Old Crafts
The fisherman in skerries make a very unusual lobster pot. It has a flat bottom made of wood which is about 36" x 12". From this base are three sally rods which are bent in arch shape. There is one at each end, and one in the centre.
These rods are covered by a network of string, which the men buy at a shop. The height is about 12".
At one end is a little tunnel high up, which becomes slightly narrower as it goes in.
a, wooden base 36" x 12".
b, three supple rods
c, tunnel through which the lobster crawls.
d, the whole is covered by a string net of 1" mesh, made separately and then secured with more cord.
During the past year, I saw Mr. Mc loughlin, Mcloughlin's Lane, Strand St., make one of these pots.
Alan Owens,
6, strand st., Skerries, Co Dublin.

There was once a man he was living in Calla his name was Willie Malea. When he was a young man he helped his father with the fishing and he used to go out as far as Aran lobster-fishing. A few years later he went to England and he could not get work and he did not like to give it to say to his neighbours at home that he would come home again for the want of work. So at last he went on a merchant ship and he became a sailor he travelled all over Europe and Russia and China and other foreign Countries.
Some years after he came home and he got married to a woman from Horn named Conneely. His father then came to him and told him that he would give him a little garden near his own house and that he would

little while. But she never spoke a word for 12 months.A year passed by. The next Nov might he passed the same road and he heard voices. He hid under a wall. The voices were saying "This is where the "buachaill" got the lobster this night 12 months, and she never spoke a word since and she never will until he gives her three spoons of water out of Shaun Donnalain's well. "Well, said the young man to himself "it won't be longuntil I knock a 'gradle o' talk' out o' her" He went home and he brought her to the well and gave her a drink out of it and coming back she gave him plenty of chat. She told them all about her 'hershrell', how she came there. His mother asked her would she like to see her people and she said she would. At night they went to her parents house, about five miles from where she lived. Then they both set out at dusk. And when they rached there the man stood at the door and asked for lodgin, for himself and his companion. The

They once never pa pa pay.Donavan's Tom had a stutter, thus Pa-ha-PayPeppers was a skipper of a lobster cutter.

that when he stood in the yard at the back of the house and gave a call for dinner, his sons used hear him.
I heard of a man named John O'Connor who used to run to Castlemaine to the fair, by a lamb, put him on his shoulder and run back to Tralee again and arrive in time for an early dinner. My forefathers had a serving man who was a famous story teller. His name was John O'Neill. He used to say that Fionn MacCumhaill threw the rock that forms part of Fenit Island from the top of Mound Brandon.
Peg Daly was a woman in her sixties and used man her boat as well as any fisherman and go lobster fishing and take messages to Fenit Lighthouse on the wildest winters nights. There

She lived for several years after and enjoyed good health and better than all next year after her return home a son was born who afterwards became the best oarsman in Co. Kerry. He made his living lobster-fishing in Kenmare Bay after.
This story is known all over Sth Kerry and I heard it as a child from an old workman of ours now dead who would swear to this version of the story. Jeremiah Jer Owen O'Sullivan aged 60 or so retold this to me word for word a few nights ago and he also told me the following. He lives now in Coornagillagh of this parish.

pot basket, breadbasket, shrimp basket, lobster basket, cradle, waste-paper basket, soiled clothes basket, log basket, picnic basket, luncheon basket, log basket, picnic basket, luncheon basket, fruit basket, cherry basket, apple basket, skip bottle basket.
The kind of twigs are green twigs while twigs while twigs scanes (split twigs) torches (black square English twigs).
Twigs are classified according to length, keg is about three ft long, half barr about six ft, barrel about eight ft, stock about twelve ft, firkin about one foot and a half.
Twigs are also coloured red, blue, Bismark brown, English blue.

evidence left to tell that there had been a crash was a patch of oil floating on the water.
The first body was found by a local fisherman named Joe West, of Glasthule Buildings, Glasthule. He had gone out to tend to his lobster pots, when he noticed something floating in the water. He did not take much notice of it at first, until it floated up beside his boat. He saw that it was a dead body and pulled it into the boat. The pilots name was Major Duncan. My father who was working on the Carlisle pier, saw the aeroplane swoop down into Dalkey Sound.

Far removed from the rush & the bustle of life
On his bare bleak island home.
The lobster fisher maintains the strife
'Gainst the winds & the sea & the foam.
In an oiler garb he wraps his frame(s)
& in boots that reach to the knee.
His familiar make-up is ever the same
When he turns his face to the sea.
II
From a sheltered spot by some cliff or ditch
He carries his frail wee boat.
The launching is over without a hitch
& our lobster man is afloat.
On a wisp in the bows he kneels him down
& the paddle he grips quite tight.
& the rythmic motion of arms not brown
Make a pleasing grandiose sight
III
Arrived at last where his pots are set
He gets to work to haul them.
He gives no heed to the little wet
He's sure to (them) get from all them.
But his eyes are fixed on a changing spot.
& his practised eye can measure,
The distance yet to the rising pot
Which holds the horny treasure.

My aunt Miss O'Callaghan, of Clare Island gave me this account of a boat disaster.
In the month of July in the year nineteen twenty-five a phantom boat was seen at ta certain spot round the coast of Clare Island. There were two people seen in the boat and one of them was sitting down rowing the boat and the other was standing up.
This boat was seen three nights in succession and on the fourth day two young boys, one aged eighteen and one aged twenty were out lifting lobster pots and the boat was caught in the current and it capsized and both boys were drowned.
The accident happened just on the spot where the phantom boat was seen and after the accident it was never seen again.

