From Canada to Cross Strand

“IT IS INCREDIBLE IT SURVIVED” Pictured is the vessel which is thought to have travelled across the Atlantic Ocean. Pic courtesy the Ballyglass Coastguard

Houseboat’s remarkable journey has Belmullet locals amazed


Edwin McGreal

Belmullet could just have its own maritime marvel to rival David McGowan’s amazing enterprise in Enniscrone.
McGowan’s transport of a Boeing 767 from Shannon Airport to Enniscrone via sea has become the stuff of legend but an unplanned arrival off the coast of Erris came along with its own fascinating tale.
A houseboat drifted all the way from Canada to Cross Strand almost perfectly intact.
About 20 foot long, ten foot high and 12 foot wide, the timber and polystyrene boat had a message scrawled inside to give the local Coastguard who secured the vessel some clue as to its origin.
It read: “I, Rick Small, donate this structure to a homeless youth to give them a better life that Newfoundlanders choose not to do! No rent, no mortgage, no hydro.”
The vessel is equipped with solar panels, which survived the perilous sea journey intact. Rick Small is an eco-adventurer from Ontario, Canada who once travelled over 4,000 miles across Canada on a solar-powered tricycle.
The incredible discovery was made by local man Michael S Togher on Sunday evening at 5pm when he was walking on Cross Strand, a beach on the west coast of the Mullet peninsula, facing the Atlantic Ocean.
Togher is a well-known singer but is also a volunteer with the local Ballyglass Coastguard Unit. He contacted Michael Hurst, Officer in Charge, who in turn contacted Malin Head Coastguard who advised Hurst to secure the vessel.  

Concern
“There was a concern with it floating out to sea that it would become a hazard, even though it had made it all the way across the Atlantic, you can never take a chance. I also had to check inside to make absolutely sure there was no one on board,” Mr Hurst told The Mayo News last night.
He said his phone had been ‘red hot’ all day as the story became big news nationally. One of his first calls yesterday morning was to Mayo County Council, as they had responsibility for the vessel after it washed up on a public beach. They brought it ashore while the Irish Coastguard contacted their Canadian counterparts.
There are reports the boat could have been docked in Portugal Cove-St Philip’s in Newfoundland, Canada as late as September. Michael Hurst admits ‘I’ve never seen anything like this’ in all his time with the Coastguard.
“It is incredible that it survived.
Most of the damage appears to have been done close to shore, by rocks. It’s dry inside and it’s floating. The solar panels are intact. There’s a couple of windows broken, they appear to be perspex and were probably damaged by strong waves.”
The big question now is what to do with the boat. Hurst has a suggestion.
“At the moment we’re waiting to hear from the owner and if he doesn’t want it, then we’re hoping that the local authority would hand it over to some local social scheme to repair it and have it as a tourist attraction along the Wild Atlantic Way.
“Some people are saying to send it up to (David) McGowan in Enniscrone but we shouldn’t give away our own little treasure. Whether it could be on display where it is or if it would need to be brought to a safer location, we’d have to see.”
This vessel’s journey certainly would bring new meaning to ‘Wild Atlantic Way’.