Marine scientists Maude Delap and Annie Massey, pirates Granuaile and Anne Bonny and polar explorers Francis Crozier and Robert McClure are among subjects of a new book on famous and infamous Irish mariners.
Shipping owner Kate Tyrrell and naval leaders like John Barry who fought sea battles in the Americas are also documented in the work, entitled Famous Irish Mariners, by Emma Byrne.
Published by O’Brien Press, Byrne’s book explores a distinguished line extending from the earliest navigators, who may have reached North America – by currach – a thousand years before Columbus.
Irish people have helped to shape marine science, including Francis Beaufort, who devised the scale by which we measure wind speeds, marine biologist Maude Delap and John Holland, inventor of the submarine ,she notes.
A bronze statue of John Barry on Crescent Quay, Wexford, presented to the people of Ireland by the USA. Created by American sculptor Wheeler Williams in 1955, it was brought to Ireland on board the USS John R. Pierce and unveiled in 1956. Photo: Emma Byrne
“As an island nation, we Irish have a love and fascination for the sea,” Byrne says.
“The first people in prehistoric times most likely came to Ireland by boat; since then we have sailed, fished, smuggled and fought our way through history and to every corner of the world, with the sea entwined in our DNA,” she says.
“ It is a briny elixir that binds us,” she adds.
“There is no doubt that, for a small island nation on the very edge of Europe, we have punched above our weight when it comes to maritime achievement,”she notes.
Byrne says she has been fascinated by the sea from an early age.
“ From peering into rock pools as a small child, to being in the sea scouts, to daily swimming and recreational scuba diving, I have spent as much of my free time as possible in the sea,”she explains.
The book starts out with early navigator Brendan of Clonfert, as in Saint Brendan, and continues with great naval leaders John Barry, William Brown, Peter Campbell, Bartholomew Hayden, Thomas Charles Wright, Robert Halpin, John de Robeck, Andrew Cunningham and James Forrestal.
Round world sailor Conor O’Brien and Kate Tyrrell of Arklow are also profiled, as is naval aeroplane pilot Gottfried Von Banfield and sailor James Leander Cathcart, who survived 11 years as a slave in Algiers after he was taken prisoner by Barbary pirates.
Marine scientists include Francis Beaufort and John Philip Holland, along with Delap and Massey, while polar explorers also include Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean.
Emma Byrne is an award-winning graphic designer and artist, who has illustrated many books.
Famous Irish Mariners by Emma Byrne is published by O’Brien Press at 17.99 euro