Fishing is not so profitable now-a-days as it was in the days gone by, but even now-a-days some of our Irish farmers around the coast fish near the land. The sort of boats they fish in are called Yawls and curraghs.
Long ago the most usual month to fish in was September and nowadays they fish in August and September.
On a fine summer's morning a few men gather to gether and go out fishing. They bring lines, sinkers, spillets, nets, hooks, lobster pots, gut and baits.
The lines is a narrow rope made of flax. It is about twenty five to thirty

He who bathes in May will soon be in clay
He who bathes in June will sing a merry tune
He who bathes in July will dance like a fly.
As white as the soul of a child. As princely as a poor man, or as open handed as St Brigid. As rich as a King, or as rich as honey's taste, or as rich as the soil of Ireland, (or as rich as the soil of Ireland) as rich as the blackbird's call in harvest, as rich as the fall of the wave on the strand as rich as the speech of a Gael.
As firm as a rock or a lobster's grip or an Irish promise. As straight as the law of God as busy as a liar in company, or a hen at a bag of oats. A strong man is said to be as hardy as

The old people were very industrious who made their own candles etc. Of course it was necessary for them to make them inasmuch as they were not available in the shops in those days. The principal of those were candle-making, rope making, spinning and weaving and of course basket-making which is still carried on.
The candle-making was a very important because it supplied the people with light. Previous to this they had the rush-lights but that was a very poor means of illumination. It was made of the white part of the rush and whale-oil held in a scallop-shell. Then the people thought of making the candles. The essentials for the making of candles were tallow, a mould and a wick which was made of cotton thread. The mould was a little tin vessel about nine inches in length and about half an inch in diameter and tapered in the top like an ordinary candle. This was turned upside down and the wick held in place by two nails by which the wick was twisted up. When the wick was a certain tightness the hot tallow was poured in and allowed to get hard. The nails were cut off and the candle was made.
The making of baskets was very common in this part of the country long ago and everybody who owned a donkey was able to make baskets. There were various kinds of baskets:- the large basket with "windows" called a "ciseán", a lobster pot which was fairly

(1)
There is a rock at the east end of Bere Island called the Dog's Rock. The ship to meet its doom on this rock was a British Destroyer which ran on it on the night of the 1st May 1907 when the British fleet were having manouvers. It remained high on the rock for some time and then broke in two. One half sank and the other half was towed away.
(2)
The next ship lost there was a coal-boat carrying about three hundred tons of coal for the British fleet which was in Berehaven Harbour at the time. This boat remained high on the rock for some time and the storm from time to time broke her. This boat was lost in the year 1908. A Lobster cutter and a British Trawler were since lost there but fortunately no lives were lost.

tallow and left it cool. To pull out the candle the mould was heated.
Before any cars were used the people made back-loads from twigs and rods. They also made baskets and lobster-pots of rods. They seasoned the rods and put them in water before using them.
Weaving was a great trade long ago and in every house there was a spinning wheel. A man named Andy Donovan who lived in Ballydevlin was a weaver. Every farmer in this district kept sheep. When the wool was cut off the women washed it, then carded and spun it into threadd. The weavers made it into frieze.
In olden times all the houses were thatched and a good thatched roof lasted twenty years. Straw and read were used for thatching. In every district there was a thatcher. The people made súgáns from hay and the hair of the mane and tail of the horse was also made into ropes. The local smith made nails from rod iron. It was the smith who made the spades and all the farm

There are not many home industries carried on around here at the present time, but the old people were great at working rods, and making a great many useful articles for the house.
They used to make baskets which were very handy for holding potatoes, mangolds, and other things. They also made skiffs for carrying potatoes and turf. They made lobster pots of them also.
The man that made them earned a great deal of money, but it was very hard work gathering the rods, and they should peel them and settle them before they made them into pots.
They made hand-baskets of rods also and those baskets were used for carrying farm produce such as butter and eggs to town and bringing home the provisions for the week in them.

72
Local Craft
Long ago Dalkey was a famous place for fish The fishermen had long lines with about four hundred hooks on each line. They had pots like lobster pots with which they used to catch Wilks. The Wilks were used for bait. The fishermen would shoot the lines early in the morning and go home to bed. They would get up at about eleven o'clock at night and haul the lines. They would come in at about three o'clock in the morning and pack the fish in boxes. They would leave for Dublin Market in a horse and cart with the fish loaded on the cart.
From Mr Shakespeare, age 86
20 Corrig Rd.

1. Cut in the wood and sunk in the sea and brought to the surface twice in a day? A lobster pot.
2. One half dead and the other half living? A dog with his head in a pot.
3. Three men went up the road in a car, one black man the other two were white men. If the two white men ate the black man what number was in the car then? Two ate one.
4. A houseful a holeful and can't gather a bowlful? Smoke.
5. As I looked out through my kitchen window I saw the dead carrying the living? A boat.
6. Patch upon patch without any stitches? A head of cabbage.
7. A man was put into jale for ever and he was told he would be let out if he could make a sentence out of

The Aurora brig left Maryport sometime in the month of April seventy or eighty years ago.She met with very severe weather and lost part of her gear. Then the storm grew fiercer and wilder until it became a real hurricane.She was driven in helpless into the breakers outside of Trabane, and left lying across that famous rock which they call the Lobster Rock with the breakers washing over her.The brave men of Loughros exerted every nerve till they rescued every man aboard the doomed ship - even the captain and his lady.There is not a house in Loughrospoint but has part of the wreckage which has been used up in flooring and roofing their houses.But what is most remarkable there never was known to be a rat around here till the ship was wrecked on 1st May, that same year. The rats came in from the wrecked ship and the whole country

Q. Here he comes through the salty sea
A butterfly of the Sun
A blue coated man while fine red thread
All down through his coat does run?
A. A lobster.Q. What poet was never slow?
A. Swift.Q. How many feet has forty sheep
A shepherd and his dog?
A. Two feet.