the people themselves, both residents and visitors, and dwells affectionately on their day to day activities, with the odd reference to little personal eccentricities or larger-than-life occurrences in the course of their enviable life styles. He has sailed this way before during the past 55 years or so, and unerringly records the many changes that have taken place-some for the worst but probably most for the best. He notes, with regret, the demanning and automation of the lighthouses in the area and remembers the names of some of the Keepers who made him welcome in times past-familiar Lighthouse Service family names such as Meehan, McCarthy, and Coupe.
His knowledge of the local history of the islands is very impressive. He regales us with tales of shipwrecks, monks, poteen makers, battles fought, smugglers, hunger, hardship, heroism-and, following it all, he lauds the survival of the islanders and their innate kindness and hospitality to visitors to their shores.
He also quotes from that informative book Life in Donegal by the teacher and one time Lightkeeper, Edward McCarron, who served on a number of the north coast lighthouses during the middle and later part of the 19th century and left us a fascinating account of his experiences.
Ros Harvey, a Donegal born woman herself, has captured the special light and atmosphere of the coastal regions of her home county in her illustrations. These give the book a special visual impact and ideally complement Wallace Clark's text.
Oileain by David Walsh, is a different kind of book but no less interesting. It is a paper-back guide to the islands of Ireland and describes in minute detail all the information one would need in order to visit practically every island, big or small, on the Irish coast. It is especially aimed at small-boat sailors, and kayakers in particular, for whom it contains a truly mind-boggling wealth of local lore.
I flattered myself that I had an intimate knowledge of all the offshore rocks on which our lighthouses stand-until such time as I had looked up the information provided on each of them in this book, only then to discover that I was sadly deficient in the finer details of local knowledge. And I think I know why: kayaks and dinghys are so fragile in comparison with our larger craft and powerful workboats that every potential hazard or danger relative to the needs of these courageous small-boat sailors must be anticipated in advance, and what better precautions to take in this regard than to have a thorough knowledge of what lies ahead?
The author does not confine himself to the physical aspects of the islands. He has done considerable historical research in many instances, and includes an impressive amount of information on the local history-archival and anecdotal-with particular reference to the larger islands, whether previously or currently inhabited.
Oileain's 218 pages are lavishly illustrated with many excellent photographs and charts which serve to enhance the detailed descriptions contained in the text.
A passage in the Introduction to this book nicely sums up its function as a guide to the Irish islands. 'Oileain tells it as it is, rock by rock, good and bad, pleasant and otherwise. It concentrates on landings and access generally, then adds information on camping, drinking water, tides, history, climbing, birds, whales, dolphins, legends or anything else of interest.'
The author is to be congratulated on the scope of this book. It fulfils a very definite need in the maritime field. It should find a place on board every craft that sails in any capacity-pleasure, commercial, fishing, search and rescue, scuba diving, etc-around the coast of Ireland.
Captain Owen Deignan is a retired Inspector of Lights & Marine Superintendent of the Commissioners of Irish Lights
Len's Story
Reviewed by the Editor Born on the Edge of White Water-by Leonard V. Stocker (Pen Press Publishers Ltd, 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP); ISBN 1-904754-21-X; paperback, 211 pages, £6.99 in UK
THE name of the author will be familiar to many former colleagues in our Service; however the author is not the Lightkeeper Lenny Stocker but his son, also christened Leonard Vincent, and called Vincent to avoid confusion with his father. Leonard (senior) married relatively late in life a woman 25 years younger. Vincent was the eldest of a family that was still growing when Leonard retired in 1958.
It was a hard childhood. Living at a lighthouse set Vincent and his siblings apart from other children. Corporal punishment was severe and frequent at school and at home. The inevitability of transfer to another station, but never being sure when this would come, meant that the family was never part of the local community. Vincent lived at Blackhead Antrim, Castletownbere, Minehead, Greenore, and Minehead again.
Leonard's final station was Aranmore; the family lived in a rented house in Burtonport but Vincent joined his father at the lighthouse during the holidays. And it was there, on Aranmore Island, that Vincent's first romance took place.
