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Displaying items by tag: Aquifers

#GalwayBay - Further research is needed to find out the full extent of the newly discovered underground rivers beneath Galway Bay that have surprised scientists since the discovery was announced a month ago.

Mail Online reported on researchers' claims that the sea bed off Galway could be hiding one of the world's largest networks of freshwater aquifers running between the limestone plains of the Burren and the Aran Islands.

The discovery was only made after locals on Inis Meáin talked of a freshwater well that never went dry - and an investigation by NUI Galway researchers estimated that its source must be on the mainland.

Now geologists think the discovery could be just a fraction of a vast network of underground caverns and waterways, according to The Irish Times.

And the find could prove to be a solution to the problem of chronic water shortages on nearby Inis Oírr, if the aquifers can be tapped for fresh water.

Published in Galway Harbour

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.