Born: January 4th, 1937
Died: May 6th, 2025
When Clare Island fisherman and ferry operator Charles “Jerry” O’Malley started fishing with his father at the age of 10 it was from the same little pier, Portaholia, on Clare Island, where he died on May 6th. The tragic accident consolidated a huge response from the coastal and island communities along the western seaboard marking the life of a Co Mayo islander whose seas were his highway throughout his life.
Indeed, O’Malley was honoured with a Benemerenti Medal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 for his lifetime of bringing clergy to the islands of Inishturk and Clare in all sorts of weathers.
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One of his most challenging voyages was to ’Turk on Ascension Thursday, 1967, in his tiller-steered yawl, the St Bernadette, when a treacherous storm blew up suddenly during the nine-mile journey. His quick thinking and expertise ensured the safe landing of his passengers.
Born in the village of Strake on January 4th, 1937, Charles Jerry was the eldest son of Jerry and Agnes (née Heanue), from Inishturk, and brother to five siblings. His long life of fishing and seafaring began while he was still attending St Patrick’s National School, where he excelled particularly in maths and geography.
Like his father, and his uncle John Jerry before him, he was adept at pulling (rowing) his currach in the days before outboard engines became commonplace. His passion for Gaelic football meant he rowed to the mainland pier of Roonagh to play in many matches for Clare Island and Louisburgh GAA, pulling his currach the three miles back home afterwards. Regattas were a central element of the summer sporting calendar in Connemara during the 1950s, with O’Malley a proud member of the island currach team that won the Tóstal Cup in the mid-1950s.
On April 16th, 1968 he married his wife of 57 years, Pauline O’Malley, from the village of Glen, in the island’s Sacred Heart Church, celebrating their wedding night with a “dance” in his house and another one in her family home the following night. When he wasn’t dancing half-sets and waltzes, he was playing such favourite tunes as Mrs McCleod’s Reel and jigs such as Connaughtman’s Rambles and Out on the Ocean on his beloved mouth-organ.
Thus began a happy married life leading to five children, Bernie, Charles jnr (Chuck), Maria, Cathriona and Gerard.
During the following four decades currachs were replaced by bigger boats, including the St Patrick, The Béal Dara, The Ocean Star 111 and the Island Princess. As his daughter Cathriona observed during her eulogy, the purchase of O’Malley’s first new-build boat, The Clew Bay Star, in 1978, was one of his proudest days.
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“He would have many a proud day thereafter, when he passed his seafaring and boat-buying-bug on to his two sons. On the other hand, Daddy was also so proud of his three daughters, even though we did not inherit his boating or mechanical skills.”
Fishing during the 1970s and 1980s with his brother Michael and brother-in-law, Michael Bob O’Malley brought him from Slyne Head to Erris Head, salmon fishing out of Frenchport and trawling south of Inishbofin, while oyster fishing out of Westport.
A dedicated family man, he was also an active member of the community, serving on Cliara Development Co, the Fishermen’s Cooperative, and the island GAA club. Always progressive, when the island was still mainly illuminated with gas lanterns in 1969 he had a generator installed , while his was one of the first houses to have a telephone (Clare Island 105), which was used to convey many important messages around the island.
In 1993, he expanded the ferry service he had run part-time for many decades, ensuring the safe passage of secondary-school pupils and many officials and visitors.
This is continued today by his two sons, Chuck and Gerard, who have also established a marine plant company, servicing many big projects around the coast and in Scotland.
Like many mariners, O’Malley could read the sky and the sea, in his case with an expertise gleaned from many dawns and dusks leaning at the gable of his house watching the patterns of waves and clouds, markers and breakers.
A flotilla of more than 30 boats followed his coffin back to the island for his funeral service and on the following day his remains were transported by road from his home to the church in his beloved currach. After the burial Rescue helicopter 118 hovered in the sky above to honour a man who had saved many lives at sea.
Charles “Jerry” O’Malley is survived by his wife Pauline, daughters Bernie, Maria and Cathriona, sons Charles jnr and Gerard, nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, brothers Michael and Josie, extended family and the island community.
