They were 70 years apart, but both occurred off the Atlantic coast on the same late October weekend. The loss of 47 lives in two separate but equally devastating marine incidents was recalled at a simple ceremony yesterday in the north Mayo community of Lacken.
"Three fishing fleets sunk by storm. 45 lives lost off the west of Ireland" read the front-page headline on The Irish Timesof October 31st, 1927, and reports described a series of storms resembling a "hurricane". A retired doctor listening to a weather forecast on his magnetic radio heard the warning, but it was too late for a number of currach fleets that had already put to sea.
The fleets were from Cleggan in Connemara, the neighbouring island of Inishbofin, the Inishkea islands and Lacken in Mayo.
One of the survivors, James Cloherty of Inishbofin, recalled how he heard "terrible screams and shouts in the darkness", but could see neither men nor bodies in the surrounding waters.
The fishing communities of Connemara and northwest Mayo never fully recovered from the impact and many dependants had to emigrate.
In Lacken, nine men died - among them Thomas Lynott, whose granddaughter, Carol Whelan, was one of the organiser's of yesterday's event.
Prayers for those nine and their families - and for a Mayo diver who died in a separate incident on the same weekend 70 years later - were said at yesterday's Mass in Lacken, celebrated by Bishop of Killala Dr John Fleming and parish priest Canon Paddy Hegarty.
On October 25th, 1997, emergency services had received a report that four people were overdue at Belderrig pier. Retired German businessman Will Ernest von Below had taken a family of three out in his new 16-ft currach, and they had retreated into a sea cave when they got into difficulty and the boat capsized.
Diver Michael Heffernan of the Gráinne Uaile diving club in Ballina was one of a number of volunteers who offered assistance, but he died in the rescue attempt. The three members of the Murphy family were brought ashore in a dramatic rescue involving local fishermen and Garda divers, but Mr von Below died.
Mr Heffernan's wife Annamarie, her daughters Leigh Anne and Michelle, and many of the 100 people involved in that rescue were invited to yesterday's event, with relatives of those who died in the 1927 storms.
The Taoiseach was represented by his aide-de-camp Capt Michael Treacy, and a number of politicians attended the Mass.
