I was born on 30 July 1934, the youngest of a family of nine. My late parents were Patrick (Packie) and Anna McGuinness. My father was a carpenter, a building contractor, and a boat builder. He was also an experienced fisherman. I was educated at Blackrock National School and at the Christian Brothers, Dundalk. My school holidays were spent on Dundalk shipping channel with my father, fishing for salmon and other types of fish. For over 40 years my father was a public representative on Louth County Council and Dundalk Harbour Board. In 1979 I was elected likewise.
Prior to reaching my teens I have memories of the war years. Leaving school at the age of 15 in 1949, I was employed as a member of a five-man crew on a salmon boat. The salmon season opened on 1 May and closed on 30 September and no fishing was allowed between 6am on Saturday until 6am on Monday. We fished between half ebb and half flood. From the lighthouse inwards there are several sand banks along the river where we landed our catch. At low water, on big ebbs, one of the Lighthouse Keepers would come over to us. Names that come to my mind are Mickey O'Connor, Jim Dillon, and Paddy Roddy.
Between 1954 and 1959 I was regularly employed as a local Temporary Keeper at Dundalk Pile Lighthouse during periods when the Lighthouse Keepers were on annual leave or sick. Peter Roddy was Principal Keeper (PK) at Dundalk on my first tour of duty. Jim Cleary and Frank Ryan were Assistant Keepers (AKs).
I really enjoyed my time as a Lighthouse Keeper. Living conditions were comfortable. Two Keepers were on station at any one time. Annual leave was three weeks. Because of the confined accommodation at Dundalk Lighthouse shore liberty was taken by each Keeper in turn, from Friday to Tuesday or Tuesday to Friday.
The accommodation consisted of two bedrooms, of which the larger was the Principal Keeper's. There was a large living room with a coal-fired range, and a workshop. On the outside there was an oil store with a walk-around balcony around the outside of the Pile. There were two ladders for boarding, one on the west side and the other on the east.
Inside, a spiral stair took you to the light and dome. In the event of an emergency there was a lifeboat ready for launch. The entire structure was built on eight piles screwed into the submerged sandbank below.
There were two six hour watches, 8pm to 2am and 2am to 8am. Weather conditions were logged hourly. When lighting up at sunset a blowlamp was used to heat the retort, and a hand pump was used to build air pressure. When the retort was hot, paraffin oil, under pressure, was released into the retort where it was heated. The hot pressurised oil was sprayed through a nipple into the burner where it vaporised, and the paraffin vapour was burnt through a mantle, giving a brilliant light. The light itself was stationary but a revolving lens magnified the light to give a flash every 15 seconds. A long cable with a heavy weight attached kept the lens revolving through a clockwork mechanism which was wound hourly. The light was divided into white and red sectors. The white sectors mark the approaches and the channel up the river. The red sectors warn mariners of shallow water on either side.
When fog closed in, the fog-signal bell was operated.
We had a small battery radio receiver. To contact the shore a flag would be raised. The Keeper on shore liberty had a lookout watch at an arranged time. He in turn would erect a white marker. The Keepers would then communicate by semaphore, both using telescopes to read the messages. The lighthouse reliefs were carried out on Tuesdays and Fridays by the boat contractor, Charlie Clarke. Later that job was taken over by Patrick Macken. His cousin also named Patrick Macken, who is a Dundalk Harbour Pilot, is now Attendant of Dundalk Pile Light.
Leaving Dundalk on transfer, Peter Roddy was replaced by William (Bill) Hamilton, PK. Bill Hamilton immediately arranged to have a radio telephone installed, and a wind charger was erected for the batteries to be charged. Electric lighting was installed which meant the end of the Tilly lamp.
The radio telephone was a great addition. The Keepers were now in contact with other lighthouses. On a number of occasions daily, Baily Lighthouse (Kevin Murphy, PK) would call all stations-lighthouses and lightships-on the east coast to receive or pass on messages. Nightly at 2000 hours and 2300 hours there would be a call-up between stations. The Keepers on Rockabill were Hughie Duggan, PK, and Frank Sweeney, Michael Jones, and Jerry O'Brien AKs. The Master of the Kish Lightvessel was John Scanlan. Night-time reception was good. Eagle Island (Jack Roche), Blackrock Mayo, Roancarrig (Robin Polly) and other far off stations were readable. I met Kevin Murphy in Howth at the funeral of Bill Hamilton in August 1995.
The Master of the Codling Lightvessel was Pat Cunningham, a native of Clogherhead. On coming on board from shore leave I would read the local gossip to Pat.
