Howth
September 27, 2023
HM 255. Gun running is OK... but bad parking will get you into trouble!
"Could you get to the office at 7am Mark?" was Harry McLoughlin's request. "No problem Harry, I'll bring my crew along to meet you!" The day we met was extra busy for Harry as he was launching a large commercial boat using his harbour's unusual launch pad and high winds were forecast. I would have to get my interview in quick.
Howth (rhyming with both) is a solid harbour built at some expense by Scottish engineer John Rennie. Completed in 1807, it one of the five east coast "royal" Packet Ports built after the Act of Union of 1800 to aid fast communication with Westminster. However as the government packet boats moved from sail to steam, they needed deeper harbours and Dun Laoghaire slowly took over the business.
Howth is much more well known as the harbour where in 1914, the English born, but hardline Irish republican Erskine Childers and his wife Molly landed 900 Mauser rifles and 29,000 cartridges from their 51 ft yacht Asgard. Incredibly they did it in broad daylight and in front of large crowds. The guns were later used in anger as part the Easter Rising in Dublin.
Harry was born in Howth and for his first 17 years went to sea as a trawlerman, eventually as skipper. By 2005 high oil prices restricted his profit and he came ashore to be HM in Dun Laoghaire and then Dunmore East before returning home to Howth, by then one of the six official Irish Fisheries Harbours with 40 registered boats. It is still a busy fishing and commercial port, in part due to possessing one of only two Synchro-Lifts in Ireland. These extraordinary contraptions (the other one being in Dunmore East) effortlessly lifts large fishing boats out of the water and slides them across the road on a trolley for land based maintenance.
Harry clearly loves his job and with a big smile on his face, he proudly told us "My job is to piss off everyone". He does not mean he wants to, but the actions of a HM often do upset people for good reasons... A few minutes later, Harry found a forklift truck parked illegally on the route of the Synchro-Lift. Without any hesitation he told one of his Harbour Constables to lift it out of the way with a larger forklift. With the route clear and the wind abated, we watched the 400 t fisheries research vessel Celtic Voyager being smoothly launched, via a pelican crossing - quite surreal.
The next day we sailed out at dawn, Harry already in his office. Thank you for a great visit and we hope you find somewhere to dump the 220,000 cubic metres of mud currently silting up your inner harbour.
"Could you get to the office at 7am Mark?" was Harry McLoughlin's request. "No problem Harry, I'll bring my crew along to meet you!" The day we met was extra busy for Harry as he was launching a large commercial boat using his harbour's unusual launch pad and high winds were forecast. I would have to get my interview in quick.
Howth (rhyming with both) is a solid harbour built at some expense by Scottish engineer John Rennie. Completed in 1807, it one of the five east coast "royal" Packet Ports built after the Act of Union of 1800 to aid fast communication with Westminster. However as the government packet boats moved from sail to steam, they needed deeper harbours and Dun Laoghaire slowly took over the business.
Howth is much more well known as the harbour where in 1914, the English born, but hardline Irish republican Erskine Childers and his wife Molly landed 900 Mauser rifles and 29,000 cartridges from their 51 ft yacht Asgard. Incredibly they did it in broad daylight and in front of large crowds. The guns were later used in anger as part the Easter Rising in Dublin.
Harry was born in Howth and for his first 17 years went to sea as a trawlerman, eventually as skipper. By 2005 high oil prices restricted his profit and he came ashore to be HM in Dun Laoghaire and then Dunmore East before returning home to Howth, by then one of the six official Irish Fisheries Harbours with 40 registered boats. It is still a busy fishing and commercial port, in part due to possessing one of only two Synchro-Lifts in Ireland. These extraordinary contraptions (the other one being in Dunmore East) effortlessly lifts large fishing boats out of the water and slides them across the road on a trolley for land based maintenance.
Harry clearly loves his job and with a big smile on his face, he proudly told us "My job is to piss off everyone". He does not mean he wants to, but the actions of a HM often do upset people for good reasons... A few minutes later, Harry found a forklift truck parked illegally on the route of the Synchro-Lift. Without any hesitation he told one of his Harbour Constables to lift it out of the way with a larger forklift. With the route clear and the wind abated, we watched the 400 t fisheries research vessel Celtic Voyager being smoothly launched, via a pelican crossing - quite surreal.
The next day we sailed out at dawn, Harry already in his office. Thank you for a great visit and we hope you find somewhere to dump the 220,000 cubic metres of mud currently silting up your inner harbour.