‘Pylades’ one of the lesser Greek Gods. This was the name of the grandfathers fist commission, he got his sea going captains ticket in April of 1916 in Dublin the week before the Easter rising. The ship was a collier and at the beginning of the First World War was one of eighteen belonging to the City of Cork Steam Packet Company. Sixteen of these ships went down by torpedo and bomb during the war, SS Pylades and the SS Kenmare were the lucky ones. November 1937 saw Pylades caught in a storm off the French coast, her cargo shifted, a French Trawler took off all her crew safely and shortly after she rolled and went down off Dieppe.
A small painting of this ‘Pylades’ hung in the house in Cork all the years of our growing up, when it came to naming boats there was no choice. The naming of the present steel Pylades by our Auntie Breda took place Late May 1997 during a lull in a rainstorm at the Poolbeg Yacht after an earlier launching at Malahide.
The careful costing of a 34’ yacht came to nought after a feed of wine and we decided to proceed with the purchase a set of drawings from Van de Stadt for the construction of forty footer. 5000 happy hours past over three years with Kay and I in a yard off the East wall Road in Dublin, drawing on steel plates, cutting steel plates, moving steel plates, grinding steel plates, welding steel plates and sticking in engines and wires and things. The ESB and its employees who owned the yard were extremely helpful providing truck and crane to deliver the finished product to the sea. The statistics; LOA. 12M (39.3) Beam 3.9 (12.75) Draft 1.8M (6) Disp c. 12tons Two circumnavigation’s around Ireland proved it to be mighty sailor with no vices. Plans were made to travell off for a year and a bit an Atlantic crossing (Trade wind) was the plan. Sell house, Dump the office in the local skip, we made our excuses and left.