The Fishermen Profiles

The following piece is taken from the book, 'A Step Up', by Pat Nolan, published in 2014 and still available on Amazon and from other Irish booksellers. The excerpt below features three well-known Dunmore East fishermen.

If the author wishes this article to be removed, please email me at desrutter2@gmail.com, and it will be promptly taken down from the site.

Sean O'Driscoll

My earliest recollection of Sean O’Driscoll is that of a teenager fishing out of Baltimore during a spring mackerel fishing season. It must have been in 1953 or ’54. The Cape Clear Island native fished on the Carbery Lass, a boat built through a Congested District Board loan in the early 1900s, and one of the few Cape Clear fishing vessels to survive the 1930s depression. Many of her contemporaries were sold on while others rotted at Tra Chairain on the Island. However, that was all a long time ago, and now fifty-six or fifty-seven years since my initial recollection of Sean, I find myself slowly driving along a country road in the vicinity of Killea Church on the outskirts of Dunmore East, Co Waterford. I look at house after house, none seemed to fit the description I had been given, but I carry on. Just as I’m beginning to doubt whether I’m on the right road or not, I spot this tanned, fit looking gentleman mowing a lawn. Instantly recognisable after all the years is Sean!

Having warmly welcomed me, he remarked, with an intimation of ‘how he has changed’ in his voice, “I expected you to look as you did in Baltimore all those years ago.” In fairness he attempted to cheer me up a bit by adding, “It was a long time ago and we’ve all changed a lot.” Yes I thought, but obviously some have changed more than others! I had been told that Sean frequents the gym and that he strikes a golf ball as good as most in Dunmore East. Perhaps that accounts for the difference! Outside his home we stood and admired the wonderful southerly vista overlooking the sun drenched sparkling sea all the way to the unmistakable land mark that is Hook Head.

The purpose of my visit was to learn something of Sean’s long and varied fishing career, and perhaps his views on an industry to which he has devoted a lifetime. First, along with his wife Kathleen, a most amicable Co Waterford woman with scarcely a trace of that county’s fairly distinctive accent, we chatted awhile. I asked Sean how he originally became involved with fishing. His answer, “It was inevitable, it was in the blood, and anyway for the most part that’s what young men on the island did in those days.” It was an answer that made sense when one considers that over the years not only did Sean become a high profile fisherman but so did his brothers Donnchadh and Pat.

Following a season or two on the Carbery Lass, Sean joined the crew of the now late Peter Downey’s newly built BIM 50-footer, Ros Droichead. That he recalls as being ‘a big shift’ in 1955. Two years ‘ringing’ in the Ros Droichead were followed by a season mackerel fishing in the Eventide, a smart 47ft boat, that had recently been purchased by the Cape Clear Cadogan brothers, Pat and John; otherwise known as Pat Bill and John Bill. The next step in Sean’s career progression took place when he joined the crew of the 55ft Radiance, a boat skippered by his brother Donnchadh.

Sean’s most outstanding memory of fishing on the Radiance was that of herring purse seining at Dunmore East. It was he said, “A very effective way of working and thanks to the help given by the skipper and crew of the St Ives boat, Sweet Promise, through time we got good at it.” He went on to say that in a matter of a few years the advent of seining and mid-water trawling put paid to purse seining. He recalled that while Cornish men helped the Radiance crew to hone the art of purse seining, a similar situation arose when seining was first introduced to these shores. This time it was Scotchmen who first came to help out the skippers and crews of the brand new, identical, and classy Tyrrell built boats, Glenmalure and Glendalough. Thinking aloud, as it were, Sean added, “I believe the first boats to mid-water trawl for herring in Dunmore were skippered by Brian Crummy, Dunmore East and Kevin Mallon, Arklow.”

By the early 1960s, at around twenty years of age Sean became skipper of the 60ft St Gerard, a boat in which he had an ownership interest. In the mid-1960s she underwent fairly extensive renovation which included the fitting of a new Rolls Royce engine. He recalls the years that followed as being exhilarating times in fishing at Dunmore East. There was he said, “A real buzz about the place, exciting times indeed. The money for herring was good. We did very well in the St Gerard mid-watering with the Scotch boat, Unity, skippered by Harvey Sloan, Girvan. There were up to ninety boats in the harbour in the wintertime.”

Following his term in the St Gerard, Sean bought the 75ft Primula from Mick Doyle, Killybegs. She was he said, “Getting old at the time but a fine boat fitted with 152hp Gardner engine. We did well enough with her. After a few years I sold her and had the brand new Crimson Dawn (W119) built.”

Unfortunately, the Campbeltown built Crimson Dawn, launched on a day of high wind and lashing rain in the spring of 1976, proved to be an extremely problematic vessel! Reflective words said it all, “She could have been so good, a fine boat, but with engine problems right from the very start she was a nightmare.” As a consequence Sean parted company with her. Shortly afterwards he joined the crew of Mick Doyle’s super trawler, Paula (D165), at Killybegs, and fished on her until 1986.

It was a move that he regards as being up there with the very best he made in his fishing career. His words, “It was a fabulous job, no worthwhile work at all in it, and fantastic money. Mick was ashore, the boat was being fished by John Poole, Wexford. We were mackerel fishing; pairing with Teddy O’Shea’s Sheanne. Catches of up to 300 tons in one tow were not uncommon. When Mick Doyle got the 120ft beamer, Dolores, a lovely boat, I moved on to her as skipper. Perhaps I should have stayed on the Paula, the fishing she was engaged in got even better in subsequent years. Having said that, we did very well beaming on the Dolores in Morecombe Bay! That was especially true of the early years we fished there. Sole, were very plentiful. It was a time when the North Sea was virtually devoid of that species. Accordingly there was huge money for catches landed from Morecombe Bay. Gerry O’Shea (Castletownbere & Howth) was also beaming there in the Marie Jacob; he knew the ground a bit better than we did. He once grossed £62,000 for a six day trip, a massive amount of money then. I loved beaming and stayed at it until the Dolores was sold in 1991.”

