Famous Irish Mariners

Surrounded on all sides by water, Ireland and its people have long been shaped by the sea.

Ireland has a rich history of famous – and infamous – mariners: from our earliest navigators, who may have reached North America – by currach – a thousand years before Columbus, to daring polar explorers Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean.

Read the stirring adventures of Ireland's seafaring women, from Granuaile to Kate Tyrrell, and naval leaders such as John Barry, who fought sea battles in the Americas. Irish people have helped to shape marine science, including Francis Beaufort, who devised the scale by which we measure wind speeds, marine biologist Maude Delap and John Holland, inventor of the submarine.