A marine scientist who pioneered a salt fish industry which gave valuable coastal employment after the Great Famine has been remembered with a plaque in Co Kerry.
William Spotswood Green “saved lives” from Mizen to Malin Head, according to Dr Kevin Flannery, rare fish expert, who traced his grave, and organised the memorial.
“Few men have made so great a contribution to the welfare of Irish fishermen,” according to a lecture on the late marine scientist at the Royal Dublin Society in 1967.
The sea and seashore held a fascination for Green from an early age, having been born in Youghal, Co Cork, in 1847. He was educated at Midleton College and studied science and logic at Trinity College Dublin, but turned to theology and was posted as a curate to Kenmare, Co Kerry, in the 1870s.
William Spotswood Green “saved lives” from Mizen to Malin Head, according to Dr Kevin Flannery, (above), who traced his grave and organised the memorial
The poverty resulting from the Great Famine influenced his decision to become involved in Congested District Board efforts to revive the fishing industry. He retired from his church duties when he was appointed chief inspector of fisheries with the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction.
Apart from working on fishing gear and pier development, he spearheaded an export market in salted mackerel. This trade thrived, benefiting fishers and their families and providing coastal employment for salters and cooper making barrels for the fish.
He led Royal Irish Academy survey cruises and was involved in the design of the research vessel, Helga II, which was commissioned for fishery patrols but was equipped with a laboratory for marine research and was used in the survey of Clare Island, Co Mayo, in 1909.
He was also a climber and is better remembered in New Zealand for an attempt on Mount Cook in 1881-2. Weather turned against the expedition close to the summit, but they were hailed for identifying a route. Three New Zealanders recorded the first summit of Mount Cook in 1894.
Spotswood Green died at home in Caherdaniel in 1919. Dr Flannery traced his grave to a Church of Ireland graveyard in Sneem, where a plaque was unveiled last week to the “fishery scientist, mountaineer, explorer, man of God”. A talk was also given on his legacy at the Sneem Summer Festival.