Not one to hang around, Sean temporarily fished out of Newlyn, Cornwall. Next move was to skipper the Clogherhead boat, Newgrange, then owned by Seamus Connolly. It was a stepping stone to his skippering another of Seamus Connolly’s boats, the Linda C. “A fine boat,” he says, “I fished on her in the North Sea for three years. I really loved it! We landed regularly at the Danish port of Thyboron. To visit home we travelled back to Holland and flew from Amsterdam to Dublin. It was great! But all good things come to an end! For one reason and another I decided to return home. I suppose the time had come to wind down a little.”

Not yet ready to take retirement though, back home Sean fished the Duncannon boat Renegade for Kevin Downes, for awhile. Later he moved on to Johnny Keating’s (Kilmore Quay) Briget Carmel, a boat he fished from 1997 until 2001. His swan song in what was undoubtedly a glittering fishing career was played out during the years he skippered the Kilmore Quay, Flatherty owned Quay Fisher. The curtain fell on that final act in 2008. What a fishing career indeed! It all began from humble beginnings in the 1950s when as little more than a boy he joined the crew of Joe O’Driscoll’s Carbery Lass to try his hand at drift netting during a spring mackerel fishing season at Baltimore.

It was obvious that for the most part Sean greatly enjoyed his days as a fisherman. Ability to adjust either when he chose to do so, or when circumstances demanded, is testimony to his versatility. He was never going to be out of a job! Now in retirement I asked how he views the fishing industry. What are his observations? He begins by telling me, “I feel very sad when I go down around the harbour in Dunmore. I just can’t help thinking back over the years and find it hard come to terms with the transformation that has taken place.” He believes that nationwide a disastrous situation has developed through lack of will and understanding on the part of successive governments to further the cause of fishermen. He recalled hearing of an incident purported to have taken place in Dáil Éireann in 1935; a particular T.D. put forward a proposal that as priority urgent steps should be taken to set about establishing a long term plan for the development of the fishing industry in this country. The proposal was apparently met with derision and treated as a matter of amusement by at least some of those present. While current members of ‘the house’ may not show such obvious disdain, the same mentality would appear to prevail. The fishing industry appears to be regarded as a joke, or at least not a significant national asset! Sean believes that government personnel now appear to take pleasure in enforcing to the letter of the law, obstructive bureaucratic dictates handed down from a European Commission of which friends of Irish fishermen are few and far between.

Sean believes that the apathy shown towards commercial fishing by our landlubber leaders over many years has left the majority of people in our small country ignorant of the sea and what goes on in and around it. In contrast he said, “When we used to land in Denmark, I remember meeting Scandinavians, many of them had no connection with the sea, they were inland people, but they had a great knowledge of it. They knew about fishing and what it entails! In Ireland, like our politicians, many people living less than a mile from the sea are not remotely interested in what is going on. It’s a pity!”

On the question of crippling bureaucracy that has crept in to make life virtually intolerable for fishermen, Sean cites a few examples, “When I started fishing you bought a boat, registered her and you went fishing. You never saw an official again! As far as I was concerned that was freedom! Now you can’t look around but there is somebody there telling you what you are doing wrong, or that you must do this or that. I just couldn’t hack it. It’s all wrong. It’s the reason I retired from fishing when I did.” He went on to talk about how the bureaucratic system operates here compared to other E.U. countries, and quoted the following as an example, “A Kilmore Quay man bought a 36ft boat with tonnage at Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides. Because the solicitor acting for him was based in Northern Ireland the boat was registered there. When paperwork regarding the tonnage transfer was drawn up the owner was required to sign his name in three places. Having done so he was told that he was free to take the boat, and that he could begin fishing immediately if he chose to do so. Now, had the owner elected to have his business conducted in the Republic of Ireland, crazy officialdom would have seen him waiting for six months, or maybe up to a year, before getting clearance to go fishing.”

Some of what goes on would be laughable if the implications weren’t so serious for those directly involved or indeed for the industry as a whole. In recent times another gem regarding tonnage emerged. This is how Sean explained the scenario, “It used to be that when a boat was sold within the country there was no bother getting the boat’s tonnage transferred to the new owner. Not anymore! The seller of a boat is now obliged to hand the tonnage back to the Department and the buyer has to apply for it. By implication there is no guarantee that the new owner will get the tonnage, so he might end up with a boat but no tonnage. It’s nonsense, it doesn’t happen in any other country. It seems to be that things are constantly being made more difficult for fishermen in this country.”

Like other people I meet on my travels, Sean is of the opinion that with the best will in the world there is no such thing as an influential fisheries minister, and no matter how the title is parcelled up, (currently Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food), the individual carrying that label is merely a mouthpiece. He or she is limited to delivering what is permissible by departmental civil servants, possibly even an assistant secretary. With a smile on his face Sean recalled an incident that took place in Howth many years ago. This is how it went, “I had the Crimson Dawn at the time and we used to land our fish around 5am in time for the Dublin market. One particular morning we were the only boat there and I was approached by a man who asked if I would like to speak with the Minister for Fisheries. At first I was a little reluctant, in fact I declined. Ah, but the minister would like to talk to you, I was told! I agreed, so over he came, shook hands and said hello. No sooner had he uttered the greeting than his escort approached and brusquely addressing the minister advised that it was time to move on. The minister mildly protested, saying I have only just met this man. The escort’s response was to persist with ushering the minister towards a waiting car. I thought to myself I have as much authority in the Fisheries Department as he has.”

