My grandfather, Francis John Maguire was born in Birkenhead and later moved back to Ireland. My Father was born in Watergate, Kilkenny. But Granddad, being a Carpenter in a time of high unemployment after World War 1, moved around Ireland wherever work was to be found. He worked in Haulbaulin Shipyard in Cork, also for the Countess of Desert in Kilkenny. He also worked for Harland and Wolff as a Ships Carpenter on the most famous Ship of all time the Titanic! He must have been one of the few catholics working there and amongst his many stories was that he always wore some early form of safety hat just in case someone would drop a hot rivet down on him from above.
When I was very small we often drove down to collect him from Mass and back to our Auntie in SCR, Dublin 8. Every trip he always had a story to entertain us. Actually he had probably about 50 different stories but we would always love to hear him re telling some of his stories or yarns as some people call such stories.
One of his tales about the Titanic has turned out to be a bit of an ‘urban legend’ a modern term for a myth or a completely incorrect fact that supposedly spreads around and then become fact or at least some people believe it. An urban legend spread in Britain after the ‘9-11’ attack on the Twin Towers in New York. It was reported in some British newspapers that people had contact the Police claiming they had for example helped their Muslim neighbour fix his car. And in return his neighbour told him thanks and ‘Oh avoid the centre of Birmingham on the 5th! can’t say anything else’. The whole thing turned out to be complete fabrication.
Grandads story was that the Titanic being supposedly un sinkable was given the number 390904 which, when read backwards in a mirror, was claimed to spell 'no pope'. To enhance the story, Grandad used to write down the numbers on a piece of paper and then turn the paper back to front and towards the light so you could read the numbers backwards and to us as children it magically read ‘No Pope’ of course he also had a special way of writing the numbers. Anyhow we always believed him and unlike what went on in the name of Irish freedom his story was nothing to do with politics or religion, just an amusing story.
Of course having checked out the facts it turns out the ship was never given these numbers, today its very easy to check out facts by looking up Google or Ask Jeeves even.
But years ago its wasn’t so easy and people believed what they were told and anyhow it was the way Grandad told the story and almost like a magician got that piece of paper to do a magic trick that impressed me the most and by then we had arrived at Aunties and was time to get out of the car having been held captivated for the short journey. Grandad timed his stories so they always finished just as Daddy arrived at SCR and time for us all to get out and in to Auntie Maureen, who always had Dinner ready for us and she always had the latest comic for myself and big Brother Frank, as well as fresh lemonade from one of those old pressurised dispenser bottles, and finished off the treat with a bar of chocolate. For the bar of chocolate We had to go with Maureen down the lane behind her house where a Lady had a little shop in a garage selling a few bars of chocolates, sweets and newspapers. This ended the treat until the following week. And another tale!
My Dad also had his fair share of tall tales, many relating to his long, very long time in the Irish Civil Service, including his 43 years in the same chair in Dublin Castle. But that’s for another time.
Til then, John Maguire, MaguireNews, Dublin.
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