After Leonard's retirement the family moved to Dublin where Vincent found it hard to settle. He really wanted to follow his father's footsteps as a Lightkeeper but Leonard opposed this because he believed automation would come sooner rather than later, doing away with Lightkeepers. Vincent worked in a series of dead-end jobs in Dublin and then ran away to England, arriving eventually in London where he was known as Len.
His bizarre adventures in London read more like a novel than a memoir. But, after all, it was London, and it was the 1960s. The book ends with him returning to Dublin five years later to be reconciled-I think, though we are not told-with his family.
Though it occupies less than a third of the book the author's account of growing up at lighthouses during the 1950s is the most authentic I have ever read. I think he has had a few lapses of memory where minor details are not quite correct but these are of no importance. Minehead and Aranmore are the stations that made the deepest impression on him. Later, in Dublin and London, the image of the lighthouses comes into his mind periodically as an icon of security and stability.
We learn nothing of Vincent's (Len's) subsequent life, nor do we discover the identify of the artist who contributed the nice black and white drawings.
Doctor's Memoir
Reviewed by the Editor
From Slyne Head to Malin Head:
A Rural GP Remembers-by Dr Ken O'Flaherty
(published by the author; printed by Browne Printers, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.);
ISBN 0-9546312-0-X;
paperback, 312 pages with photos and illustrations
€14.95/£10.50
Lightkeepers stationed at Inishowen Lighthouse or living in the area will remember Dr Ken O'Flaherty, the Irish Lights Medical Officer for Inishowen from 1956 to 1990. His contacts with our Service go back to his childhood, however, as his parents had a pub, grocery business and farm at Ballyconneely, near Clifden, Co. Galway. As a boy Ken used to see the Slyne Head Lightkeepers travelling on relief between the station shore dwellings and the rock. The Slyne Head relief journey was arduous: by car from Clifden to End of the Road at Ailbrack Beach; then horse and cart to Slackport where stores, provisions, clothing, and bedding were trasferred to donkeys with creels; a walk with the donkeys to the boat slip at Slackport; and then the boat journey to Slyne Head rock, perhaps to find there was no landing and have to return all the way back to Clifden and repeat the attempt the next day. The O'Flaherty's pub and grocery was midway between Clifden and Slackport and the Keepers would call in on their way.
Later, as a junior Doctor at Monkstown Hospital, Ken treated lightship and lighthouse tender crews. Soon afterwards he accepted an offer of a private medical practice in Moville, Co. Donegal where he remained for many years and still lives in retirement. In addition to being MO for Inishowen Lighthouse he frequently treated sick or injured crewmen on trawlers or merchant ships, being brought out to the vessel by pilot boat from Inishowen Head. Life was busy with surgery, house calls often to remote farmhouses, home births, and epidemics.
This memoir is much broader than a reminiscence of medical practice. It is really a social history touching on all aspects of life, rural life as a boy in Co. Galway, student days in Dublin, working life and, finally, retirement in Moville, interwoven with world elements, national and local history, and sporting events. In middle age he took up running, cycling, walking, swimming, and tennis.
In retirement he continued these activities, in addition to travel and work to improve medical services locally and nationally as president of the Irish College of General Practictioners.
Dr Ken O'Flaherty has written a most interesting account of a full and varied life. Unfortunately it is marred somewhat by many spelling, gramatical, and punctuation mistakes which good editing would have elimiated. Charitable readers will overlook these faults, particularly as profits from sales of the book go to the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland and the Foyle Hospice, Derry.
Tuskar Tragedy
Reviewed by Captain Kieran O'Higgins Tragedy at Tuskar Rock-by Mike Reynolds
(Gill & Macmillan Publishers, Hume Avenue, Park West,Dublin 12)
ISBN 0 7171 3619 1;
paperback; 240 pages with black and white photo inserts;
€12.99
Everyone of a certain age remembers the crash of an Aer Lingus Viscount airplane, the St Phelim, near Tuskar Rock. On 24 March 1968 flight EI 712 en route from Cork to London crashed into the sea near the Tuskar lighthouse, off the coast of Co. Wexford. All 57 passengers and four crew died. It remains the single biggest loss in the history of Irish civil aviation.