Before taking my leave we talked about members of his family who were also heavily involved with fishing. I recall that his father, Denis, fished in two boats that I knew of, the Inane owned by Cape Clear man Pat Bill Cadogan and the afore mentioned Radiance. Sean recalled that the island men in those days loved the spring mackerel fishing at Baltimore. He said that, “While it was hard graft, the money made was good enough. It came at the end of the winter and was almost regarded as a holiday, or at least a diversion from the island way of life.” Later on came Sean’s brothers Pat and Donnchadh. During the 1970s and ’80 Pat owned and fished the 75-ft Green Eagle and the 100-ft Golden Dawn. Donncha, who was widely regarded as one of life’s gentlemen and a fisherman supreme skippered a series of what were big boats at the time! Included were the Radiance, Castlebay and Golden Harvest, boats in which he had partnership interests. In 1975 he acquired his own boat, the brand new 70ft, Baltimore built Northern Dawn. When he sold on the Northern Dawn seven years later, he replaced her with another new boat, the 75ft Dingle built, Resplendent. As the 1980s wore on, illness forced Donnchadh into early retirement. Sadly, at the age of 58, this previously fit man, a teetotaller and non-smoker departed this life – Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam!

As Sean and Kathleen bade me adios on an ever so lovely August evening, I had the distinct feeling of having spent the afternoon with old friends!

Brian Crummy 

At the port of Dunmore East, County Waterford, I met up with well-known retired fisherman, skipper and boat owner, Brian Crummy. Brian, who originally hails from Dún Laoghaire, is now a long-time resident of Dunmore East. Brian is very much his own man. He is a man of resolute beliefs, which he steadfastly defends. There are few better placed to comment on the qualities of this skipper than those who fished on his boats. One such person who crewed on his boat Lochtuddy summed up Brian with the words, “A real pro, always had new ideas.” Another man, who fished on Brian’s 63ft Nordcap, said, “He was a very particular man, and as honest a skipper owner as one could ask for. The boat was kept like a yacht.”

During our chat, Brian occasionally surprised me by holding what might be described as a minority view, but he backed up in his beliefs with laudable reasoning. As an example, he makes a very strong case for a method of fishing that

is not universally well received — gillnetting. There is, he said, ‘no problem with actual gillnetting; it is the greed of man that causes the problems. It is a very selective form of fishing and it should be encouraged.’ He recalled gillnetting for hake using nets with the standard-size mesh and for some time couldn’t understand why catches by his boat were poor in comparison to others. ‘What I failed to realise,’ he said, ‘was that other boats were more successful because they were using nets with lesser than standard size mesh. They were, in fact, catching much smaller fish. It completely defeated the idea of stock conservation and is a horrible practice, driven by greed.’

When I suggested that some foreign boats had the reputation of being negligent with the use of gillnets, he laughed and said, ‘There are not many foreign boats gillnetting now. The Irishman is doing as much harm, if not more, than foreign boats.’ When I suggested that surely lost gill nets continue to fish indefinitely, Brian said, ‘No, they don’t. The view that they do so is ridiculous. With tides and other disturbances, nets quickly get balled up on the bottom. They become a tangled mass and they don’t fish. You’ll find that when lost gear is recovered: it’s fouled up tight and has obviously not fished for some time. That is true regardless of majority opinion to the contrary.’

Another strongly held view, which again highlights the greed of man, relates to boats, which were built on applications for quotas to fish off the west coast, but ended up fishing off the African coast. They are, he says, ‘doing more harm there than the Spanish or French boats are reputed to have done here.’

Brian began his association with the sea when as a young man, a boy even, he ‘messed around’ in small boats at Dún Laoghaire. In time, he followed his brother and fished out of Milford Haven. His stay was short. Word filtered through of lucrative herring fishing at Dunmore East:

‘We were working for buttons over there. We were told that you could make as much in a couple of months at Dunmore East as we were making for a whole year. So I came home and initially got a berth on the Arklow boat, Pride of Ulster (D362). I subsequently moved to Bill Cleary’s Glendalough (D310), one of the highly rated pair of herring ringers to come off the slipway of Tyrrell’s Boatyard, Arklow, in 1957. The other half of the duo, the Glenmalure (D147), was identical in all respects. The detail and thought put into the planning and design of those boats by Jack Tyrrell for the specific purpose of herring ringing is exemplified by the fact that they were literally flat-sided, to facilitate coming alongside one another.’

By the early 1960s, Brian was in a position to consider getting his own boat. He, somewhat reluctantly, settled for the BIM 56-footer Ard Ailbhe (D198). The following is his memory of how it came about:

‘At the time I got her, in 1961, she was actually assigned to someone else but BIM offered her to me. I really wanted to buy a second-hand Scotch boat, a number of which were for sale at knockdown prices at the time. It was a situation that came about as result of a religious quandary that left boats on the west coast of Scotland without crews. However, attempts by Irish fishermen to finance the purchasing of those boats ran into difficulties. High interest rates on bank loans in comparison to those on deposits for newly built BIM boats were bordering on the prohibitive. Because of a significant horsepower difference between engines fitted in Scotch boats and those in BIM boats, generally 152hp as opposed to 114hp, the Scotch boats were a more attractive proposition in terms of fish-catching potential. There are various conclusions to be drawn regarding the large discrepancies in interest rates; for instance, could it have been politically motivated and linked with a ploy to keep BIM boatyards in business?

Regardless of the reasons, Brian still resents the disproportionate interest rate that prevented him from buying a Scotch boat with greater fish-catching potential at less than half the price he paid for the Ard Ailbhe.

He has a few other bones of contention regarding BIM at that time. One is that he believes the cost of boats to the fishermen was artificially high; it was claimed by Jack Tyrrell that he could build and sell boats at a much lower cost than the BIM asking price, but he was ‘advised’ by the powers that be not to do so. In fact, he was told that he wouldn’t sell his boats because BIM held the purse strings.

Further points with which Brian took issue where BIM was concerned were that, having paid close to £20,000 for the boat, he wasn’t allowed to choose either its name or colour. Regarding the name, he was obliged to select from one of three, each beginning with the word Ard. There were also the problems of boats built at BIM boatyards coming out at well beyond the original cost, and late on delivery. Accumulated problems along those lines eventually led to Irish fishermen looking abroad to have their boats built at yards where an agreed original cost stood and the delivery date was respected. Naturally, that didn’t go down well with established boatyards at home. Brian believes it is no accident that several among those who went on to become Ireland’s most successful fishermen did not set out on the journey as BIM boat owners. In hindsight, he believes that in the long term the advantages of buying a more powerful-engined boat, even with the higher rate of interest on loans, outstripped the BIM option. By the mid-1960s Brian was in a position to look around for a boat more in keeping with his original preference. He homed in on the 63ft Nordkap, a Norwegian-built vessel fitted with a 230hp engine. He successfully fished her for a number of years.

