The Cleggan Bay Disaster, which occurred on 27 October 1927, was a strong gale that resulted in the deaths of 45 fishermen off the coast of

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Disaster

On 27 October 1927 a number of local

fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

died when a strong

gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface wind moving at a speed between .

rose without warning. The fishermen were fishing for

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

in the Atlantic Ocean, near

Cleggan Cleggan () is a fishing village in County Galway, Ireland. The village lies northwest of Clifden and is situated at the head of Cleggan Bay. A focal point of the village is the pier, built by Alexander Nimmo in 1822 and extended in 1908. Fer ...

. Sixteen of the men came from the nearby village of Rossadilisk, which resulted in the fishing village becoming abandoned. Nine of the men came from the island of Inishbofin and twenty from

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

. Due to fishing being the main industry in the area, the disaster was devastating to local families.

Legacy

Following the disaster, funds were raised in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, to help support local families.

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

produced a documentary on the disaster, and various songs and poems have been written by people such as Saoirse Mhór and Richard Murphy.

References

{{Reflist 1927 in Ireland 1927 disasters in Europe 1920s disasters in Ireland Maritime disasters Maritime incidents in Ireland