Thomas Corkish - A Sailor's Story

Thomas Corkish - A sailor's story

by John Goodman

Wicklow’s harbour has, over the millennia, provided the means for sustenance, commerce and travel.  Some of the men that came here as crew, fell for the feminine charms of the local women, stayed and started often large, families. One such man was Thomas Corkish.

He was born in 1884 in Ramsey in the Isle of Man, the son of a fisherman, Robert, who died when Thomas was just 12. He became a fisherman for several years until the early 1900’s when he switched to being a merchant sailor and like many that made their living off the sea, he was a crewman on the Ramsey Lifeboat.

In 1904 he was an A.B. (Ablebody Seaman) aboard the ‘Dorothy’, a 47-ton Ketch registered in Balbriggan with the remaining crew made up of men from Skerries. For the last 6 months of 1904 she called to Oban, Ramsey, Stornaway, Whitehaven, Skerries, Kilkeel, Bridgewater and Balbriggan illustrating the extensive shipping trade between all the ports along both sides of the Irish Sea.

It was on one of these trips that he met Julia Evans from Wicklow Town. She grew up on Monkton Row overlooking the harbour and most of her neighbours were involved in the sea in one way or another, so such meetings were not uncommon. He was raised in the Anglian Church in Ramsey but converted to Roman Catholic being confirmed on same day of his first daughter, Evelyn.

Evelyn and Thomas Corkish's Confirmation

Thomas suffered from deafness which he claimed was a result of being aboard HMS Lion during the battle of Jutland in May 1916, however there is no record of him having served anywhere other than the merchant navy during the war. Having said that, there is a gap in the merchant crew listing for him in 1915/1916 so it is possible that he was engaged in non-military work with the navy during that time, that resulted in his hearing loss. This would come back to haunt him in later years. 

During the war years, particularly from 1917 to the end of war in November 1918, the Irish Sea was a very dangerous place to sail. It was nicknamed ‘U-Boat Alley’ due to the activities of the German submarine fleet in sinking any and every vessel that they could regardless of size. Most of the ships that Thomas sailed on were the smaller sailing vessels of about 100 tons. These were a waste of an expensive torpedo, so the practice was to surface and sink the vessel with the deck gun or by placing a bomb aboard the captured vessel after the crew had taken to the lifeboats. Thomas experienced this first-hand in September 1918 when he was aboard the schooner the Joseph Fisher. She was stopped by UB-64 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Ernest Krieger returning from Garston with a cargo of 100 tons of coal. After they had taken to the lifeboat she was sunk by gunfire and the crew were luckily picked up later relatively unharmed.   

Such was the U-Boat hazard around the coasts of Ireland and Britain that the British Government issued a medal for merchant seamen, The Mercantile Marine Medal. It was awarded with the British Service Medal. The qualification for the medal was that the applicant must have operated for 6 months in or made at least one journey through a ‘danger zone’. Thomas received his medals at an address in Castle Street.

British Service and Mercantile Marine Medals.

Thomas continued to sail but did not become a master. According to legend he missed out because a ‘Major’ local informed the authorities of his disability. However, he continued to sail and did receive his mates ticket.

Thomash Corkish in Mate’s uniform.

In December 1947 Thomas was mate aboard the schooner Isallt.  She was a 2-masted schooner build in Wales in 1909 but now fitted with diesel engines. During the second world war or emergency, she was operated as a training vessel by Irish Naval service before being chartered by Liverpool man, Anthony Harris, from the South of Ireland Shipping company based in Arklow. He intended to operate her in the West Indies. He had also operated the ‘Brooklands’ , formerly the ‘Susan Vitrie’ , where he had been impressed by Thomas’ seamanship and demeanour, thus hiring him for the Isallt.

On December 4th she set off from Dublin, bound for Waterford with a cargo of fertiliser and manure. She was reputedly the only ship to leave Dublin that day due to the weather forecast. The ship was captained by Charles ‘Nomad’ McGuinness, who was regarded as a bit of an ‘eccentric’, due to self claims of having been a pirate, polar explorer, gun runner, IRA man, mercenary and hero in his book Charles ‘Nomad’ McGuinness.

There were seven souls onboard including Thomas as mate, his son John or ‘Jack’ Corkish, Anthony Harris, John Kelly (chief engineer), Joseph Whelan on his first voyage, McGuinness and Miss Mary Young. It is not clear as to what Ms. Young’s role was aboard.

Thomas Corkish (right), probably aboard the 'Brooklands'.

On reaching Arklow they passed a steamer heading north that warned them to run for shelter given the worsening weather conditions. Thomas himself advised that they should head for Arklow.  McGuinness ignored the advice of both and continued south. 

The increasingly heavy seas were pushing the vessel closer and closer to the Wexford coast. At about 10pm the bow grounded, thus confirming the perilous situation that the ship was in.  Flares and signal fires were used to try and attract assistance, but none was forthcoming. The rising tide lifted the ship and then lodged her more firmly on to rocks just 100 meters from the shore.  At this point McGuinness ordered all hands into the lifeboat which was launched unsuccessfully. A series of large waves swamped and then capsized the boat throwing all souls into the rock-strewn surf. Jack managed to secure a set of oars and was making for the strand, when he saw another person in the water and grabbed him.

The person he grabbed was his father, Thomas, who seemed to be unable to help probably due to being injured in the capsize. Jack held him until he himself succumbed to exhaustion and he had to let him go in the certain knowledge that he would be drowned. Fortunately, soon after Jack touched ground he was helped from the water by Joseph Whelan, who had managed to reach the shore before but heard Jack’s cries for help. Jack and Thomas must have been very close to shore when they were separated. Jack and Joseph rested on the beach for some time, both exhausted and freezing.  Jack’s side was injured from the being buffeted against the rocks in the heavy sea but they both managed to make their way to a farmhouse and raise the alarm.

Local Garda recovered two bodies of Anthony Harris and John Kelly the following morning and the next day the body of Miss Young was recovered leaving just Thomas and Charles McGuinness unaccounted for. A few days later the Lloyds officials arrived to inspect the wreck and found the hold flooded and the ships cat unharmed. They brought the cat ashore but there is no mention as to what became of it. It is believed that had the crew remained onboard the stricken vessel they may have survived the wreck given their proximity to the shore. The wreck was eventually broken up by the sea but the engine block remained visible for many years. One of the anchors was pictured recently in a nearby house called ‘Isallt’.

On Christmas Day a few weeks later, the body of Thomas Corkish washed up in Courtown Harbour. He was brought to Wicklow and eventually buried in Rathnew. When word initially spread of his drowning his family were inundated with messages of sympathy. The Wicklow People reported that “He became one of the best known and most sincerely respected sailors of the town. His quiet, friendly, earnest demeanour, his industry and forthrightness, his love of home and of his adopted town, his honest upright character earned for him a well-deserved popularity.”

The body of Charles McGuinness was never recovered, leading to speculation that he survived the wreck and used it to disappear. This theory was given more credence by his nephew who claimed that eight years later in 1955, he saw him in London.  He was travelling down an escalator at Tottenham Court Road when “Uncle Nomad” passed him going in the opposite direction. He swears that “Nomad” smiled at him and said, “You never saw me”.

Thomas and Julia had a total of 10 children, four boys and six girls. On the 1911 Census of Ireland there is only one Corkish recorded for the entire country. That was Thomas aboard a sailing vessel called the Maggie Bennett in Bray harbour. By the time of Julia’s death in 1966 they had 80 grandchildren and 35 great grandchildren, a number that continued to grow, leaving a proud legacy in Wicklow and beyond.

Julia and Thomas Corkish.