In later years, at a time when whitefish stocks were running down, BIM began to encourage fishermen to diversify by looking towards alternative types of fishing. Brian, along with his working partner, took the bull by the horns and decided to have a go at razor-clam fishing, which was then in its infancy.
He explained:

“We sold the licence off the current boat, and invested the money in another boat, the Trudella, which we fitted out for razor fishing. Poor returns locally led us to fishing up the east coast, working off Howth, Skerries and Balbriggan. We were averaging landings of half to three-quarters of a ton per day. Encouraged by the return, we progressed from the single boat to a second, the Osprey, and finally to a third, the Killybegs-built 65ft Lora Don. The three boats were landing into Wrights of Howth. As so often happens with fishing, all went well for a number of years, then the market more or less collapsed — though I understand it has picked up again in recent times. At any rate, a point was reached when we were not getting enough money to make it pay. The boats were tied up and eventually sold for scrap — except for the Trudella; she was purchased and converted to a pleasure craft.”

Brian’s direct link with fishing more or less came to a close around 2003, when a boat named Wilhelmina S, owned by him and his partner, was badly damaged when a fire broke out at sea. She was towed into port and subsequently sold on to a buyer in Norway.

It was unlikely that a man who holds strong opinions on the pros and cons of the Irish fish industry would stand idly by whenever a just cause raised its head. As such, it was not surprising that Brian became involved with the newly formed Irish Fishermen’s Organisation (IFO) in the early 1970s, and later served as chairman. There was, at that time, he said, ‘a general consensus among fishermen that a voice from the heart of the industry was needed to publicly air grievances’. Therefore, a call went out for the creation of an authoritative organisation to co-ordinate and maximise the lobbying power of commercial fishermen at both national and EC levels. Under the stewardship of general secretary Frank Doyle and chairman Kieran O’Driscoll, the IFO became a reality. The activities of the organisation led to our national government, the EC, and the media, taking heed of the difficulties Irish fishermen of the day were experiencing. Perhaps it was the potency of having such an organisation behind them that prompted fishermen to gather in Dublin and hold a rally at Leinster House in 1975. However, the formation of the Irish Fish Producers’ Organisation (IFPO), an independent body set up in accordance with requirements laid down by national governments and the EC in the late 1970s, somewhat undermined the original effectiveness of the IFO. An element of uncertainty about which organisation best met their requirements left fishermen in a sort of limbo: should they follow one organisation or both? Significantly, the IFPO, with BIM’s Mr James O’Connor, as chief executive, was funded partly by Brussels and partly by the state, whereas the IFO was wholly financially dependent on its members. There was no longer a level playing field. Obviously a lot of what went on in those distant days is now history. The world of producer organisations, co-operatives and indeed a revitalised IFO are another story.

A final point Brian made was that the late Frank Doyle, general secretary of the IFO, did not receive due recognition for his efforts in furthering the cause of Irish fishermen:

“The extent of the work Frank did behind the scenes went largely unnoticed. He was exceptional on the bureaucratic side of things and had a great talent for deciphering rules and regulations. He also excelled at documentation and taking on officials, be it Brussels or government personnel.”

We could have gone on chatting much longer, had it not been for the fact that Brian had a pressing appointment. He had earlier suggested that I should meet his wife, Frances, before I left. As I bid Brian adieu, the good lady had still not returned from work. However, I had already heard enough to know she was not one to stand idly by, as is exemplified by the fact that she became the first female to join an all-weather RNLI lifeboat. Yes, in 1981 she became a crew member at Dunmore East Lifeboat Station. Subsequently, Frances, a member of the local, eminent Glody fishing family, participated in hundreds of call-outs. She retired after twenty years of service and received an award recognising her as the only woman in both Ireland and England to hold this service record. Well done to Frances!

Ard Ailbhe (D198)

The thoughts and recall of Dunmore East resident Brian Crummy, one time owner of the newly built 56-footer Ard Ailbhe went as follows:
“At the time I got her in 1961 she was actually assigned to someone else but BIM offered her to me. I really wanted to buy a second-hand Scotch boat, a number of which were for sale at knock down prices at the time. It was a situation that came about as result of a religious quandary that left boats on the west coast of Scotland without crews. However attempts by Irish fishermen to finance the purchasing of those boats ran into difficulties. High interest rates of 18% on bank loans were bordering on prohibitive, especially so when only 4% was paid on loans for deposit on newly BIM built boats, i.e. boats built at the BIM boatyards, or boats ordered by BIM and built at the boatyard of John Tyrrell & Sons Ltd. Because of a significant horse power difference between the engines fitted in Scotch boats and those in BIM boats, generally 152hp as opposed to 114hp, the Scotch boats were a more attractive proposition in terms of fish catching potential. There are various conclusions to be drawn regarding the large discrepancies in interest rates; for instance could it have been politically motivated and linked with a ply to keep BIM boatyards in business. Regardless of the reasons, Brian still resents the prohibitive interest rate that really prevented him from buying a Scotch boat with greater fish catching potential at less than half the price he paid for the Ard Ailbhe.

He has a few other bones of contention regarding BIM at that time, one is that he believes the cost of boats to the fishermen at the time was artificially high – it was claimed by the proprietor of a prestigious Irish boatyard that he could build and sell boats at a much lower cost than the BIM asking price, but he was advised by the powers that be not to do so. Further points with which he took issue were, that having paid close to £20,000 for the boat he wasn’t permitted to choose its name or the colour. As to the name he was obliged to select from one of three, each beginning with the word Ard. By the mid-1960s Brian was in a position to look around for boat in keeping with his original aspiration. He homed in on the 63ft Nordkap (D119), a 230hp Norwegian built vessel.

