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Displaying items by tag: Joseph Taussig

#CorkHarbour - Tom MacSweeney writes on Afloat.ie today about the centenary of the US Navy’s arrival in Cork Harbour during the First World War.

But the event has a living connection, as the Irish Examiner reports, with the great-granddaughter of the flotilla commander attending this morning’s ceremony in Cobh to unveil a commemorative plaque.

Lizzie Helmer, an exchange student at UCC, only learned the week before she left her California home for Cork that her great-grandfather Joseph Taussig was in charge of the fleet that helped secure the southern approaches to Ireland during the Great War.

Helmer’s family paid a visit to Cobh last month to learn more about their connection with the harbour town formerly known as Queenstown.

And they were joined by UCC president Prof Patrick O’Shea, whose own grand-uncle lost his life when the SS Lismore was torpedoed off Le Havre, just three weeks before the Americans arrived in Cork Harbour.

The Irish Examiner has much more on the story HERE.

Published in Cork Harbour

Forty Foot Swimming Spot on Dublin Bay

The 'Forty Foot' is a rocky outcrop located at the southern tip of Dublin Bay at Sandycove, County Dublin from which people have been swimming in the Irish Sea all year round for 300 years or more. It is popular because it is one of few spots between Dublin city and Greystones in County Wicklow that allows for swimming at all stages of the tide, subject to the sea state.

Forty Foot History

Traditionally, the bathing spot was exclusively a men's bathing spot and the gentlemen's swimming club was established to help conserve the area.

Owing to its relative isolation and gender-specific nature it became a popular spot for nudists, but in the 1970s, during the women's liberation movement, a group of female equal-rights activists plunged into the waters and now it is also open to everyone and it is in the control of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.

Many people believe that swimming in extremely cold water is healthy and good for the immune system.

Is it safe to swim at the Forty Foot?

The Forty-Foot is a great place to swim because there is always enough water to get a dip but like all sea swimming, there are always hazards you need to be aware of.   For example, a lot of people like to dive into to the pool at the Forty-foot but there are submerged rocks that can be hazardous especially at low water.  The Council have erected signs to warn people of the underwater dangers. Other hazards include slippy granite cut stone steps that can often be covered with seaweed and of course marine wildlife including jellyfish that make their presence felt in the summer months as do an inquisitive nearby Sandycove seal colony.

The Forty-foot Christmas Day swim

A Dublin institution that brings people from across Dublin and beyond for a dip in the chilly winter sea. Bathers arrive in the dark from 6 am and by noon the entire forty foot is a sea of red Santa hats!