'Mr Arranmore' says farewell to active life boat service

Friday September 29th, 2000

© Reproduced by kind permission from The Derry People and Donegal News

TWENTY-four hours a day, 365 days of the year, volunteer Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crews are ready to risk their own lives for those in danger at sea. These lifeboatmen and women come from all walks of life and their intimate knowledge of their own waters and coastline is often vital to a successful rescue. On Arranmore Island, the dedication and devotion of the local crew have resulted in many lives being saved over the past one hundred years.

TONY GALLAGHER (RIGHT) WITH CREW MEMBERS PHILIP MCCAULEY AND ANTHON KAVANAGH.

Tony Gallagher has been Honorary Secretary of the Arranmore Lifeboat since 1983 and his history with the lifeboat spans more than forty years. He retires at the end of this month, having turned seventy earlier this year, and this week he spent time reminiscing about the service and life on the island. Tony was just a young boy when his late father-in-law John Boyle, the coxswain of the Arranmore lifeboat, was awarded the RNLI's Gold Medal for outstanding bravery during the rescue of 18 Dutch sea men from the SS Stolwijk (Rotterdam) near Innisboffin on December 7, 1940.

Newspapers reports at the time said that it was a miracle that the steamer's crew, who had been huddled together under the stern, were not washed away as the lifeboat crew spent more that four hours working to bring the men to safety. 'Just last week I received a letter from England from a man who watched that rescue from the shore and he is looking for more information. It was a daring rescue,' Tony said.

After ten years working on the tunnels and coal pits throughout England and Scotland Tony, his wife Mary and their young family returned to Arranmore in 1961. His father-in-law John and his wife Mary Boyle operated the local Post Office at a time when there were not many phones on the island. Whenever the lifeboat secretary received an SOS call he would send up rockets.

'Local schoolteacher Barney Gallagher was the honorary secretary at the time and whenever rockets went up everyone would run to the lifeboat station,' he explained. Within months of his return to Arranmore Tony was to take part in one of the most difficult and memorable rescues in the long history of the lifeboat. The rescue was memorable, not just for saving the crew of a Dutch ship off Eagle Head in Mayo but also because five members of a German vessel, which went to assist in the rescue, lost their lives.

The nearest other lifeboat at the time was stationed in the Arran Islands and while modern lifeboats are capable of high speed in atrocious weather it took up to fifteen hours for Tony and the Arranmore crew to make their way around the coastline. 'There were bad snow showers that night and as we approached all we could hear was foreign talk coming across the radio.

By the time we arrived the German ship had already launched its lifeboat to help the Dutch and we helped to winch them in but unfortunately during the course of the rescue five members of the German vessel were lost,' he remembered. The year was 1962 and when the few navigational aids on board the lifeboat failed the skipper had to rely on his own knowledge of the area. Running dangerously low on fuel the Arranmore lifeboat slowly limped its way back to Killybegs following the rescue. 'The seas had been so rough that our relatives didn't know if we were alive or dead until we arrived in Killybegs,' he said.

Given the prevailing weather conditions coupled with the fact that there was no food on board, that particular incident dimmed Tony's enthusiasm for active service. 'I didn't fancy any long runs after that and concentrated on running the Post Office for a while,' he said. Tony subsequently became Deputy Land Authority before taking on the position of Honorary Secretary and Administration Office in 1983.

As honorary secretary, Tony was responsible for coordinating the launch of the lifeboat. He has noticed huge changes in the service over the past forty years. In the sixties there was only a handful of lifeboat stations dotted around the country. Portrush was the nearest on one side while the Arran Islands boat was the closest on the other side. Today there are 48 stations. Earlier this year Arranmore took delivery of the new Severn class lifeboat to replace the Tyne boat. The largest modern lifeboat in the fleet, the 17 metre Severn class boat is fully fitted with modern navigation, location and communications equipment.

Lough Swilly takes delivery of a Tyne class lifeboat, formally in service in Arranmore, today (Friday) while the new Portrush Severn class boat was formally named last weekend. 'Speed is of the essence today as fishing boats can go a lot further out to sea and I have nothing but the utmost pride in the men and women of the Arranmore crew and for the cooperation and the way they work together,' he said.

Any loss of life is hard to accept and recovering a body in the sea is an image which remains long in the memory of RNLI members. 'If affects us all when a body is brought in and unfortunately we have had our fair share of tragedies down the years' he said. The loss of the four English students, Isabel Lloyd, Alexander Ricketts, Matthew Hallifax and Josh Arbuthnott off the Arranmore coast in July 1989; recovering the body of a Canadian pilot and finding no one aboard an Italian yacht found capsized eight miles off the Donegal coast are just a few of the tragic cases which the Arranmore lifeboat crew have dealt with over the years.

Rescuing stricken islanders and performing 'medivac' missions between Arranmore and the mainland also forms an important part of the RNLI's remit. 'Medivac is a service which enables sick people to be taken to the mainland and on to hospital. That service will be enhanced when the new helipad which will allow 24 hours service comes on stream,' he said. Retired coxswain Francie Bonner takes over from Tony while local postmaster Danny Martin is the new Treasurer and Nora Flanagan is PRO.

Tony is the new chairman of the management committee. Married to Mary (nee Boyle) they have five daughters Aisling, Crona, Pauline, Anne, Maura and Aoife and one son, Brian. Manager of the Arranmore Co-op for the past twenty years, Tony is hugely proud pride of his island roots. According to the last census, there are 610 people living on Arranmore, compared with a high of 1,200 people in 1944. Population figures have stabilised in recent years and Tony is confident that more and more young people will in the coming years return to Arranmore.

'There used to be an old population on the island but I have seen a marked change in recent times. Last year for example three young couples returned home with their families and as many more are looking to come home this year,' he said. Twenty years ago 23 trawlers were fishing out of Arranmore and while today's figure is now closer to three or four the fishing community has successfully diversified their business into crabs and lobsters. The Arranmore ferry is another important attraction.

'Tony Gallagher has done an awful lot for Arranmore. He is the development officer for the island and is involved in all aspects of island life from the grassroots upwards. I suppose it would be fair to call him Mr Arranmore,' one islander said this week. The island's representative on Donegal County Council, Comhdhail na nOileann and many other committees, Tony remains enthusiastic about the long term future of his birthplace and he will continue to fight their corner for many years to come.