Brian believes it is no accident that the several among those who went on to become Ireland’s most successful fishermen did not set out on the journey as BIM boat owners. On hindsight he believes that in the long run the advantages of buying a more powerful boat even at the higher rate of interest on loans outstripped the BIM boat option.

Since comments made by Michael Tyrell, a member of the illustrious boat building Tyrell family at Arklow, seem to concur with remarks made by Brian Crummy, I thought this might be an appropriate juncture to insert them. I got the distinct impression that he was very much in agreement with what Brian Crummy had said regarding the artificially high purchase cost of boats imposed by BIM. This is part of what he had to say, “Tyrells designed their own 56-footers (and 50-footers), boats which were ordered by BIM on behalf of any fishermen whom they could not persuade, financially or otherwise to order from themselves.”

There were six ‘BIM 56-footers’ built at Tyrell’s Boatyard. Issued in 1957 were the Glendalough (D310) and the Glenmalure (D147). Two years later the Sancta Lucia (D4) and the Naomh Brendain (D76) slipped out of the yard. Not by any means resting on their laurels the Arklow shipwrights were on cue with two further boats ready for delivery in 1960 – the Ard Dallan (D240) and the Ard Ciaran (311). Michael spoke of the ‘load carrying’ qualities of the 56-footers built at Tyrells, “They were correctly trimmed. I saw the two Glens in Dunmore East loaded full of herring. To look across the harbour at them some people may have sensed there was something wrong. It was nothing really except that they were down about 2ft on their draft marks. They were properly trimmed; not everybody understood that.”

Dick "Butler" Power

It was a fine summer’s morning at Dunmore East. I had arranged to meet Dick on his return from an early morning mackerel fishing trip. As he has done since 2005, he occupies himself by fishing the Dove, a fibreglass boat of 6.87m length. While I waited on the pier a number of other small boats landed modest catches. An hour or later, comfortably seated at Dick’s home on the outskirts of the village he was happy to recall his extensive fishing experiences. Experiences that spanned back all the way to early teenage years.

Dick is a native of Tramore, Co. Waterford. In 1943 he was born into a family long associated with commercial fishing. While his father spent some years in the Merchant Navy, for the most part he fished half-deckers out of Tramore. Later he spent time on boats owned by John Roche, Dunmore East. In the first instance he fished on the 38ft St Joseph before taking charge of the Dun Beg, a boat newly built at Skinner’s Yard, Baltimore. It was during that period Dick came to live at Dunmore East.

A significant milestone was reached in Dick’s early life when circa 1955 his father, widely known as William Butler Power, moved on from the Dun Beg and purchased the Portavogie built, 50ft seiner, Golden Quest, from a Kilkeel owner. This is how Dick remembers the sequence of events that followed, “My father started off lobster fishing with the Golden Quest in the summer of 1955 and later that year turned to seine netting, mostly for whiting, out of Helvick. I joined the crew a year later during the winter of 1956/’57.” Around that time the Dunmore East herring bonanza was in its infancy and Helvick was also beginning to grow in stature as a seining port. Many boats working out of Dunmore engaged in the well-known ‘coil-a-side’ practice. However, the Golden Quest, which did not have an echo sounder fitted, remained based at Helvick. Without a sounder there was no point in trying to fish for herring. William and his crew continued seine netting with poor enough returns.

At the end of a prolonged lean period, mainly due to bad weather, with William wondering what to do next, a stroke of good luck came his way. It was triggered by the arrival of the boats, Green Pastures and Green Hill, (respectively owned and skippered by the Annalong brothers, Victor and Jack Chambers), to fish out of Helvick. During a boat to boat conversation William expressed his concerns to Jack, who advised him to stay put, saying, “There are loads of fish here off the bottom and they will be caught when the weather settles.” That,” Dick said, “is how it worked out. When the weather did settle, there was loads of fish there. From my memory, the fishing started about March and went on for about a month or so. We caught cod, plaice and whiting in quantities greater than we could handle. Indeed we did better than the boats that went to Dunmore herring fishing.”

In the years that immediately followed, herring ringing became prominent. Classy Scotch built ringers such as the Arctic Moon and Elizmor, owned and skippered respectively by the Matt Sloan and Eddie McEwen of Girvan, showed the way. Local owned boats that Dick remembered being involved at an early stage were the Kittiwake owned by Jack McGrath, Dunmore East and the Kestrel owned by John Hearne, Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford. While still a crew member on the Golden Quest he also remembers that they joined forces herring fishing with two other boats, the Virginia and the Kittiwake owned either then or later by Tommy McGrath, Dunmore East. The amount of herring there he said, “Was incredible, more ring nets than enough burst with the sheer weight of fish.”

Circa 1959 the Power family acquire a second boat; the Herd & McKenzie built 65ft Harvest Hope. Around that time Dick, his father and his brother Ned chopped and changed from one boat to another, with both Dick and Ned also spending time on John Doyle’s Coreopsis. The Harvest Hope was sold to a Gibraltar buyer in 1962. By then Dick had taken over from his father as skipper of the Golden Quest and did quite well with her up to the spring of 1965. Then he decided to look around for a bigger boat. Fishing a bigger boat required ‘a ticket’ – a fishing competency certificate. In order to gain that qualification he took time out and attended the appropriate course at Galway Technical College. While he was there a reconditioned BIM 50-footer came up for reissue. She was undergoing a makeover at Baltimore BIM Boatyard. Believing that he might have a chance of getting her, he forwarded an application to BIM Head Office. The ‘powers that be’ dillied and dallied for some time before reaching a positive decision! The cost of the boat was to be £6,500, so Dick placed a deposit based on that figure. Alas, when the actual issuing of the boat came around, as seems to have been the case in other BIM deals of that era, the cost had found its way upwards, on this occasion to £7,500. An agreement was reached by the parties concerned to split the difference, and on 13th September 1965 Dick took delivery of the Ros Liath, now fitted with a 120hp Kelvin engine, and indeed a new boat for all intents and purposes.

