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Short History Of Cable Station Story of Cable O Leary by Michael Kirby The Mains of Ballinskelligs by John Main

Short history of Cable Station

Up to the establishment of cable messaging, ships were used to take messages across the Atlantic.

The main impetus for cable messaging was the need for fast transatlantic information for the financial markets that grew out of the 18^th and 19^th century Industrial Revolution. Advances in electricity, telegraphy and steam-power in the 18^th and 19^th century along with the discovery of the insulating properties of gutta-percha made under ocean telegraphy a reality.

In 1856 the Atlantic Telegraph Company was set up to lay a cable across the Atlantic. After many mishaps the project linking Valentia to Heart’s Content in Newfoundland by cable succeeded and on 28^th July 1866 the first official message was transmitted, thus establishing the first commercially viable trans-Atlantic cable link.

In 1873 a British based company, D.U.S.T (Direct United States Telegraph Co) was granted a licence to lay another trans-Atlantic cable and in 1874 opened a Cable station in Ballinskelligs.

The Cable station building was constructed by a London based company about 1865. The German company, Siemens Bros, manufactured and laid the cable using their own ship, The Faraday. The western terminal was at Tor Bay, Halifax, Nova Scotia but was later diverted to Harbour Grace Newfoundland.

Soon after beginning operations the D.U.S.T. company joined the P.-Q. company, a name given to a consortium headed by Anglo-American which set rates and pooled income on a proportional basis.

The arrangement ceased in 1895. Western Union, the successor to Anglo American Tel Co., leased the line until 1920. Under Western Union the station in Ballinskelligs was linked to Valentia by both a land and sea line. In 1920 the building was bought by the British Post Office. The European end of the cable was subsequently diverted to Mousehole, Cornwall and Ballinskelligs station was closed down in 1923.

The building then became the property of the Irish Government and became a famous Irish College. Seán Ó Conaill the renowned folklorist, was the seanchaí in this college until his death in 1931. This Irish College continued until the 1940s.

The Board of Works demolished most of the structure in the mid 1950s as they were unwilling to carry the cost of maintaining the building.

The Cable Station Building

The building was made of mass concrete and was built by a London based company

around 1865. It consisted of a main office, clock tower and modern living quarters.

The whole compound, which consisted of 3 to 4 acres was enclosed by a well- built wall and each dwelling had a garden attached. Spring water was supplied by gravity from a well in a neighbouring townland. A complete sewer system, with septic tanks, serviced modern bathrooms, which had hot and cold water. Lighting was provided by carbide gas plant. The building had its own fire-fighting equipment with engine house and pressure pumps to pump water from the sea. The compound had its own wooden church with a bell. Transport was provided in a covered wagon drawn by 2 horses. Four maintenance men were employed- a stableman, cartage man, battery man and a man attending the lighting system. A cook with four domestic servants catered for the staff of the station, with all vegetables and meat supplied locally.

The Story of Cable O Leary

As told by Michael Kirby

A story is told, about the day when the first shore end of the transatlantic cable was brought onto Ballinskelligs beach in the spring of 1875. The big ship manoeuvred as close to the beach as possible, taking advantage of the high water peak of a spring tide. The cumbersome, heavy cable was coiled onto flat, raft-like boats, which would float into shallow water. Large numbers of peasantry were assembled on the beach, watching the wonder of a transatlantic cable being brought ashore. The foreman in charge of the operation had harnessed two local draught horses to a rope attached to the end of the cable. All went well, until strain was applied to the rope and, helped by a gentle swell, the nearest float to the shore overturned, spilling the coiled cable into six feet of water. At this stage, the horses proved very ineffective because of soft sand. The foreman, being a very astute person, stumbled on another bright idea.

Seeing the potent pulling power of the large crowd, he proceeded to bargain with them. Every able-bodied man who would help pull the cable ashore was to be paid two shillings and six pence. He would need forty men, and as an incentive the first man who would lay hands on the cable was to be given a half sovereign in gold. No sooner said than done. The hired men rushed headlong into the broken wave where the cable lay.

One man outstripped them all, with a mighty leap and dived into the sea. Grasping the end, he tore it loose from the coil and helped by the rest of the hired team pulled the cable up the sandy beach in front of the cable buildings. True to his word, the foreman paid each person two and six pence, and calling for the man who merited the gold coin, asked for his name and address. The man in question was Denis O’Leary from Ballinskelligs. On presenting him with the coin and holding O’Leary’s arm aloft in a gesture of victory, the foreman announced that from hence forward the cable would be called ‘Cable O’Leary’. The name stuck – not on the cable, but on Denis, who was known as ‘the Cable’ from then on. The next generation inherited the name and to this day their progeny are referred to as the ‘Cable O’Learys’. The family was already famous, being the last to fight the rack-rent bailiffs, the sheriff and the redcoats with pitchforks during their eviction in 1864.

I saw pictures of the eviction taken by a photographer, one Mr Cuthbert, who was connected with the construction of the cable company. The pictures’ in sepia tones on a glossy tin plate, showed the peasantry of the time in their wretched clothing, barefoot people wearing long unkempt hair. Those noble but crestfallen people were my ancestors.

The Mains of Ballinskelligs.

By John Main

The Main family from Ballinskelligs are originally from the Highlands of Scotland and were apparently notorious sheep stealers. They were aligned with the Gunn Clan. Mains are common all over Scotland particularly in the Falkirk area and is also a common name in Northern Ireland.

