by Captain Simon Coate, Harbour Master at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.
Simon was born in Bridgwater, Somerset, England in 1944.
In 1962 I got a call from the Shipping Federation to go to sea and joined my first ship on 16 March in Middlesbrough. I joined the Bolton Steamship Company, which was a tramp ship company.
In 1964, my mother settled in Sandycove and when I came back for leave in 1966, I signed up to the Nautical College on the West Pier in Dun Laoghaire.
The Nautical College itself was host to students from all over the world at different stages of their sea going careers – the building still remains as a sailing centre – the College having long gone to Ringaskiddy in Co Cork.
The college was a very enjoyable experience and I met a lot of people in the college and in Sandycove that became very close friends. They still are to this day. Our lecturers were good and made the course more enjoyable as they were interesting characters and small classes. I remember one event involving the Principal, Captain Tom Walsh, who was a great, but very stern, lecturer. A group of us were studying in the college, and at lunchtime on this particular day, we started messing with a semaphore board, an instrument used for signalling. We discovered that placing the board horizontally created a mini-roulette table and there was great excitement as we all crowded around and placed our bets. Our fun was short-lived, as Captain Walsh unexpectedly marched in, kicked the board, and sent everything and everyone flying. We never found out who got the winnings, but we talked about it for years afterwards!
Dun Laoghaire was a great town in those days, and we had a very active social life. There were about 20 pubs from York Road to Dalkey and they were always busy – at least they were when we went there! The Purty Kitchen was the Nautical College local and very popular with the students every day of the week. Directly opposite was the Top Hat Ballroom, where they held regular dances. The Crofton Hotel, which is now the BIM building, was also another a great place to go for after-hours drinking which was mostly done in the kitchen! (Little did I know then that forty years later I would be working for Dun Laoghaire Harbour)
Generally, I would go to sea for a period of six months followed by two months at home. The only communication when at sea was by radio and calls were only made in an emergency. We had to rely on letters at every port of call. Of course, my mother missed me when I was at sea but as I was single at that time, I found it quite easy to cope with being away from home. In fact, I didn’t think about it very often. I remember when I got back after one very long stint (over two years ) , we had a family dinner and then I went out with my friends. My poor mother didn’t see me until the next day!
At one point, I decided to try and do all my sea time (two years and six months) for Masters in one go and actually did 27 months (1968 to 1970) on the same ship, the Ribera. I was Second Officer (Navigating Officer). This role involved planning and setting out the route we would take, ensuring we had all the necessary charts and aps. In those pre-GPS days, navigation this was very much based on chart reading and taking sights with the sun and stars. My watch was the ‘graveyard watch’ from 00:00 hours to 04:00 hours and then from 12:00 hours to 16:00 hours. We were mostly running from the US Gulf ports to Japan with grain and coming back empty and out and back via the Panama Canal – four weeks across the Pacific each time. We visited over seven ports in Japan and as they were only building the facilities, we had to discharge the grain with the ship’s gear at a rate of about 1,000 tons a day. As we carried 28,000 tons of grain it meant we had four weeks ashore every three months.
After I got my Masters Ticket, in 1971, I continued deep sea, with Boltons, until 1974. In late 1973, I had met Celine in FitzGerald’s pub in Sandycove – we went out for four weeks, got engaged, and I went back to sea for six months! We married in 1974 and I gave up deep sea but continued on the coast in small ships. I then joined an American Drillship, the JW Bates, an oil exploration ship. All the crew were based in Malta, so Celine and I moved there for four years. It was a great place to live and we had a lot of fun. Both our daughters, Linda and Rachel were born there.
On one of these contracts I spent six months in Haiti, which was very interesting. It was a beautiful country, but I was struck by the extremes in wealth in such a small country. You would often see the poor people camped outside the high walls of extravagant hotels. It was the first time that anyone had drilled for oil offshore in Haiti and ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier, the President of Haiti, was flown out, together with his throne, for a ‘drilling commencement ceremony’. The Tonton Macoute (Special Operations Units) were on the bridge and they wore suits with big bulges where their guns were. It was all quite menacing!