He went on to say, “Initially I fished the Ros Liath out of Howth and did really well trawling there. Around the end of October I came home to Dunmore East and headed for Helvick a place where I knew the fishing grounds well. There was plenty of fish there. Coming up to Christmas I recall buying one mid-water three bridle net, and two Engel bottom trawls. Poor catches from the mid-water net resulted in it being replaced by one of the bottom trawls. The effectiveness of that net has remained in my mind. On St Stephen’s Night 1965 we left Waterford where we had been sheltering from bad weather and steamed straight for Baginbun. Each day of the week that followed we filled the boat with herring. The fish sold at £4.10/- a cran. In that week alone I recovered 1/3 of my outlay. That particular herring season lasted until the end of March. The Engel net had done a magnificent job!”

With the herring season over it was a case of back to trawling off Helvick. The routine was, “Leave Dunmore East on Sunday night, head for Helvick and fish until Tuesday evening. By then the boat was loaded down with fish, as much as I could put into her; sole, plaice and all that kind of fish. Because of the lack of transport from Dunmore East to the Dublin market we were obliged to steam to Duncannon, where we landed our fish for collection by the Kilmore Quay fish lorry on its way to Dublin. Having done so, we returned to Dunmore East, took stores on board and left for the fishing grounds off Helvick. The cycle began all over again. That went on for a number of years.” Meanwhile, during the herring seasons, I mid-watered with a Duncannon boat, the BIM 50-footer Maria, owned and fished by Patsy Downes. Using small mid-water trawls purchased from Ivor Christiansen, Howth, (I.C. Trawls) we fished very successfully. Herring were so plentiful that we lost more than we boarded. When the herring went to the bottom at Baginbun, as other boats did, we changed to a bottom trawl.”

In 1968 Dick decided the time had come to move up to an even bigger boat. He put the Ros Liath up for sale, and fished for awhile on John Doyle’s Xmas Morn, a Scotch boat built at Fraserburgh in 1953. Later that year he purchased the 65ft Coreopsis from Gerry McLaughlin, Howth. Previously, the Coreopsis had been mechanically damaged as result of taking a mooring rope on the propeller when fishing off the Kish. The outcome of that incident was a major overhaul carried out at Malahide Boatyard. It included the fitting of a fully reconditioned engine, a reconditioned gearbox, together with a new stern tube and shaft; all important factors in Dick’s decision to purchase her. Initially he fished her out of Howth before returning to his old stamping ground at Helvick. Herring were still being caught by the boatload at Baginbun. During a couple of seasons bottom trawling there it became evident that the Coreopsis was underpowered. The 114hp Gardner wasn’t enough! It was time to look around for a boat with a more powerful engine. His search led him to Scotland, where in 1972 he purchased the 152hp, 66ft Sealgair. “Having done”, he said, “Well enough in her,” mainly bottom trawling, he sold her within two years. While keeping an eye out for a suitable replacement he fished for a time on the Golden Feather, a Dunmore East boat owned by John Roche. On the grapevine he heard that Mick Orpen’s 70ft Ardent, a seiner built by Jones, Buckie was up for sale. Dick journeyed to Castletownbere where he met up with Mick and a deal was struck. In October 1974 the Ardent, re-named Stelimar, joined the Dunmore East fleet. Dick described her as, “A lovely boat, you couldn’t get nicer.” That winter he said, “I did very well herring pairing with the Castletownbere boat, Patricia, skippered and owned by Denis O’Driscoll.” The following year saw the Stelimar herring pairing out of Howth with the Clogherhead boat Fragrant Cloud, owned and fished by Anthony Kirwan. Dick explained why that particular venture wasn’t very successful, “The boats were underpowered. While the Ardent and Fragrant Cloud respectively had a 230hp and 240hp engines fitted, they really needed to be 400 or 500hp.” 

Following that one season fishing with the Fragrant Cloud he went back to trawling. That was in 1976. Dick recalled, “I was still in Howth and decided to try out a small black three bridled Swedish net that came with the Stelimar (Ardent) from Mick. The result was unbelievable! I caught loads of fish with it all through 1976 and ’77! Mick of course kept an eye on how things were going and at one point in his own very special way, remarked, “You didn’t buy the boat from me, I gave her to you.”

As the years rolled on, good and all as the Stelimar was, her effectiveness in big time fishing came to an end. Steel hulled boats fitted with high powered engines, power blocks, net drums etc. became the order of the day. It was decision time for Dick. Should he treat himself for the first time in his career to a newly built boat or once again look towards a second-hand vessel. He decided on the former. Needing three quotations he approached boatyards at Arklow, Killybegs and Cobh. Maritime (Cobh) won the day. An order was placed in October 1979 for what was to be the new Stelimar (W146). The 19.02m x 17.98m x 6.16m x 2.79m vessel, powered by a 415hp/310kW main engine was to be ready for delivery in approximately 10 months. Maybe it was because the Stelimar was the first steel boat built at the yard, but for whatever reason delivery was in fact 10 months late.

When the order was placed for the building of Stelimar the Celtic Sea Herring Fishery had already been closed down. A year previously Dick replied to a Department of the Marine advertisement requesting applications from boat owners to carry out a herring larvae survey off the south coast. His application was successful and survey went on during the winters up to 1985, with the exception of 1980/’81 when it had to be suspended due to the fact that he had sold the original Stelimar and delivery of the new boat had fallen 10 months behind schedule. He didn’t have a boat!

With the survey years behind them, and the Celtic Sea Herring Fishery again opened, Dick, his crew and the new Stelimar went back to mid-watering and prawn fishing. As result of one particular eight day fishing trip to the Smalls, prawns landed realised £16,000. A lot of money in those days! The Stelimar, under Dick’s ownership, was to fish very successfully until he sold her to John Paul Healy, Durrus, Co Cork in 2004. However, in 1991 a major and tragic incident involving the Stelimar brought sadness and disbelief to Dunmore East and indeed to the fishing community nationwide. It’s an incident that I’ll refer to later.

