WALLACE CLARK:WALLACE CLARK, who has died aged 84, was an accomplished seafarer, businessman, public servant, writer and the author of a classic on navigating the Irish coastline.
His many expeditions included a re-creation by currach of St Colmcille’s sea voyage from the north-east coast of Ireland to Iona off Scotland, and skippering a replica medieval galley from the Irish west coast to the Outer Hebrides.
He was born in Maghera, Co Derry, on November 20th, 1926, into a family linen business dating back to 1736, and was educated at Shrewsbury College. He joined the Royal Navy and served in it until 1947, when he spent a year as a merchant seaman on a cattle ship serving South Africa.
He then returned to work in the linen manufacturing company, the oldest in Northern Ireland and supplier to London tailors.
Clark, who had no family background in boats, had developed a firm passion for wooden sailing vessels. He had taught himself to sail as a young boy and by 1950 he had acquired his own small three-tonne vessel to ply the hazardous and exposed Irish north and north-west rim. He then moved into a larger gaff cutter, the Zamorin, dating from 1899, and circumnavigated Ireland in it in 1951.
There were more voyages in more boats – to Brittany, Norway, Scotland, the Mediterranean and to the Irish islands he so loved. “The islands of Ireland lie round her shoreline like water drops fallen from the head of a swimmer,” he wrote, and “like water drops they glisten in many colours”.
His second circumnavigation of Ireland in 1954, and subsequent explorations, inspired him to write his classic log, Sailing Round Ireland. The late taoiseach and keen sailor Charles Haughey was so taken by the 1976 publication that he described Clark as one of the finest maritime writers of his generation.
He and his wife had two sons who sailed from an early age with the couple in Wild Goose, the 36ft Bermudan yawl profiled in his book. Bruce, who was born in 1958, worked as a foreign correspondent in Russia, America and Europe, writing for the Economist. Miles, born in 1960, was a promising writer and yachtsman who died suddenly in 1993.
It was his interest in the history of boat design and build that inspired the 1963 five-day currach voyage which he led from Derry to Iona, some 1,400 years after the sea journey was made by St Colmcille. “There was not one of us who would not sail with him to the edge of the world,” the voyage’s co-organiser, Canon John Barry, said of his skipper.
Clark’s experience in open boats in heavy seas led to him serving as crew for part of Tim Severin’s 1976 Brendan voyage from Kerry across the Atlantic to Newfoundland in the wake of Irish monks centuries before.
In 1991, he undertook the maiden voyage of a Lord of the Islesmedieval galley, a replica built by craftsmen in Greencastle, Co Donegal, from Galway to the Scottish western isles. As his friends recalled, he had been fascinated by Somerled, a half-Gaelic, half-Nordic sea captain of the 12th century who led large fleets of galleys to victory in spectacular naval battles.
Back on land, he worked to ensure the family firm survived technological change, placing emphasis on the quality of linen produced by mill-driven techniques dating back to the 18th century and recorded this in his historical account Linen on the Green.
During the early years of the Troubles in the North, he served as a company commander in the Ulster Defence Regiment. He recalled the impact of the conflict during his seven years on night patrols in his book Brave Men and True, which conveyed also his respect for some members of the IRA. He received an MBE in 1970.
He was actively involved in the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the Irish Cruising Club, the Royal Cruising Club, and was a member of "Frères de la Côte" (Brotherhood of the Coast). He continued to write and undertook research trips in Agivey,a seven-tonne motor sailor which was the last boat he owned.
In January 2010, aged 83, he took the painful decision to sell the boat, but undertook a cruise last summer to Croatia with friends and his grandson Finnian.
Clark was an active member of St Lurach’s parish church in Maghera. Several months ago, he sustained serious injuries when he was hit by a vehicle while out walking. He is survived by his wife June, his son Bruce, and his grandchildren, Finnian and Georgiana. His son, Miles, predeceased him.
Wallace Clark: born November 20th, 1926; died May 8th, 2011