Youghal
Liam Keating
September 5, 2023
HM 247. So many HM stories that we nearly missed the tide.
We had do a quick in and out of Youghal (pronounced Yawl), in order to catch the tide and get over the bar. Little did I know Liam Keating would be one of the most delightfully chatty HMs on my whole travels.
Once berthed we invited Liam on board Good Dog and made him a coffee, sat back, and listened to his never ending stories of life at sea. You see, Liam was nearly born at sea as his mother was out fishing with his father and they only just made it back to Waterford hospital in time!
On the way to Youghal we sailed past the famous "Ghost Ship", the MV Alta. Adrift without a crew in the Atlantic for a staggering two years, this 90 metre cargo ship was originally abandoned in the caribbean but finally washed up here on the Irish coast, one Sunday in 2023. Liam was one of the first officials aboard on Monday and by Tuesday all the tools, equipment and machinery had been looted. Next a fire was lit to burn off the plastic and reveal any copper. At this point the HM requested a repeater shotgun to protect himself from thieves!
Liam is a sailor and he recalled his first visit to Youghal as bosun of the brigantine Asgard II, the Irish sail training ship. So strong was the ebbing current on the River Blackwater that Asgard dragged not one but two anchors. Liam was awarded a cup for being a "ploughing champion"! Along with other HMs he commented that storms from the South East are becoming more common, with harbours often not so well protected from this direction.
Liam was full of interesting facts, telling us everything about the Irish language protected areas - Gaeltachts; How Isaac Jacob had started a bakery in nearby Waterford producing Sea Biscuits for mariners (Jacob's Crackers); How his grandfather had started Irish electrification putting one light bulb in every house; How a crew unloading coal in Belfast had to switch ensigns between a Union Jack and a Tricolour at midday as the protestant stevedores went off shift and the catholic ones came on shift - if not the ship would not get unloaded; How in the 17thC Algerian pirates roamed off the Youghal coastline, captured locals and took them as white slaves back to Africa; And something (the writing in my notebook is a little unclear) about Irish jokes and a woman not knowing how to get pregnant. The stories were coming thick and fast. I will leave out what he said about Cork County Council who own his harbour!
One thing Liam made very clear was how much he enjoyed teaching youngsters to sail which he did for 17 years. He particularly enjoyed molding the ones who started with anti-social behaviour problems but as he trained them he could hear the change with "I, me, my" becoming "us, we, ours" as they became a team. As he said, "bring out another thousand" and I could have changed their lives.
Thank you very much Liam.
My crew and I literally had to tear ourselves away from Liam and Youghall, we could have chatted to him all day and all night. If you ever get a chance to sail in there, leave a few hours to spare and go and say hello to him!
We had do a quick in and out of Youghal (pronounced Yawl), in order to catch the tide and get over the bar. Little did I know Liam Keating would be one of the most delightfully chatty HMs on my whole travels.
Once berthed we invited Liam on board Good Dog and made him a coffee, sat back, and listened to his never ending stories of life at sea. You see, Liam was nearly born at sea as his mother was out fishing with his father and they only just made it back to Waterford hospital in time!
On the way to Youghal we sailed past the famous "Ghost Ship", the MV Alta. Adrift without a crew in the Atlantic for a staggering two years, this 90 metre cargo ship was originally abandoned in the caribbean but finally washed up here on the Irish coast, one Sunday in 2023. Liam was one of the first officials aboard on Monday and by Tuesday all the tools, equipment and machinery had been looted. Next a fire was lit to burn off the plastic and reveal any copper. At this point the HM requested a repeater shotgun to protect himself from thieves!
Liam is a sailor and he recalled his first visit to Youghal as bosun of the brigantine Asgard II, the Irish sail training ship. So strong was the ebbing current on the River Blackwater that Asgard dragged not one but two anchors. Liam was awarded a cup for being a "ploughing champion"! Along with other HMs he commented that storms from the South East are becoming more common, with harbours often not so well protected from this direction.
Liam was full of interesting facts, telling us everything about the Irish language protected areas - Gaeltachts; How Isaac Jacob had started a bakery in nearby Waterford producing Sea Biscuits for mariners (Jacob's Crackers); How his grandfather had started Irish electrification putting one light bulb in every house; How a crew unloading coal in Belfast had to switch ensigns between a Union Jack and a Tricolour at midday as the protestant stevedores went off shift and the catholic ones came on shift - if not the ship would not get unloaded; How in the 17thC Algerian pirates roamed off the Youghal coastline, captured locals and took them as white slaves back to Africa; And something (the writing in my notebook is a little unclear) about Irish jokes and a woman not knowing how to get pregnant. The stories were coming thick and fast. I will leave out what he said about Cork County Council who own his harbour!
One thing Liam made very clear was how much he enjoyed teaching youngsters to sail which he did for 17 years. He particularly enjoyed molding the ones who started with anti-social behaviour problems but as he trained them he could hear the change with "I, me, my" becoming "us, we, ours" as they became a team. As he said, "bring out another thousand" and I could have changed their lives.
Thank you very much Liam.
My crew and I literally had to tear ourselves away from Liam and Youghall, we could have chatted to him all day and all night. If you ever get a chance to sail in there, leave a few hours to spare and go and say hello to him!