Lighthouses of Ireland

• The Hook Head Lighthouse has been guiding mariners almost continuously for an amazing 1,500 years.
• Island dwellers off the Irish coasts fared better than their mainland counterparts during the potato famine because sea breezes kept airborne contaminants from reaching their crops.
• In 1881, when a storm tore away the upper portion of the Claf Rock Lighthouse, the keepers painted in red on the white part of what was left of the tower plea: NO ONE HURT. WANT TO LEAVE THE ROCK. It took two weeks for rescuers to reach them.
• The flagship of the Irish Commissioners of Lights is named after Granuaile, or Grace O'Malley, a remarkable woman leader from the sixteenth century, whose pirates plundered passing ships in and near Galway Bay.

If your're one of the almost 50 million Americans of Irish descent or if you're enchanted by lighthouses, have an interest in maritime history, or a passion for things Irish, you'll be fascinated by facts like these:

• The Hook Head Lighthouse has been guiding mariners almost continuously for an amazing 1,500 years.
• Island dwellers off the Irish coasts fared better than their mainland counterparts during the potato famine because sea breezes kept airborne contaminants from reaching their crops.
• In 1881, when a storm tore away the upper portion of the Claf Rock Lighthouse, the keepers painted in red on the white part of what was left of the tower plea: NO ONE HURT. WANT TO LEAVE THE ROCK. It took two weeks for rescuers to reach them.
• The flagship of the Irish Commissioners of Lights is named after Granuaile, or Grace O'Malley, a remarkable woman leader from the sixteenth century, whose pirates plundered passing ships in and near Galway Bay.