During the years Dick had the Stelimar he also owned two other boats. The first of those was the French built Jonara (W163), a 53ft timber hulled boat, fitted with a 415hp/309kW engine. She arrived at Dunmore East in February 1986. Re-winched, she pair-fished for a couple of years with the Stelimar, then skippered by Dunmore East man Denis Harding. Dick said, “Both did extremely well at prawns, whitefish and herring.”

In 1988 Dick bought a third fishing boat, the Exodus (W577), a French built 53ft, timber hulled vessel, fitted with a 240hp/179kW engine. While she appeared to be in poor condition, examination of frames and planking showed her to be perfectly sound. The worst part, he said, “Was visible to the eye and above deck level. I bought her for £23,000 and with the help of a few shipwrights spent two months renovating her. I didn’t keep her very long; maybe a year or a year-and-a-half, then I sold her on for £110,000.”

As a matter of interest the name Stelimar was derived from the first three letters of Stephanie, the first two letter of Liam and the first three letters of Margaret, respectively the names of Dick’s then children, and his wife.

That the children who came later didn’t feel left out, the name Jonara was derived in similar fashion from John and Tara.

The years kept rolling on, Dick’s family were growing up and in 1990 his eldest son Liam showed a keen interest in fishing. That being the case Dick advised the young man to study for ‘a full ticket’ at the National Fisheries College, Greencastle. That he did! Whether prompted by Liam’s interest in fishing or not, Dick went ahead and bought a boat that came up for sale. She was the Malahide built, 68ft transom stern, Star of Nazareth (D38), a boat previously owned by Martin McLaughlin, Howth. Under the impression that a licence to fish for herring and mackerel would be granted Dick had the boat re-furbished, had a new engined fitted, and had a major winch overhaul carried out. She was ready to go fishing in the spring of 1991. The idea was that she would pair fish with the Stelimar. The licence did not materialise! Skippered initially by Dick, and later by the skipper of the then sold Jonara, and with Liam on the crew, the Star of Nazareth began to fish prawns at the Smalls. Efforts to procure a herring and mackerel fishing licence continued. To the man on the street it seemed incomprehensible and indeed grossly unfair that a licence was not granted given the circumstances, but rules are rules, and bureaucrats are bureaucrats. The circumstances were that pervious to the purchase of the Star of Nazareth, Dick owned three fishing boats, the Stelimar, the Exodus and the Jonara. He sold Exodus and the Jonara around the time he acquired the Star of Nazareth, surrendering the licences to fish herring and mackerel on each of the boats. That was on the assumption that he would be granted a corresponding licence for the Star of Nazareth. However, the bureaucrats reasoned otherwise — basically the surrendered licences on the two sold boats (Exodus and Jonara) were for all intent purposes dead as far as the application for a pelagic licence for the Star of Nazareth was concerned. One thing had nothing to do with the other! The focus was entirely on the entitlement of the boat to fish and an active history of fishing for herring and mackerel. While she had entitlement to fish for herring and mackerel she had no history of fishing for either of these species. Previous to purchase she was an existing boat within the fleet and, as the boat was over 65ft in length, the issue of a new licence was necessary. The purpose of that policy was to restrict fleet growth in the catching capacity of the pelagic sector where there was already over capacity.

The reality was that the Star of Nazareth was not to be granted a licence to catch herring and mackerel. So what was Dick to do, she wasn’t much use to him without a licence. A change in circumstances due to the already mentioned tragic incident involving the Stelimar was later to affect the short time future of the Star of Nazareth. The sad tale as told by Dick unfolded as follows, “It was in 1991 and I had just returned from holiday. The Stelimar and the Star of Nazareth were fishing out of Howth. They both left on a particular Monday night to fish off the Kish. On the way a fire broke out in the Stelimar. I received a phone call at around 7.30am from the Dun Laoghaire Lifeboat Secretary informing me of the incident. The lifeboat and a cross channel ferryboat had assisted at the scene. The Stelimar had been very badly damaged by fire but worst of all a crew member, Jimmy Byrne, had tragically lost his life through smoke inhalation. The boat had been towed to Dun Laoghaire. I drove up to find a wreck of a boat and a crew plunged into disbelief at what had happened, and most of all by the loss of a colleague. I too, was shattered with disbelief. My abiding memory of the catastrophe is that of the outpouring of sympathy directed towards all concerned. It came from far and near and was a great comfort to the family of our deceased crewman and indeed to all of us.”

So what was Dick to do with the Stelimar? Obviously she required a major makeover. To that end he had her towed to Howth where she underwent a total survey. That done her next destination was the Arklow Marine Services Boatyard. She was to stay at Arklow a long, long time and refurbishment costs were massive! With the work nearing completion attempts were made to start the engine. It proved a fruitless exercise! What had escaped the notice of all concerned was that on the fateful night water was hosed down through the Stelimar’s funnel and into the engine by the crew of the cross channel ferryboat as they endeavoured to quench the fire. A further eight weeks had passed by the time the engine had been stripped down and rebuilt.

As mentioned earlier on, the Stelimar incident had a bearing on the short term future of the Star of Nazareth. It came about because of a magnanimous gesture by Department of the Marine bureaucrats! They allowed the Stelimar’s mackerel and herring licence to be transferred to the Star of Nazareth for the duration of the Stelimar’s layup. That made way for the Star of Nazareth to pair fish for herring with another boat. That winter she did so with the Azure Sea (D585), a boat then owned by Doran’s of Howth.