It is said that a lie will be half way around the world before truth gets its trousers on. The common and much held theory over the years was that the plane had been either shot down by a missile or had collided with a drone. Perhaps the times had something to do with us holding this theory dear.
The truth, it seems, is much less exciting. A government report of the accident was published two years after the crash, but no conclusions were drawn except to indicate that there might have been something else in the air at the time. Some thirty years later the Irish Government commissioned another report and three international air accident experts were tasked to review the evidence.
As the base for two of the investigators was in France, Mike Reynolds became their legman in Ireland, apparently by simply applying for the job. His task was to gather evidence, interview surviving witnesses, visit locations, and generally assist the progress of the investigation. His book is based on his contribution and takes us through the sequence of events, theories and conclusions.
The clues are there and Mr Reynolds is a skilful guide. His style is easy and there is a logical sequence to the development of the story. He made a particularly important contribution, which postulated that the aircraft suffered damage much earlier in the flight than had been assumed in the original report. The final report concurred, and found that the balance of evidence was consistent with initial damage to the tail plane, or its control cables, shortly after take-off from Cork, which progressively affected the performance of the plane. No other aircraft or missile was involved. The persistent rumours are dispelled.
It is worth bearing in mind that 61 people lost their lives in this crash. Left behind were relatives who have had to bear the hurt over the years, and who had to deal with not knowing what the cause of the crash was and at the same time deal with the persistent conspiracy theories.
While there will always be disasters in the air, on land, and at sea where the full facts are not available and therefore the absolute truth cannot emerge, I believe Mike Reynolds's book will give some comfort and closure to many as to what really happened to Flight EI 712. It is gratifying to see the son of the pilot write the foreword to this book and acknowledge with thanks the conclusions in the present report.
Rescues
Reviewed by Susie Foreman
Mayday! Mayday!: Heroic Air-Sea Rescues in Irish Waters-by Lorna Siggins
(Gill & Macmillan Publishers, Hume Avenue, Park West, Dublin 12)
ISBN 0 7171 3529 2;
paperback; 239 pages, 26 monochrome photos, glossary & index;
€12.99
Lorna Siggins is the western correspondent of the Irish Times and has compiled a book of extraordinary stories and heroic rescues around the coast of Ireland.
This is a book about the remarkable air sea rescue crews who work in dangerous conditions to exacting standards; professionals who face danger calmly on a daily basis to save the lives of strangers at sea and on land. Many rescues involve hanging from a wire in high winds and dreadful seas. Seldom if ever do people get into trouble in good weather.
Ms Siggins not only documents air-sea rescue cases but also intersperses these with the history of Irish air-sea rescue service from the first rescues on the Irish coast in 1956 to the present day. We are guided through the failure of successive governments to supply the Irish maritime community with medium range helicopter coverage around the Irish coast, to our reliance on the professionalism of the RAF pilots who consistently provide coverage throughout Ireland and Irish waters, why there was such low moral among helicopter crews in 1999, and the tragic loss of flight 111 at Tramore.
Many of the rescues are breathtaking in their courage and skill. The heroism of countless people gives this book broad appeal. For anyone involved in the Irish maritime community and the great outdoors, this is a book worth reading.
Reviewed by Frank Pelly
The Hook Peninsula, County Wexford-by Billy Colfer
General Editors F.H.A. Allen, Kevin Whelan, Matthew Stout
(Cork University Press, Crawford Business Park, Crosses Green, Cork);
ISBN 1 85918 378 6;
large format hardback 299 x 237mm,
249 pages, 516 colour illustrations, photographs, maps, paintings, sketches, inventories, appendices, endnotes, bibliography, and index
€40.00/£25.00/$40.00
The Hook Peninsula follows Newgrange and the Bends of the Boyne in the Irish Rural Landscape series, an offshoot of the internationally successful Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape. These case-studies are researched, analysed, and written to the highest academic standards. They explore the landscape, its archaeology and history, the impact of human footprints on the environment, and the resultant changes to the terrain through the centuries.
