+ + +
Joseph is 1 of 8 known children of Capt. Michael & Anne (née Carroll) Gowan of Skerries, Ireland.
He married Catherine Ward of Skerries on January 11, 1865. They had 6 children, all born in Skerries.
Capt. Joseph used the Gowan form of the McGowan/Gowan surname. For the most part, his children used the McGowan form after his passing, as did his widow Catherine.
Following the family tradition set by his father and grandfather, Joseph became Master Mariner Joseph Gowan, as did at least 2 of his brothers, Master John Gowan & Master Matthew Gowan. Capt. Joseph engaged in the fishing trade out of the busy seaport of Skerries.
Three weeks before Christmas 1876, tragedy struck. While on a run to Bristol with a shipment of potatoes, Captain Gowan's fishing smack, Falcon, foundered in an east/south-east gale with a very heavy sea off the Skerries coast. All hands but 1 were lost.
In January 1877, Skerries Lifeboat, a part of the Royal National Life Boat Institution (RNLI), awarded a silver medal to John Payne of South Strand Street, who was Chief of the Coastguard Service at Skerries, for his "Gallant Conduct". With Falcon wrecked just off the coast, Chief Payne risked his own life by twice swimming out in the heavy sea to aid the crew of the wrecked smack. He was successful in rescuing one man who was unconscious. (Skerries Lifeboat also voted acknowledgement of 4 other Coast Guard members who assisted in the rescue attempt by manning the life-line tethered on shore.)
✞ Captain Joseph Gowan, the Falcon and her crew lay off the coast of Skerries to this day.
✞ Sea Pole Memorial
Skerries, Ireland
On September 29, 2013, Ireland's largest memorial to her men lost at sea was dedicated in Capt. Gowan's home villiage of Skerries. The Sea Pole Memorial remembers and honors 271 men and ships connected with the Skerries port who have no grave but the sea. The roll call of Skerries men, dedicated by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins, includes Captain Joseph Gowan, Master of the smack Falcon, lost with 3 of her crew 137 years earlier.
Lost on Falcon with Capt. Gowan:
Boatswain Thomas Kettle, age 60 of Skerries
Able Seaman Patrick Seaver, age 50 of Skerries
Also remembered & honored on the Sea Pole Memorial are Captain Gowan's brother
Master Mariner John Gowan & John's son in-law Master Mariner John Adams, both of whom were lost to the sea in separate tragedies.
Joseph is 1 of 8 known children of Capt. Michael & Anne (née Carroll) Gowan of Skerries, Ireland.
He married Catherine Ward of Skerries on January 11, 1865. They had 6 children, all born in Skerries.
Capt. Joseph used the Gowan form of the McGowan/Gowan surname. For the most part, his children used the McGowan form after his passing, as did his widow Catherine.
Following the family tradition set by his father and grandfather, Joseph became Master Mariner Joseph Gowan, as did at least 2 of his brothers, Master John Gowan & Master Matthew Gowan. Capt. Joseph engaged in the fishing trade out of the busy seaport of Skerries.
Three weeks before Christmas 1876, tragedy struck. While on a run to Bristol with a shipment of potatoes, Captain Gowan's fishing smack, Falcon, foundered in an east/south-east gale with a very heavy sea off the Skerries coast. All hands but 1 were lost.
In January 1877, Skerries Lifeboat, a part of the Royal National Life Boat Institution (RNLI), awarded a silver medal to John Payne of South Strand Street, who was Chief of the Coastguard Service at Skerries, for his "Gallant Conduct". With Falcon wrecked just off the coast, Chief Payne risked his own life by twice swimming out in the heavy sea to aid the crew of the wrecked smack. He was successful in rescuing one man who was unconscious. (Skerries Lifeboat also voted acknowledgement of 4 other Coast Guard members who assisted in the rescue attempt by manning the life-line tethered on shore.)
✞ Captain Joseph Gowan, the Falcon and her crew lay off the coast of Skerries to this day.
✞ Sea Pole Memorial
Skerries, Ireland
On September 29, 2013, Ireland's largest memorial to her men lost at sea was dedicated in Capt. Gowan's home villiage of Skerries. The Sea Pole Memorial remembers and honors 271 men and ships connected with the Skerries port who have no grave but the sea. The roll call of Skerries men, dedicated by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins, includes Captain Joseph Gowan, Master of the smack Falcon, lost with 3 of her crew 137 years earlier.
Lost on Falcon with Capt. Gowan:
Boatswain Thomas Kettle, age 60 of Skerries
Able Seaman Patrick Seaver, age 50 of Skerries
Also remembered & honored on the Sea Pole Memorial are Captain Gowan's brother
Master Mariner John Gowan & John's son in-law Master Mariner John Adams, both of whom were lost to the sea in separate tragedies.
+ + +
Joseph is 1 of 8 known children of Capt. Michael & Anne (née Carroll) Gowan of Skerries, Ireland.
He married Catherine Ward of Skerries on January 11, 1865. They had 6 children, all born in Skerries.
