This article is from page 13 of the 2012-07-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
A MAN was rescued off a tiny island just off the Doolin coast in the early hours of Saturday morning after spending the night camping on the rocky, uninhabited mound. The man, who lives in the North Clare area, spent the night on Crab Island before he was spotted by the Doolin Harbour Master who contacted the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard to assisted the man back to the mainland.
Concerns were raised over the man’s safety as weather conditions in the area at the time were described as “extreme”. The local unit of the coast guard managed to reach the man and ferried him and his equipment back to the mainland. The man had used a small kayak to reach the island in calmer waters on Friday evening.
Crab Island is a designated bird sanctuary and members of the public are not allowed to disturb the birds nesting on it. The island also has a long and often tragic maritime history.
In July of 1983, eight young men, including three brothers, drowned while swimming nearby when a strong current caught the men by surprise and dragged them out to sea. Crab Island is also the site where a German spy came ashore during World War 1. The man, who came ashore on an April evening in 1918, surrendered to locals because he believed that he had landed on the mainland and had destroyed his boat.
“We were on out way to provide cover for the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway when we got the call from the harbour master. We sailed to Crab Island and spoke to the man and we had to call out a smaller ves sel to get close enough to the island to bring him ashore,” said Mattie Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard. “The sea was rough but the man was not in any immediate danger. We had to make three journeys back and forth to the mainland to ferry the man and al of his equipment back from the island.”
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Doolin Coast Guard unit was tasked to assist in the search for a number of walkers who had become separated from their companion near Blackhead in Fanore. The walkers had descended back onto the Green Road track but had come down on the steeper side and had suddenly lost contact with each other in the heavy mist. The walkers were found safely and reunited with their companions.