The Hook forms the eastern boundary of Waterford Harbour. Over the centuries the harbour has played an important role in Irish history. Its shores offered an obvious landfall for invading tribes and armies, and for the arrival of monastic and merchant classes from Britain and Continental Europe. With each came religious, political, and social change, change in language, and new ideas, methods of cultivation, and craftsmanship.
In the 5th century, St Dubhán, a Welsh monk, founded his monastery at Hook-Rinn Dubháin. A persistent tradition claims that Dubhán and his monks established a warning beacon for shipping at the tip of the headland as an act of practical Christianity. St Dubhán might well be regarded as the patron saint of the Irish Lighthouse Service.
Billy Colfer traces and analyses the physical remains around the peninsula: the origins of past and present-day families, and their contribution to local and national events; and the changes to the landscape brought about by political and monastic life, land ownership, and farming methods. In identifying individuals with events and changes Billy gives this work a strong human dimension.
Adam Loftus, founder of the Loftus dynasty in Ireland, was made Anglican Archbishop of Dublin in 1567. He subsequently became Lord Chancellor of Ireland and First Provest of Trinity College, Dublin, which he helped to establish in 1592. He built Rathfarnham Castle where he raised a large family. His son Henry was the founder of the Loftus Hall and Hook Tower branch of the family.
With the interspersal of information of this nature and the aid of many lavishly coloured illustrations, photographs, and maps the reader is taken on a pleasant and informative tour of the changing landscape. The need for modern developments to appreciate and respect the environment, and the need to conserve it for future generations is also examined.
Billy Colfer arrived in Hook at the outbreak of the Second World War as a newly-born infant from London. The seeds of his interest in local history were sown in his formative years at Loftus National School by his teacher Mrs Kathleen Conway (nee Walsh). He has spent a lifetime studying the written history and other social records of the peninsula, and has extensively researched and recorded the unwritten folklore, as handed down by word-of-mouth by successive generations.
A retired teacher, he is acclaimed as an authority and writer on the history, folklore, and families of the Hook peninsula. This publication is the culmination of his life's endeavours. Notwithstanding, being written to the highest academic standards Billy has utilised his experience as a teacher to communicate an intellectual study which is both easy to understand and a pleasure to read.
Cork University Press is to be congratulated on the publication's layout and the reproduction clarity of the illustrations, photographs, maps, etc. The cost of the book is reflected in the printing of a publication of this quality.
Irish Isles
Reviewed by Captain Owen Deignan
Donegal Islands-by Wallace Clark and Ross Harvey
(Cottage Publications-an imprint of Laurel Cottage Ltd,
15 Ballyhay Road, Donaghadee, Co Down, BT21 0NG);
ISBN 1900935 31 7;
hardback, 95 pages,
37 soft pastel illustrations
Price not stated.
Oileáin-A Guide to the Irish islands-by David Walsh
(Pesda Press, Elidir, Ffordd Llanllechid, Rachub Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 3EE, Wales; distributed by Cordee,
3a DeMontfort Street, Leicester, LE1 7HD, England);
ISBN 0-9531956-9-4;
paperback, 218 pages, 100 colour photos, maps, and index.
Price not stated.
These two books have a common theme in that their authors describe in detail and with obvious pleasure, the magic of visiting the many islands which encircle and enhance the coastline of Ireland.
What is it about islands that so attracts and beguiles? It is certainly not a recent preoccupation; I wonder did Homer start it all with his great Odyssey when he wrote about the fantastic adventures of Ulysses as he made his way back, after the Trojan wars, from island to island, to his wife, Penelope, on their own island of Ithaca? Or did Daniel Defoe put a spell on us all in describing the extraordinary survival of Robinson Crusoe? And what about Robert Louis Stephenson and his unforgettable Treasure Island? The attraction of islands, for whatever reason, is undeniable and in these two books it is palpable.