Capt. Joseph used the Gowan form of the McGowan/Gowan surname. For the most part, his children used the McGowan form after his passing, as did his widow Catherine.
Following the family tradition set by his father and grandfather, Joseph became Master Mariner Joseph Gowan, as did at least 2 of his brothers, Master John Gowan & Master Matthew Gowan. Capt. Joseph engaged in the fishing trade out of the busy seaport of Skerries.
Three weeks before Christmas 1876, tragedy struck. While on a run to Bristol with a shipment of potatoes, Captain Gowan's fishing smack, Falcon, foundered in an east/south-east gale with a very heavy sea off the Skerries coast. All hands but 1 were lost.
In January 1877, Skerries Lifeboat, a part of the Royal National Life Boat Institution (RNLI), awarded a silver medal to John Payne of South Strand Street, who was Chief of the Coastguard Service at Skerries, for his "Gallant Conduct". With Falcon wrecked just off the coast, Chief Payne risked his own life by twice swimming out in the heavy sea to aid the crew of the wrecked smack. He was successful in rescuing one man who was unconscious. (Skerries Lifeboat also voted acknowledgement of 4 other Coast Guard members who assisted in the rescue attempt by manning the life-line tethered on shore.)
✞ Captain Joseph Gowan, the Falcon and her crew lay off the coast of Skerries to this day.
✞ Sea Pole Memorial
Skerries, Ireland
On September 29, 2013, Ireland's largest memorial to her men lost at sea was dedicated in Capt. Gowan's home villiage of Skerries. The Sea Pole Memorial remembers and honors 271 men and ships connected with the Skerries port who have no grave but the sea. The roll call of Skerries men, dedicated by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins, includes Captain Joseph Gowan, Master of the smack Falcon, lost with 3 of her crew 137 years earlier.
Lost on Falcon with Capt. Gowan:
Boatswain Thomas Kettle, age 60 of Skerries
Able Seaman Patrick Seaver, age 50 of Skerries
Also remembered & honored on the Sea Pole Memorial are Captain Gowan's brother
Master Mariner John Gowan & John's son in-law Master Mariner John Adams, both of whom were lost to the sea in separate tragedies.
Joseph is 1 of 8 known children of Capt. Michael & Anne (née Carroll) Gowan of Skerries, Ireland.
He married Catherine Ward of Skerries on January 11, 1865. They had 6 children, all born in Skerries.
Capt. Joseph used the Gowan form of the McGowan/Gowan surname. For the most part, his children used the McGowan form after his passing, as did his widow Catherine.
Following the family tradition set by his father and grandfather, Joseph became Master Mariner Joseph Gowan, as did at least 2 of his brothers, Master John Gowan & Master Matthew Gowan. Capt. Joseph engaged in the fishing trade out of the busy seaport of Skerries.
Three weeks before Christmas 1876, tragedy struck. While on a run to Bristol with a shipment of potatoes, Captain Gowan's fishing smack, Falcon, foundered in an east/south-east gale with a very heavy sea off the Skerries coast. All hands but 1 were lost.
In January 1877, Skerries Lifeboat, a part of the Royal National Life Boat Institution (RNLI), awarded a silver medal to John Payne of South Strand Street, who was Chief of the Coastguard Service at Skerries, for his "Gallant Conduct". With Falcon wrecked just off the coast, Chief Payne risked his own life by twice swimming out in the heavy sea to aid the crew of the wrecked smack. He was successful in rescuing one man who was unconscious. (Skerries Lifeboat also voted acknowledgement of 4 other Coast Guard members who assisted in the rescue attempt by manning the life-line tethered on shore.)
✞ Captain Joseph Gowan, the Falcon and her crew lay off the coast of Skerries to this day.
✞ Sea Pole Memorial
Skerries, Ireland
On September 29, 2013, Ireland's largest memorial to her men lost at sea was dedicated in Capt. Gowan's home villiage of Skerries. The Sea Pole Memorial remembers and honors 271 men and ships connected with the Skerries port who have no grave but the sea. The roll call of Skerries men, dedicated by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins, includes Captain Joseph Gowan, Master of the smack Falcon, lost with 3 of her crew 137 years earlier.
Lost on Falcon with Capt. Gowan:
Boatswain Thomas Kettle, age 60 of Skerries
Able Seaman Patrick Seaver, age 50 of Skerries
Also remembered & honored on the Sea Pole Memorial are Captain Gowan's brother
Master Mariner John Gowan & John's son in-law Master Mariner John Adams, both of whom were lost to the sea in separate tragedies.
Inscription
the main inscription on the
Sea Pole Memorial reads:
I gCuimhne ar na daoine go léir
a cailleach san Fharraige idir
na Sceirí agus Loch Sionnsigh
the inscription on the individual plate reads:
CAPTAIN JOSEPH McGOWAN - 35 yrs
of Skerries
02 Dec. 1876
On the smack the Falcon
off Skerries, en route to Bristol
Gravesite Details
LOST AT SEA: off the coast of Skerries, Ireland.
Family Members
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