Pirate Queen, Grace O'Malley, had us out to her castle on Clare Island for dinner today. Well, it's sure she would have had it been some 400 years ago.
County Mayo is where some of Michael's maternal ancestors hailed from and, in the 16th century, most of the Mayo coastline was controlled by Grace's powerful seafaring family. While still a child, Grace asked her father to let her join a trip to Spain, but was refused on the grounds that seafaring was not for girls. So Grace shaved off all of her hair, dressed in boy's clothing, and announced she was ready to set sail. Her amused family nicknamed her Grainne Mhaol, meaning Bald Grace. The nickname stuck and she is known today as Granuaile.
Grace, a fearsome commander and terrific sailor, went on to amass a fortune and considerable political power in her own right. Her husband's clan was banned from trading in nearby Galway, so Grace would waylay laden vessels prior to reaching port and demand a ransom for safe passage. After her husband's death, Grace settled on Clare Island and continued her exploits on the Irish and Scottish coasts.
On returning from one of her trips, Grace stopped at Howth, Dublin's busiest port and, as was the custom, sought hospitality at Howth Castle. She was refused entrance, being told the family was dining. Bad move! Grace kidnapped the Lord's son and released him only after exacting a promise that the castle gates would always remain open and an extra place set at every meal for unexpected guests, a practice still followed to this day.
We took a 20 minute ferry ride out to Clare Island and had a look around Grace's small, unremarkable, derelict castle which had been used as a police barracks in the 19th century. There are only 150 people now living on Clare Island, which sports a few B&B's, some sheep farms, and a small pub where many of the locals were getting downright snockered on this Sunday afternoon. We took a walk about the island and had an ice cream and, on our way back to the ferry, talked to a woman in the heritage center who pointed us to some book shops on the mainland where we could get maps of Ireland with the various Irish surnames printed on the map where the family name was commonly associated.
Girls, it turns out, CAN sail and can do so without forgetting their manners (piracy and kidnapping notwithstanding).
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