Whale Song from the Blasket Islands

Michele Erdvig · Host

Whale Song from the Blasket Islands

tony2phones · Guru

I believe the Islanders were relocated after one of the few remaining died through lack of aid due to the crossing being impossible for a number of days. The ferry when running is well worth taking over and often includes an escort from Fungi part of the way, so two trips in one..

Michele Erdvig · Host

The islands were evacuated in 1953. There were only 22 people there at the time. Seainin O Cearna died in 1946 because the seas were too rough to take him to the mainland doctor. There were no doctors or priests on the islands.

http://irishfireside.com/2011/10/03/blasket-islands-a-lost-way-of-life/

Faoicheilt · Member

As I am from West Kerry, I grew up listening to Port Na bPucaí and to several stories about how the tune came to be. I'm not sure I believe any of them!

I know there is lot of nostalgia around Blasket Island life, but life was tough there. The death of Sean Cearna from meningitis certainly hastened the departure, but there were other factors too. Turf (peat) which was the main fuel for heating and cooking had run out on the island, and had to be transported by naomhóg (canvas covered canoes) from the mainland. Schooling on the island was episodic at best, and even the dead had to be brought across to Dunquin for burial.

My godmother was born to the island and her family left for the mainland in the 1930s. It is something they did not regret, I have to say

Michele Erdvig · Host

Thanks for the additional info. Yes, people do tend to romanticize the past even though it was a very hardscrabble way of life.

Whatever the legend about the song, it makes for good reading!