During the late 1950s Radio Luxembourg on 208 mw was all the rage. Radio Éireann only broadcast for a small number of hours daily. No TV. While talking to Kish Lightship, John Scanlan asked for a song. I sang The Boys from the County Armagh. On Rockabill, Jerry O'Brien was tuned in. He sang Jenny with the light brown hair. The singing gained momentum, resulting in fan mail arriving to the Singing Lightkeeper, Dundalk Lighthouse.
Our signal was strong on the east coast. The lighthouses transmitted on a frequency close to Radio Luxembourg. Searching for the pop station you would pick up the lighthouses. People here in the locality enjoyed the entertainment. They would send out to the lighthouse parcels containing food, drink, eggs, and papers. Fan-mail came from as far away as Manchester and Ballycotton-I am sorry I didn't keep it.
At home on the radio I used the trawler band, picking up ships sending out their traffic reports and making link calls through Portpatrick, Anglesea, and Lands End radio stations, to name but a few.
When Frank Ryan was transferred to Blackrock Mayo he was replaced by Larry Butler. Larry's brother, Ambrose, was the last PK at Dundalk station. Also at Dundalk were Jimmy Walsh and Brendan McMahon.
I have lots of good memories of my time on the lighthouse. Some of the nicer times were when music filtered across the sea from the seaside village of Blackrock. One evening a yacht pulled alongside the Pile Light. On board were men and women who asked to see the lighthouse. PK Bill Hamilton welcomed them aboard. When they had inspected the premises I switched the radio on to French music and they started dancing.
Unfortunately, good things came to an end
. After leaving the lighthouse in 1959 I had many jobs, some being chimney sweep, labourer, dumper and lorry driver, and stoker-boiler man in London. I assisted Martin McCarthy, Irish Lights Tradesman, carrying out improvements at Dundalk Lighthouse shore dwellings. I played in a dance band and lit the beacons in Dundalk Shipping Channel.
I was a bus driver with CIE from June 1960 to July 1999. Driving between Dublin and Drogheda, Pauline Butler was a passenger on my bus. I enjoyed her articles on Galley Head Lighthouse in previous editions of Beam. I knew her father, Mr Fitzgerald, who was Attendant at Drogheda Lights. Brendan McMahon was also a passenger whenever he travelled west. Frank Ryan's son, of the same name, drives for Bus Éireann here in Dundalk.
On tours along the Co. Antrim Coast Road and Giant's Causeway I would ask the tourists to look out for Maidens and Rathlin East Lighthouses, getting them to count between each flash. I would then give them some details on the working of lighthouses.
I got married in 1964 and members of Bill Hamilton's and Jimmy Cleary's families were at my wedding. Our reception was held at the Holmpatrick Hotel, Skerries. We picked the venue because, for one, the price was right but most of all it had a great view of the Rockabill Lighthouse.
During the 1980s I operated numerous weekend tours to Cherbourg on the St Killian II.
I would love to have spent my working life at sea but it wasn't to be. My first ship voyage was in October 1954 on the Princess Maud, Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead, en route to London. From 1954 to recent years I purchased Lloyd's List daily which kept me up to date with all shipping movements. My last sea voyage was on the Queen Mary II on 11 September 2004 from Southampton to New York and for my next sea voyage I hope to sail on the Freedom of the Seas in early 2007.
In 1956 Jim Cleary, on returning from shore leave, said he donated blood while he was ashore. He told me I should do the same. About 10 years later I did and by 1999 I had donated 112 pints. John Cleary, brother of Jim, was PK on Inishtrahull.
I kept in touch with Keepers I had met or had been in contact with. I spent a couple of weeks at Rathlin East with Davy Byrne PK, and Fanad Head when Jim Cleary was stationed there. I also paid a visit to Rathlin O'Birne when Brendan McMahon was stationed there. Later Brendan was transferred to Kish Lighthouse and I had a helicopter trip to Kish when he was on duty.
Most of the lighthouse people I had the pleasure to meet have now passed on. May they rest in peace. However, I still meet families of Irish Lights people living here in Dundalk. Residing in Dundalk is the McClenahan family. Harold Senior was an Officer on Isolda and Granuaile. His son, Harold Junior, is now Master of the new vessel Granuaile. A local lad, John Conlon, is also working on Granuaile as a Seaman.
I am very friendly with Charlie McCarthy, former Attendant of Dundalk Pile Lighthouse, and Pat Rankin who is the present boat contractor.

© John McGuinness, August 2006.