Donegal Islands is small in format for a coffee table type volume but makes up for this in its high-quality production and content. Wallace Clarke, that intrepid yachtsman and author of a number of books on sailing in home and distant waters, but perhaps best known for his Sailing Round Ireland, has written the text for this attractive book, while his co-author, the artist Ros Harvey, has contributed 39 excellent paintings, in pastel, of seascapes and landscapes of the Donegal coast.
Wallace Clarke writes in a gentle and engaging manner of the people, flora, fauna, history, and geology of these islands, but principally of the people themselves, both residents and visitors, and dwells affectionately on their day to day activities, with the odd reference to little personal eccentricities or larger-than-life occurrences in the course of their enviable life styles. He has sailed this way before during the past 55 years or so, and unerringly records the many changes that have taken place-some for the worst but probably most for the best. He notes, with regret, the demanning and automation of the lighthouses in the area and remembers the names of some of the Keepers who made him welcome in times past-familiar Lighthouse Service family names such as Meehan, McCarthy, and Coupe.
His knowledge of the local history of the islands is very impressive. He regales us with tales of shipwrecks, monks, poteen makers, battles fought, smugglers, hunger, hardship, heroism-and, following it all, he lauds the survival of the islanders and their innate kindness and hospitality to visitors to their shores.
He also quotes from that informative book Life in Donegal by the teacher and one time Lightkeeper, Edward McCarron, who served on a number of the north coast lighthouses during the middle and later part of the 19th century and left us a fascinating account of his experiences.
Ros Harvey, a Donegal born woman herself, has captured the special light and atmosphere of the coastal regions of her home county in her illustrations. These give the book a special visual impact and ideally complement Wallace Clark's text.
Oileain by David Walsh, is a different kind of book but no less interesting. It is a paper-back guide to the islands of Ireland and describes in minute detail all the information one would need in order to visit practically every island, big or small, on the Irish coast. It is especially aimed at small-boat sailors, and kayakers in particular, for whom it contains a truly mind-boggling wealth of local lore.
I flattered myself that I had an intimate knowledge of all the offshore rocks on which our lighthouses stand-until such time as I had looked up the information provided on each of them in this book, only then to discover that I was sadly deficient in the finer details of local knowledge. And I think I know why: kayaks and dinghys are so fragile in comparison with our larger craft and powerful workboats that every potential hazard or danger relative to the needs of these courageous small-boat sailors must be anticipated in advance, and what better precautions to take in this regard than to have a thorough knowledge of what lies ahead?
The author does not confine himself to the physical aspects of the islands. He has done considerable historical research in many instances, and includes an impressive amount of information on the local history-archival and anecdotal-with particular reference to the larger islands, whether previously or currently inhabited.
Oileain's 218 pages are lavishly illustrated with many excellent photographs and charts which serve to enhance the detailed descriptions contained in the text.
A passage in the Introduction to this book nicely sums up its function as a guide to the Irish islands. 'Oileain tells it as it is, rock by rock, good and bad, pleasant and otherwise. It concentrates on landings and access generally, then adds information on camping, drinking water, tides, history, climbing, birds, whales, dolphins, legends or anything else of interest.'
The author is to be congratulated on the scope of this book. It fulfils a very definite need in the maritime field. It should find a place on board every craft that sails in any capacity-pleasure, commercial, fishing, search and rescue, scuba diving, etc-around the coast of Ireland.
Captain Owen Deignan is a retired Inspector of Lights & Marine Superintendent of the Commissioners of Irish Lights
Len's Story
Reviewed by the Editor Born on the Edge of White Water-by Leonard V. Stocker (Pen Press Publishers Ltd, 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP); ISBN 1-904754-21-X; paperback, 211 pages, £6.99 in UK
THE name of the author will be familiar to many former colleagues in our Service; however the author is not the Lightkeeper Lenny Stocker but his son, also christened Leonard Vincent, and called Vincent to avoid confusion with his father. Leonard (senior) married relatively late in life a woman 25 years younger. Vincent was the eldest of a family that was still growing when Leonard retired in 1958.
