Stories of the Sea: Reflections on a Research Project on the Subject of Maritime Memorates

Abstract

Between September 2010 and May 2013, the Research Institute for Irish and Celtic Studies at the University of Ulster hosted a research project entitled ‘Stories of the Sea: A Typological Study of Maritime Memorates in Modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic Folklore Traditions’. The authors of the present paper directed the project; Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh, University College Dublin, and John Shaw, University of Edinburgh, acted as consultants; Séamas Ó Catháin, and Liam Mac Mathúna of University College Dublin, together with Margaret Mackay and Caithlin Macaulay, University of Edinburgh, were members of the International Advisory Board. This project is the first major study of its kind to be carried out. The period covered in the study extends from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day. The project entails a selection of first-hand personal accounts of experiences of supernatural nature whilst at/near sea by Irish and Scottish fishermen, boatmen, foreshore gatherers and beachcombers from recorded and hand-written materials stored in the archives of National Folklore Collection (UCD, Dublin) and School of Scottish Studies Archives (University of Edinburgh). First-hand recollections of such experiences at sea (maritime memorates) form an important component of the narrative tradition of Irish and Scottish Gaelic coastal communities and their study contributes to a greater understanding of the social and cultural life of these communities and of the close maritime connections between Ireland and Scotland over many centuries.