Northabout crew from the Irish yacht’s historic polar circumnavigation marked the 80th birthday of their expedition skipper Jarlath Cunnane in Mayo last weekend.
The adventurer, boat builder and holder of the prestigious Blue Water Medal, was joined by fellow sailors and friends for the celebration in Castlebar.
Cunnane had requested “no presents, no cards, no speeches”, but friends did toast his eight decades at the event in Bar One in Castlebar.
Among those who attended were long-time fellow sailors Michael Brogan, Paddy Barry, Kevin Cronin, Colm Brogan, Galway hooker sailor Benen McDonagh, Seamus Breathnach, Rory Casey, Louis and Maeve Keating.
Prestigious Blue Water Medal holder Jarlath Cunnane
Musician and sailor Matt Molloy was also present, along with Tom Moran, Gary Finnegan, Brendan Minish and partner Annie, Oliver Kellegher, Paul Gannon, Kevin Rowley, Mary Ryan and many other friends.
Cunnane has just embarked on building an Achill yawl, having previously completed his second replica of the James Caird, the lifeboat used by Ernest Shackleton and crew on their lifesaving voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia to secure help for stranded Endurance crew in the Antarctic.
Cunnane’s second replica was a Covid lockdown project and he built it in memory of Scots carpenter Henry or Harry Chippy McNish, who was a member of the TransAntarctic Expedition 1914-1917 but was snubbed by “the Boss” when it came to recommendations for polar medals.
The second replica is now on display at the South Pole Inn in Annascaul, Co Kerry.
Cunnane has also recently published a revised edition of “Northabout”, the book he wrote about the yacht’s circumnavigation of the polar ice cap in a westerly direction.
In 2012, Cunnane and crew sailed the White Sea (Belomorsk) Canal.
In a review of the new edition for the Irish Cruising Club (ICC), Michael Brogan says the White Sea canal voyage “brought the crew face to face with the atrocities of Stalin’s notorious Gulag, a stark reminder of the direction Russia under Putin is now taking”.
“Russia is closed off once again, and this together with climate change, underlines the fact that "Northabout’s" circumnavigation will unlikely be repeated at anytime in the future,” Brogan writes.
He notes that Cunnane’s new edition also includes “cruises to the Caribbean, a mid-Atlantic rescue of a French couple from a sinking yacht, a cruise to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and the story of the 1997 South Arís expedition to recreate Shackleton’s voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia”.
“Despite Shackleton’s leadership qualities in saving all of the crew of the ill-fated Endurance, Jarlath portrays another side of Shackleton; his cavalier treatment of the crew of the "Aurora", and his refusal to recommend "Endurance’s" carpenter Henry Mc Nish for a polar medal,” Brogan writes.
He says that the new edition is “beautifully written and illustrated, and is highly recommended as an inspiration to all sailors and readers alike”.
“Northabout: Sailing the Northwest and Northeast Passage” is available to ICC members at a special price of €25.00 plus p&p directly from Jarlath email- [email protected]
It is also stocked in Charlie Byrne's bookshop in Galway at €30.00