It was a hard childhood. Living at a lighthouse set Vincent and his siblings apart from other children. Corporal punishment was severe and frequent at school and at home. The inevitability of transfer to another station, but never being sure when this would come, meant that the family was never part of the local community. Vincent lived at Blackhead Antrim, Castletownbere, Minehead, Greenore, and Minehead again.
Leonard's final station was Aranmore; the family lived in a rented house in Burtonport but Vincent joined his father at the lighthouse during the holidays. And it was there, on Aranmore Island, that Vincent's first romance took place.
After Leonard's retirement the family moved to Dublin where Vincent found it hard to settle. He really wanted to follow his father's footsteps as a Lightkeeper but Leonard opposed this because he believed automation would come sooner rather than later, doing away with Lightkeepers. Vincent worked in a series of dead-end jobs in Dublin and then ran away to England, arriving eventually in London where he was known as Len.
His bizarre adventures in London read more like a novel than a memoir. But, after all, it was London, and it was the 1960s. The book ends with him returning to Dublin five years later to be reconciled-I think, though we are not told-with his family.
Though it occupies less than a third of the book the author's account of growing up at lighthouses during the 1950s is the most authentic I have ever read. I think he has had a few lapses of memory where minor details are not quite correct but these are of no importance. Minehead and Aranmore are the stations that made the deepest impression on him. Later, in Dublin and London, the image of the lighthouses comes into his mind periodically as an icon of security and stability.
We learn nothing of Vincent's (Len's) subsequent life, nor do we discover the identify of the artist who contributed the nice black and white drawings.
Doctor's Memoir
Reviewed by the Editor
From Slyne Head to Malin Head:
A Rural GP Remembers-by Dr Ken O'Flaherty
(published by the author; printed by Browne Printers, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.);
ISBN 0-9546312-0-X;
paperback, 312 pages with photos and illustrations
€14.95/£10.50
Lightkeepers stationed at Inishowen Lighthouse or living in the area will remember Dr Ken O'Flaherty, the Irish Lights Medical Officer for Inishowen from 1956 to 1990. His contacts with our Service go back to his childhood, however, as his parents had a pub, grocery business and farm at Ballyconneely, near Clifden, Co. Galway. As a boy Ken used to see the Slyne Head Lightkeepers travelling on relief between the station shore dwellings and the rock. The Slyne Head relief journey was arduous: by car from Clifden to End of the Road at Ailbrack Beach; then horse and cart to Slackport where stores, provisions, clothing, and bedding were trasferred to donkeys with creels; a walk with the donkeys to the boat slip at Slackport; and then the boat journey to Slyne Head rock, perhaps to find there was no landing and have to return all the way back to Clifden and repeat the attempt the next day. The O'Flaherty's pub and grocery was midway between Clifden and Slackport and the Keepers would call in on their way.
Later, as a junior Doctor at Monkstown Hospital, Ken treated lightship and lighthouse tender crews. Soon afterwards he accepted an offer of a private medical practice in Moville, Co. Donegal where he remained for many years and still lives in retirement. In addition to being MO for Inishowen Lighthouse he frequently treated sick or injured crewmen on trawlers or merchant ships, being brought out to the vessel by pilot boat from Inishowen Head. Life was busy with surgery, house calls often to remote farmhouses, home births, and epidemics.
This memoir is much broader than a reminiscence of medical practice. It is really a social history touching on all aspects of life, rural life as a boy in Co. Galway, student days in Dublin, working life and, finally, retirement in Moville, interwoven with world elements, national and local history, and sporting events. In middle age he took up running, cycling, walking, swimming, and tennis.
In retirement he continued these activities, in addition to travel and work to improve medical services locally and nationally as president of the Irish College of General Practictioners.
Dr Ken O'Flaherty has written a most interesting account of a full and varied life. Unfortunately it is marred somewhat by many spelling, gramatical, and punctuation mistakes which good editing would have elimiated. Charitable readers will overlook these faults, particularly as profits from sales of the book go to the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland and the Foyle Hospice, Derry.
