25/07/2023
Here’s something that some of you who grew up by the coast will have heard or seen in practice - especially with the older men - no-one could swim.
I grew up on the east coast of Wexford and this was a common thing, as the general belief was swimming would only prolong the drowning if you went in.
That has changed these days but I’d still know a few older men who go out fishing and can’t swim. To be honest, most people who grew up by the sea never knew how to swim. I only learned how to swim in my 20s and the only ones who went near the water were holidaymakers or ‘The Bathers’ aka The Dubs. They got the name ‘Bathers’ as they first came to to sea in the late 1800s/early 1900s to bathe.
As for the locals the sea provided food when it was needed but it wasn’t for swimming or leisure. As I said, that’s all changed now but I came across the identical relationship in other coastal counties and also noticed the same in Newfoundland.
On an aside, it was a Dublin man called ‘Mr Corrish’ (as he was known locally) who spent his Saturdays teaching the local children to swim in Cahore, Co. Wexford and the locals erected a stone to thank him for doing so. It simply reads “Thank you Mr Corrish for teaching us to swim”.
Text: Michael Fortune
