Fisherman (13) home after seven-week adventure at sea

A 13-YEAR-old boy from Union Hall sacrificed his summer holidays to spend seven weeks deep sea fishing with his dad.

After much pleading, Liam Deasy’s mother, Monica said she and his father, Niall, agreed to allow him to travel from Killybegs to Union Hall on board the Ocean Pioneer.

‘We thought he’d be happy with that but he talked us ‘round,’ said Monica.

Liam joined his dad, his cousins, and a reliable crew, when they went tuna fishing on June 28th.

‘He was only meant to go for two weeks. I was supposed to collect him when they made their first landing, but he enjoyed it so much he didn’t want to come home,’ said Monica.

Liam’s grandfather and father are all fishermen, which would account for his abiding interest in all things maritime-related. It certainly accounts for the fact that he spends much of his free time working on the pier across from the family home, helping his dad, and other boat owners, to land their catch.

‘Tuna fishing is less strenuous than trawling,’ said Monica, ‘there’s more down time and everyone looked after him really well.

‘I was getting photographs of him swimming every day in the Bay of Biscay or sunbathing on the boat. ‘Let’s just say it wasn’t a hardship for him,’ said Monica, who was up at the crack of dawn with Liam’s siblings Lucy (15), Fintan (10) and Oisín (9) to greet Liam, Niall, and the crew, when they arrived back in port at 6.30am, a full seven weeks after leaving West Cork.

Over the course of the two months, Liam did miss home, working on the pier, sailing and being with friends.

He can’t wait to go out again, but he’ll have to wait because within a week of being back on dry land, it was off to secondary school for the 13-year-old adventurer.