My Ocean- Heritage Week 2026 “My dad a hero at sea”
Video transcript
Myself and my dad used to fish for mackerel with our noodle rods, and Dad owned a lovely boat. We used to paddle with the paddles. On calm days, we used to steer the boat after my dad put up the sails. In stormy waters, it was pretty tough, actually, paddling this boat, but my dad was gifted. He knew the stern. He knew, actually, the currents of the sea.
And at low tide, we’d fish for… fish for… fish for sea… cut seaweed to put on the land, and we used to pick the periwinkles. We loved, actually, the roar of the sea at night because it was only about three minutes’ walk from the sea to my homeland, my home. I’m not from… I’m from Mayo, God help me!
But I had many, many good times by the sea with my mother bringing us for walks along the seashore and picking up the lovely stones and arranging them around the little flower when we get home. We’d sing songs, actually, as we walked along the sea. We’d walk on our feet, and when the tide would be out, actually, we could go out onto the strand. And that’s when we really… that’s why I really was able to run in a lot of marathons, because we ran in that sand. And my dad said, “Go on, girl! Go on, girl! You’re… you’re… you’re the smallest, but you’ll beat them.” And I beat… beat… beat my two sisters who were taller than me in the little race on the sand.
And, actually, it was my dad saved… there was a boy got drowned, and he was the only man that had a boat. And a neighbor came to him and said, “Sonny,” he said, “there’s a guy… a little young lad after getting into trouble in the sea, and would you get your boat to him as soon as possible?”
So, he did get the boat out and ordered, and I was with him, and it was a sad encounter when we got there. But he had moved, because it… it actually showed where the little boy got drowned, and my dad said, “He’s not there now.” He knew, exactly, with the current, that he had moved about 25 or 27 feet down. And he went down, he said, “Exactly,” he said, “he would be here.” So, actually, they did actually find him there at a little net, and they put it down, lifted him out of the boat, and he was only about 25 at the time.
So, my dad actually was really a hero at sea. Definitely a hero at sea, because he did save that boy or he would have been lost if there was no RNLI in Belmullet then.
So, I’m proud, actually, to be where the sea was around me. And as the song said, “The sea, oh the sea, oh a grá geal mo chroí, long may the road stay between England and me. It’s a sure guarantee that some hour we’ll be free,” and we will have our oceans back in, in, in… sooner than later. So, thanks very much for listening to me.
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Hilda O'Grady
