A guest post by Mike Hackett
As great characters move on to a higher place we tend to remember them by the telling of stories and events that they amused us by. Telling of such memories is to be commended but writing them down for future research and generations is even a better deed. Anybody doing research into the light social history of our society will realise how many of our older people have left us in recent years. We hear the term “Why didn’t I ask him that when I had the chance?” Time moves on and people move on, so let us capture what we can while we are able.
Today we remember a good character and great friend in Will Roche of Monatrea who died a few years ago. He lived in a small cottage at ‘The Guileen’, Cabin Point overlooking Whiting Bay. This was where he lived all his life, as did his parents and generations of the Roche family before him. Will never married and lived alone for decades. The house was a pleasant place to visit except for the big cock that he kept in the front garden. That fowl was better than any watch-dog and would attack and peck any intruder brave enough to venture inside the gate. Will kept a little terrier in the house also but the cock was the real look-out.
To enter the house was an unusual and very educational experience. It was like a maritime museum with photos of ships on every wall, models of vessels on shelves and sea-faring books by famous authors and sailors. The models of different craft were amazing and included the likes of a brass submarine and a fully-rigged tall-ship. And that was only part of this wonderful show. You also had the big telescope pointing out from the kitchen to the ships passing by. Will’s house was ideally situated to scan the horizon for the container vessels coming out from Cork Port and the Cruise Liners out of Cobh. He loved the sea and all related matters and watching through that telescope brought him so much pleasure. Yet another feature of that Maritime Museum of a house was the port-hole window inserted in the middle of a bedroom door. This enabled anyone in the living room to check if anybody was in bed. With a little imagination, a person could undergo a being-at-sea adventure.
Talking about his love for the sea; a few stories come to mind as told by himself. When he was a teenager watching the passing ships, it instilled in him a wish to be a sailor. His father wouldn’t allow it and so Will continued to live at home while doing a bit of salmon fishing. Still anxious to go to sea, one day he decided to go-for-it. He crossed in the ferryboat to Youghal, then went to Cork on the train and enlisted on a ship in Cork Port as a cabin boy. No sooner had he been shown his cabin when his father (who had missed him) arrived on board the ship to take him home. That was as near as he ever got to being part of a ship’s crew. But his desire to be at sea lasted for the rest of his life and in later years, he and his nephew would drive to Rosslare to take the ferry to Fishguard. They would travel as foot passengers over and back, just to be at sea.
From where he lived at Cabin Point, Will had a clear view of the whole length of Whiting Bay and then after every storm he would walk the beach to collect salvage. It could be glass fishing-net floats, oars or life-rings. Once he found a complete life-boat washed in. He kept all such souvenirs in his front garden with the cock watching over them.
Whiting Bay also saw a lot of sadness over earlier years; like when the S.S. Ary sank near Waterford Harbour in the terrible winter of 1947. Only one man survived and that was Jan Dorucki who survived overnight in a lifeboat with dead colleagues. Then having been washed onto the rocks at Mine Head, he climbed up the cliff face to reach a farmhouse nearby. Jan lost his legs to frost-bite because of that. For days after that tragedy, bodies were washed up along the County Waterford shoreline. Several were found at Ardmore and also at Whiting Bay. Will told of the bodies being collected from the beach on a horse and cart before being brought to the Ferrypoint. They were then transferred by the ferryboat across the river to Youghal where the inquest was held. Those sailors were later buried at Ardmore near the round tower. The late Kevin Gallagher undertook a project to mark that large communal grave and erected a headstone with chains around the plot.
Will was forever very frank and truthful and whatever he told could be well accepted. He told me of doing his driving test in his mini car a few times in ongoing efforts to pass it. He kept failing and was getting fed up with going to Dungarvan for that test every year. Having failed one more time, he asked the examiner why. The man replied that Will had misjudged a roundabout. Will told the examiner that where he lived there were no roundabouts. He had just a mile drive to Piltown Church every Sunday to Mass and another mile to the Country Store at Crosbies Cross for his groceries. That was his lot of driving. He was taking a realistic and sensible approach. Indeed he was a very careful and cautious driver.
His main job was working for Waterford County Council around his own area and he loved it. He also did a bit of salmon fishing in the summer evenings. When he was a young man you would have a number of fishing boats operating from the nearby Ferrypoint and they always needed crew.
One last tale comes to mind about a ‘surprise’ birthday party for Will that was planned by his nephew to be held at ‘The Cabin’ bar in Tallow Street, Youghal. We were secretly invited and nobody was to tell Will. His nephew was just to be taking him for a quiet drink. However, Will was in town early on the day of the party and met with one of his friends. When they were parting, the friend mentioned to Will that he would meet him later at ‘The Cabin’. That was enough! Will suspected that something was planned and when the nephew called to bring him for the ‘quiet’ drink, Will couldn’t be found. He wasn’t going to be surprised! We were the ones to be surprised. You had lots of food, lots of presents, but no birthday boy.
Will is buried within a few yards of the Round Tower at Ardmore. R.I.P.
Mike Hackett – August 2022
