Cork Coasts: Fishing tragedy showed why work of RNLI is so important

THE Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station in Union Hall is ten years old this year, and between operations, crew, shore, management and fundraising, there are around 60 volunteers.

The village hosts a vibrant fishing port and maintains a deep connection with the sea.

Just two years before the RNLI got a base in Union Hall, in 2012, there was a reminder of just how lethal the sea can be.

Hardly a mile from the coast, a fishing tragedy struck and five lives were lost. Devastation reverberated through the fishing community, with the towns of Union Hall and Glandore feeling it most.

Fishermen Michael Hayes, Kevin Kershaw, Saied Aly Eldin, Attia Shaban and Wael Mohamed lost their lives when their vessel, Tit Bonhomme sank.

Wael Mohammads brother, Abdelbak, was the only survivor, somehow making it to the shore amid perilous January conditions.

However, long before the RNLI set up base in Union Hall, local people had been supporting the lifesaving organisation.

Despite not having their own RNLI rib until 2014, the town has a 50-year history of fundraising for it.

Pamela Deasy, who hails from a fishing family in Union Hall, is a mature student at UCC and a life-long RNLI volunteer.

In the early days, long before there was a station at Union Hall, she was a fundraiser, and soon after the station launched in 2014, she became Station Press Officer.

She shares her insights into what catalysed the formation of the RNLI in her home town, and tells me about the community-led initiatives that have helped keep the lifeboats afloat in West Cork.

“I always wondered how different things might have been for the crew of the Tit Bonhomme had we had an RNLI boat here at that time,” Pamela tells me, on the pier in Union Hall.

The two flank stations of Baltimore and Courtmacsherry answered the call on the fateful morning. What followed was a month-long search to recover the lost bodies, with the fifth and final one recovered a month after the tragedy.

“Every day down here there were thousands of people turning from all over,” recalls Pamela of that sad search.

There was food sent from all over Ireland, support came, money came. In times of crisis, people’s humanity really shone through.

“After that tragedy, I wrote a letter, in April, 2012, and basically said, if we had a lifeboat here, who knows what the outcome would have been that morning?

“There was a loss of five lives in our harbour. It happened literally a mile from here and you think, when you’ve turned in the harbour, you’re home, and unfortunately, they didn’t get home.

“Because I have grown up in a fishing industry and in a fishing family in a small community, I’m fully aware of the dangers of the sea.”

When the RNLI went operational in September, 2014, Pamela took on the role of Press Officer a couple of months after the station was set up.

“But I’m also involved with the fundraising committee as well. I sell souvenirs that you’d buy at stations,” Pamela explained

Having grown up in a fishing family, and having seen first-hand the devastation the sea can bring to communities, it was always second nature for Pamela to involve herself in the RNLI.

“I suppose it’s bred into me,” she said.

My mother would have been fundraising here for years and I would have been involved with her as a child, helping her with the biscuit tin, collecting money back over the years.

Across the UK and Ireland, the service has always relied on fundraising by volunteers and has never received funding of any kind from Irish or UK governments. Fundraising is the backbone of the RNLI.

But it’s about more than money; it binds a community together in a common purpose to ensure safety for all who venture into the water.

Ellen O’Regan is a local primary school teacher and the chair of Fund-raising for Union Hall RNLI. Her late father had also played a pivotal role in fundraising for the organisation.

She acknowledges people’s generosity when it comes to making donations to the RNLI

“People are great, really. A big thing is a Flag Day each year in May, so that brings in a lot.

“We have our annual swim, every summer in June. We have coffee, a quiz at Christmas time. They are the main things really,” Ellen said.

She uses her involvement in the RNLI to educate young generations in her school about the dangers of the sea.

I can educate them on a bit of water safety. It’s good to keep local kids interested in it as well.

The RNLI does join forces with some government agencies on international initiatives related to water safety and drowning prevention programmes, such as working with fishers in Bangladesh on water safety and World Drowning Prevention Day, which happens annually on July 25.

This September will be the precise month of the 200th birthday of the RNLI, and also of the tenth birthday of Union Hall RNLI.

In the decade Pamela has been involved with the service at Union Hall, how has it benefited the community the most?

“I suppose there’s more emphasis on water safety and, especially, I think, for our own community and for holidaymakers that use this community during the summer, they have that added protection, an extra layer for when they’re here, that if they do get into difficulty in the water, that this service is here.

We’re operational 24-7 and I suppose it’s just peace of mind for a lot of people that they can go out in the harbour.

“This harbour is very busy between kayaking, commercial fishing, a rowing club, swimming clubs, sailing clubs, everyone uses this harbour.

“So, it’s a busy little harbour in the summer and they have that extra layer of protection, that they know they can dial 999 or 112 if they get into difficulty and we’re literally a couple of minutes away from them.” Ms Deasy said.