In 1874 the Direct United States Cable Company established a cable station linking Europe with North America in Ballinskelligs. Soon afterwards the Anglo American Cable Company bought a majority share linking it with the already existing station in Valentia. While they were recruiting employees, the company sought out people who worked for the Royal Mail in England and Scotland, hence David Main was recruited from Falkirk in Scotland as he worked for the Royal Mail in Falkirk.

Around the same time there was a gentleman named Paddy Haren from Quilty, West County Clare working in the Coastguard station at Reen in Ballinskelligs. He had set up a Shebeen on a small plot of land overlooking the bay next to the offices of the Cable Station and employed his nieces Bridget and Lizzy. As David used to take an odd tipple, he befriended Bridget and indeed they later married. David being a Presbyterian and Free Mason was forced to agree that any children from their union would be catholic. Due to the different faiths, David is buried in Waterville Church of Ireland cemetery and Bridget in Ballinskelligs catholic abbey.

They had several children, Ethel married Jim O’Shea a local school teacher, John married Ruby Lynch from Valentia. He was the Beamish Stout agent in South Kerry and a publican in Cahersiveen. Other siblings settled in Belfast and Sunderland and David in London. Following the closure of the cable station in 1922 David married Eileen Hurley a nurse from Tipperary who came to care for the family during the great flu post, WW1. It was William who took over the management of the Shebeen and eventually modernised it into a hotel. He also ran the post office. He married Ellen O’Leary from Killarney.

In these times carrots would be put in old tea chests and preserved in sand, potatoes pitted, herbs would be dried while fish and meat were salted. William had several fishing boats which he leased out to the Fitzgerald brothers (from Horse Island) Jack and Jim. Jack later purchased his own boat in Scotland. David's eldest son Ian, having been an engineer in the British Royal Merchant Navy, helped Jack navigate the boat from Scotland to Ballinskelligs. Ian later married his cousin Kathleen Main, William’s daughter.

Following the death of William in 1949, the management of the Hotel passed to his eldest daughter, Peggy Main. Another sister married Harry Beck and moved with him to Leicester England. During her time at the hotel Peggy ran it as a small family business. On one occasion, Dylan Thomas and Brendan Behan stayed there, following a raucous night they were politely asked to leave and requested not to return. During this time, Edmund Hillary and Jack Lynch were among the best known guests.

When Peggy passed in 1968 the hotel was taken over by Kathleen and Ian Main. The troubles in Northern Ireland greatly affected the tourism business at that time, as most clientele were from England, but there was a slight increase in US and European visitors. In 1973 following the departure of Ian, management was passed to their sons William and his brother David. In 1978 an extension was built which expanded the bar, restaurant and dining room.

During these times notable guests were, Charles J Haughey (Taoiseach), Terry Keane (Socialite), Richy Ryan (Minister for Finance), Eileen Desmond, (first female government Minister and later MEP) Werner Hartzog, (acclaimed German film director), The Stiller family (Ben and his parents Ann Meara and Jerry Stiller, stars of stage and screen), Michael D Higgins, (President of Ireland and Government minister) Emmet Stagg (Labour Party Chief Whip) Peregrine Fellowes (BBC broadcaster and Director of British Shell), and Edmund Hillary, the first person to climb Mount Everest. Hozier’s dad also worked there for a brief time.

The hotel also provided valuable employment opportunities both part-time and casual summer jobs for locals often extending over multiple generations in some families. The success of Main’s is in no small way attributed to these staff members who were both learning and developing their life skills while providing a valuable service to visitors.

But the most invaluable visitors to Main’s were the local people who patronized the hotel bar every day and night. There were many nights (and days) of marathon card games, sporting events, sing songs, jazz bands, discos, film viewing, as well as multiple life events such as weddings, funerals, birthday celebrations and indeed impromptu celebrations. It is the local people of Ballinskelligs and South Kerry who have always been at the heart of the Main’s family experience.

Main’s and along with Rosie’s (Sigersons) in Dungegan were so much more than public houses. They were both the Community Centre or Teach Tábhairne where people came to meet, greet, celebrate, mourn, buy, sell, court, or just to “Tóg go bog é”.

Barry Saluk adds the following;

In a strange twist of fate while on a visit to Newport, Rhode Island, USA, Marie Main met Barry Saluk. Marie was surprised and delighted to find out that Barry’s mother, Joan (McCarthy) Saluk, was born in Kilrelig. Joan’s and parents were John and Ellen (Sullivan) McCarthy who had Ballinskelligs roots that went back many generations. Indeed Marie remembered a few years previously when working in the post office, a young man coming in for directions to his O’Driscoll relatives house in Reen. It turned out that it was none other than Barry's brother Brian. Small world!

Marie and Barry were married in Dungegan in 1986. Barry fondly recalls, while greeting well wishers after the Mass, someone remarked with a wink that “it was about time one of the Mains married a local!”.

In 1996 David and William Main decided to pursue other interests and the Hotel and Pub was to be sold. Marie and Barry took ownership and the business underwent a major renovation. The Sigerson Arms reopened in 1997 as The Ballinskelligs Inn.

The newly remodelled business once again quickly became a favourite gathering place. They brought the Seine Boat Regatta back to Ballinskelligs, which grew to attract thousands and was a wonderful community event. The Sunday Drag Hunts returned and the pub was once again filled with traditional music often including great entertainment from John Brennan renowned local Seanchaí. Of course the return of the Regatta pleased Marie's mother Kathleen very much as she had a great love of the sea and boats.