Sam takes the helm again
Sam Williams, retired Depot Bosun, took the helm aboard the Jeanie
Johnston on passage around Lambay Island on 7 June 2007. Sam was at
the wheel for half an hour (crew normally do one-hour turns). The
vessel was under sail and engine, as there was no wind. Duty
Captain was Michael Coleman. Later Sam's Discharge Book was stamped
as Assistant Quartermaster. The Captain remarked that there were
not many seamen with a discharge from a three-masted barque.
Sam joined Irish Lights as a Deck Boy in 1937, surviving the
bombing of the Isolda in 1940. He rejoined the Service in 1951 as a
Seaman on SS Alexandra, and was promoted to Quartermaster on the
new SS Isolda in 1953. He was appointed Depot Bosun in 1965 and
retired in 1987.