In 1982 the drillship secured a big contract in India and we had a major refit for three months in Malta Drydock. I then took the ship through the Suez Canal to Bombay only to find when we got there that the Indian Oil Company had reneged on the contract! All the drilling crew were let go and a small marine crew kept on to ‘mind’ the ship at anchor. I did this, working six weeks on and six weeks off for two years until 1984. We then got a contract off Indonesia but the Company then decided to scrap the ship and In September 1985 the Chief Engineer and myself took the ship, by tug tow, to Phuket to be broken up – another epic voyage when our tow was boarded by pirates in the Gulf of Thailand they found nothing and went chasing someone else. That was a huge relief as they were heavily armed.
After that I joined a semi-submersible drilling rig for a short while before leaving the oilfield in 1984. By this time, son Jonathan had been born in 1982. It was time to come home
In 1991 I started working for Dun Laoghaire Harbour as Assistant Harbour Master
Coming ashore also gave me the opportunity to sail and I bought a boat in partnership with a cousin and joined the National Yacht Club. Two of my children started sailing and I became involved with Junior Sailing in the both in the Club, the Irish Optimist Association (1994-98) and serving on the Irish Sailing Association Board between 2002 and 2007
Dun Laoghaire was a very busy harbour at the time, with a long-established ferry service which had been running between Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead since 1835. The nature of the service changed a lot over the years; at one time in order to get a car onto the ferry you had to drive it onto a net on the pier and it was then lifted by crane onto the boat. Thankfully, that progressed to a roll-on, roll-off service.
Shortly after I started, a small fast craft was introduced to the route in 1993.
But perhaps the most exciting time for me was the advent of the High Speed Ferry in 1996 –as a “ship as big as a football field” came into the harbour.
On the one hand, it was hugely thrilling for us; on the other, there were some fears among the local community as to what this “mighty” ship might discharge on to the local roads.
In its early days, people would throng on to the east pier to watch the ship come in to the harbour from Holyhead and swing back into its berth: majestic to some eyes, a sacrilege to others. The berth was customised which meant the ship did not use ropes to tie up to the berth but used locks at the stern of the ship to clamp on to the shore ramp.
At its peak, the Stena Explorer was running five times a day and Dun Laoghaire was incredibly busy with lots of holiday makers. Also, day trips were very popular with people buying duty free! It was a very vibrant town and an exciting place to live.
With the abolition of duty-free and the introduction of cheap airline flights it unfortunately ceased altogether in September 2014. The ship had been run on jet engines, and using aviation fuel, was incredibly costly to run.
This left the St Bridget as the only regular passenger vessel remaining making tours across Dublin Bay to Dublin and Howth.
The introduction of the High Speed Ship berth and associated Ferry Terminal in 1996 together with the building of the biggest marina in Ireland in 2001 radically changed the appearance and character of the harbour.
In 2000 I was appointed Port Operations Manager a role mainly to liaise with all the harbour users including the main customer – Stena Line as well as the Waterfront Yacht Clubs. This involved working closely with the Clubs organising National and International sailing events – a most enjoyable and fulfilling role
In 2009 I was also appointed to the role of Harbour Master. The primary responsibility of the Harbour Master is to ensure the safety of navigation within the harbour authority’s jurisdiction and ensuring safe working environment practices are maintained. I continued as Harbour Master until I retired in 2012 and was sad to leave. However, my replacement didn’t stay long, and I was asked to come back to cover the role for a few weeks – this I willingly did as I enjoyed the job. I am still here ten years later!
I love my job in Dun Laoghaire. It has great variety and I work with really good people. The Harbour has now been taken over by the County Council which I think will be good for both the harbour and Dun Laoghaire. Traditionally the harbour and the town were run as separate entities, with the Dart line physically dividing them. The covering of the Metals has drawn the town closer and made it more unified which I think is a great improvement.
Also replacing the solid wall on the Plaza with glass has further opened up the vista and has become a favourite viewing spot
I’m very optimistic about Dun Laoghaire Harbour and its future. The Piers are a fantastic amenity for the local community, but they are nearly 200 years and require ongoing maintenance.
I think the recent increase in cruise ship calls is good for the town and is in keeping the maritime tradition within the harbour. It is a fantastic amenity, and I enjoy seeing the harbour being used in so many other creative ways, both for sailing and land- based events
Now that I am retiring from the harbour I will still be able to join everyone else and enjoy walking the East and West Piers, looking out to sea at those beautiful views
Simon Coate
Harbour Master
November 2022
Note: Simon is retiring on 23 December 2022
D.L.C.R.A. 