Tuskar Tragedy
Reviewed by Captain Kieran O'Higgins Tragedy at Tuskar Rock-by Mike Reynolds
(Gill & Macmillan Publishers, Hume Avenue, Park West,Dublin 12)
ISBN 0 7171 3619 1;
paperback; 240 pages with black and white photo inserts;
€12.99
Everyone of a certain age remembers the crash of an Aer Lingus Viscount airplane, the St Phelim, near Tuskar Rock. On 24 March 1968 flight EI 712 en route from Cork to London crashed into the sea near the Tuskar lighthouse, off the coast of Co. Wexford. All 57 passengers and four crew died. It remains the single biggest loss in the history of Irish civil aviation.
It is said that a lie will be half way around the world before truth gets its trousers on. The common and much held theory over the years was that the plane had been either shot down by a missile or had collided with a drone. Perhaps the times had something to do with us holding this theory dear.
The truth, it seems, is much less exciting. A government report of the accident was published two years after the crash, but no conclusions were drawn except to indicate that there might have been something else in the air at the time. Some thirty years later the Irish Government commissioned another report and three international air accident experts were tasked to review the evidence.
As the base for two of the investigators was in France, Mike Reynolds became their legman in Ireland, apparently by simply applying for the job. His task was to gather evidence, interview surviving witnesses, visit locations, and generally assist the progress of the investigation. His book is based on his contribution and takes us through the sequence of events, theories and conclusions.
The clues are there and Mr Reynolds is a skilful guide. His style is easy and there is a logical sequence to the development of the story. He made a particularly important contribution, which postulated that the aircraft suffered damage much earlier in the flight than had been assumed in the original report. The final report concurred, and found that the balance of evidence was consistent with initial damage to the tail plane, or its control cables, shortly after take-off from Cork, which progressively affected the performance of the plane. No other aircraft or missile was involved. The persistent rumours are dispelled.
It is worth bearing in mind that 61 people lost their lives in this crash. Left behind were relatives who have had to bear the hurt over the years, and who had to deal with not knowing what the cause of the crash was and at the same time deal with the persistent conspiracy theories.
While there will always be disasters in the air, on land, and at sea where the full facts are not available and therefore the absolute truth cannot emerge, I believe Mike Reynolds's book will give some comfort and closure to many as to what really happened to Flight EI 712. It is gratifying to see the son of the pilot write the foreword to this book and acknowledge with thanks the conclusions in the present report.
Rescues
Reviewed by Susie Foreman
Mayday! Mayday!: Heroic Air-Sea Rescues in Irish Waters-by Lorna Siggins
(Gill & Macmillan Publishers, Hume Avenue, Park West, Dublin 12)
ISBN 0 7171 3529 2;
paperback; 239 pages, 26 monochrome photos, glossary & index;
€12.99
Lorna Siggins is the western correspondent of the Irish Times and has compiled a book of extraordinary stories and heroic rescues around the coast of Ireland.
This is a book about the remarkable air sea rescue crews who work in dangerous conditions to exacting standards; professionals who face danger calmly on a daily basis to save the lives of strangers at sea and on land. Many rescues involve hanging from a wire in high winds and dreadful seas. Seldom if ever do people get into trouble in good weather.
Ms Siggins not only documents air-sea rescue cases but also intersperses these with the history of Irish air-sea rescue service from the first rescues on the Irish coast in 1956 to the present day. We are guided through the failure of successive governments to supply the Irish maritime community with medium range helicopter coverage around the Irish coast, to our reliance on the professionalism of the RAF pilots who consistently provide coverage throughout Ireland and Irish waters, why there was such low moral among helicopter crews in 1999, and the tragic loss of flight 111 at Tramore.
Many of the rescues are breathtaking in their courage and skill. The heroism of countless people gives this book broad appeal. For anyone involved in the Irish maritime community and the great outdoors, this is a book worth reading.