By Róise Collins
A LARGE crowd gathered at St Columba’s Church, Burtonport on Tuesday to remember the crew of the Evelyn Marie, who tragically lost their lives 50 years ago when their fishing trawler hit rocks and sank at Rathlin O’Byrne Island off Glencolmcille.
The memorial Mass was celebrated on the 50th anniversary of what was one of Donegal’s worst ever sea disasters.
On the evening of January 7, 1975, the boat struck rocks off Malinbeag as it was making its way back to Killybegs.
Tuesday’s Mass was celebrated by Parish Priest, Fr Pat Ward, who was joined by Fr John Joe Duffy and Fr Brian Ó Fearraigh.
When the Mass ended and the packed pews emptied, members of the congregation, among them family members, friends and faces from the past, gathered together outside the church.
Some of them shook hands and warmly embraced, many saying the same thing: “It’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years”.
The crew who were on board the Evelyn Marie on January 7, 1975, remembered in a special booklet produced for Tuesday’s anniversary Mass.
The coastal community is still aching from the loss of six young men on that terrible night: Paddy Bonner (32), a married father of four from Burtonport; Hughie Gallagher (33), a native of Arranmore who was married with five children.
His wife Mary was pregnant at the time and give birth to twin boys four months later; Johnny O’Donnell (24) of Burtonport, was married with two young children; Roland (Rolo) Faughnan, a native of Belleek, County Fermanagh, but who lived in Burtonport.
He was married and had one child; Tom Ham (26), a native of Longford Town, also lived in Burtonport. He was married but had no children and Joe O’Donnell (20) from Burtonport who was engaged to be married.
Speaking at Tuesday’s Mass, Fr Ward shared how despite only being a young child at the time he also finds it hard to believe that 50 years have passed since this tragedy.
“A day becomes a week. A week becomes a month. A month becomes a year,” he said.
“And here we are 50 years on from the day of this tragedy, remembering these young men and wondering how life might have been different if this tragedy had never occurred.”
Fr Ward also spoke of how it is “cruel” that the grieving families are left with questions that still remain unanswered.
“I was about 9 years old when the Evelyn Marie went down. I was probably too young to understand what had happened,” he said.
“I was probably too protected to understand the hushed tones of those who spoke about what happened that night.
“But even without understanding, it was obvious that something had taken place that would leave an indelible mark on these communities and that has been proved true.
“The impact of the death of these six young men was felt first and foremost by their families, who still feel that personal pain of loss to this day.
“They still have questions that they would like to have answered. They still need peace and they still need this to come to a resolution – there is nothing as cruel as not knowing.
“Many family members have gone to their rest feeling that they have not been given all of the information or all the facts that were there.
“That is just not right and that is cruel,” he said.
To date no formal enquiry has been carried out into the sinking of the Evelyn Marie and despite requests from the families the government refused to release a file on the disaster.
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