The short term fix was still far from satisfactory. When the Stelimar returned to fishing the licence reverted back to her leaving the Star of Nazareth of little use to Dick. He had no option but to put her up for sale. Cecil Sharkey, Clogherhead, bought her. As a result Liam, now with his full ticket, had not got a boat to fish. Dick said, “He came fishing with me for awhile on the Stelimar and in time began fishing her himself, except for the herring seasons, when I came back. He did very well with her and we decided to have her re-engined, the winch refurbished and new shelter deck fitted. That work was done at Arklow in 1997. Liam continued to fish her in the years that immediately followed, but fishing as a career was beginning to go downhill a bit. Slowly but surely, for a variety of reasons, it emerged that Liam was unlikely to make fishing a lifetime career. I wasn’t prepared to go back fulltime fishing myself. Factors such as unsociable working hours, difficulties with crews, the value of a normal family way of life, shore work for all concerned had become more attractive than fishing, and of course the fact that I wasn’t getting any younger, all conspired to make up my mind to sell the Stelimar. In 2004 she became the property of John Paul Healy, and has been based at Union Hall ever since.”

As referred to in the opening lines of this article Dick did not entirely retire from seagoing. Almost immediately he decided to get a small boat, a boat that he could fish and manage himself. His quest led him to Kinsale where Fitzgerald Marine Manufacturing Ltd specialised in the production of a large range of fibreglass vessels. He explained his requirements to specialists at the Yard. In time a suitable mould was formed and the first steps of a process by which the boat would eventually emerge were set in motion. The Dove motored away from Kinsale in 2005. Dick has happily and leisurely fished her out of Dunmore East up to the present time.

In terms of shore activities related to fishing, Dick recalled that his father had been a founding member of the South & East Fishermen’s Co-Operative Society, and that he himself had also been a member. Another local body in which Dick became active was the Dunmore East Fishermen’s Co-Operative Society. In 1972 he became a committee member and was elected Chairman in 2002. Later he held the office of Executive Chairman from 2006 until his retirement in 2009. One year later, fishermen at the port were shocked and dismayed when informed by the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority that the handling, storage and sale of fish must cease immediately due to (you guessed it) EU regulations. The auction hall and cold storage facilities at the harbour’s white fish landing berth, where over the years hundreds of thousand boxes of fish had been handled and auctioned, were wiped out by the stroke of yet another bureaucratic pen. It was a terrible blow to a village whose population was in decline, and to a port already struggling to overcome a range of problems.

The hazards associated with catching mercurial creatures of the sea are all too well known. Loss of life can result from so many causes! Fishing is unquestionably a dangerous way of making a living! Yet, no skipper or crew member believes disaster will befall them personally. For one reason or another misadventure becomes a reality!

So it was on the night of 22 September 1992! The Dunmore East 56ft, timber hulled fishing boat, Orchidee, was operating in darkness 50 miles off the south-east coast when she was run down by the large French fishing vessel Agena. The Orchidee sank quickly! Of the three crewmembers, two were missing; the third was recovered by the French vessel. As the accident happened in British territorial waters RAF helicopters were quickly on the scene. A Sikorsky helicopter from Shannon was also on its way within fifteen minutes. The search continued through the night and following day but the two missing men were not found. The incident could scarcely be closer to home for Dick, as one of the men who lost his life, the skipper and owner of the Orchidee, was his 28 year old brother Jimmy. The second casualty was little more than a youth, a 19 year old, named Bobby Doran of Bridgetown, Co. Wexford. The lone survivor was Ken Pierce, then a 23 year old, and also from Bridgetown. What a reminder to all concerned of just how dangerous fishing at sea can be!

With the tape recorder safely put away, while we drank a cup of tea I sat on for awhile chatting with Dick and Margaret (Peggy). A topic which came up was Dick’s involvement in what has been described as, ‘incidents in the herring grounds off the south Wexford coast on 3 January 1966 between the crews of Northern Irish and Southern Irish trawlers’. The ‘incidents’ resulted in the following personnel being brought before the court, Michael Orpen, (Ardent) Bere Island, Co Cork; Mark Bates, (Boolavogue), Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford; William McCarthy (Orien) Sherkin Island, Co Cork; Michael Doran (Silver Harvest) Howth, Co Dublin and Richard (Dick) Power (Rosliadha), Newtown, Tramore, Co Waterford. All five were charged with unlawfully and maliciously damaging the Northern trawler, Victory, with intent to render it useless. The details of this case are long and arduous, but the pertinent point where Dick is concerned was that the spelling of his boat’s name, correctly Ros Liath, proved too much for the authorities — there was no such boat as the Rosliadha involved in the incident — Dick had no case to answer! By the way all involved were found not guilty, though Mick Orpen had to go by a circuitous route to prove his innocence.

Following on, conversation drifted to the South & East Co-Op manager, Michael McSweeney, who lived across the road. I knew Michael (Mick) very well when we grew up together in Baltimore many years ago. I decided to drop in and see how he was doing. I was met at the door by a delightful young lady who introduced herself as Mick’s daughter. Mick maintained that he recognised me from all those years ago but I can’t help wondering if he had previous knowledge of my being in the Dunmore East area around that particular time. On the other hand, while Mick has naturally aged a little, I would still have known him had I met him on the street. He remembered that we played on the same football team but that the only photo of the team in existence shows him wearing an ordinary shirt of some kind, rather than a team jersey. Obviously times were tough and jerseys were in short supply! It was good meeting up with him again and the two personality plus ladies present, who were his married visiting daughters, kept the craic going.

There was just one more thing I planned to do before heading back to Waterford. That was to say hello to Sean and Kathleen O’Driscoll who lived in the Killea area. It was more or less on my way and I had been at the house a few months earlier when Sean recalled his fishing experiences for me. I drove along this narrow road and eventually arrived at a house which was that of Sean and Kathleen’s – except that it wasn’t! I knocked at the door but there was nobody home! Ah well, “I’ll put a wee note through the letter box!” Sometime later an e-mail arrived from Kathleen suggesting that the next time I called it would be best if I came to her house rather than putting a note through her neighbour’s letter box. There you are! A case of mistaken identity! One just can’t win them all – it’s true you know.

Two of Pat Nolan's books which may be of interest to some.