"Father of the American
Navy"
Born 1745 - Our
Lady's Island, Co. Wexford.
Few
people are well acquainted with the gallantry and heroic exploits
of
America's Wexford born naval
commander, Commodore John Barry.
Obscured by his
contemporary, naval commander John Paul Jones, Barry remains to this day
an unsung
hero of the young American
Republic.
John Barry was born in a
modest thatched cottage in 1745 at Ballysampson,
Our Lady's Island, County
Wexford, an area with a
strong maritime
tradition.
Yet Barry's father was a poor tenant farmer who was evicted by
his British landlord. The family was
then forced to relocate to the village of
Rosslare.
At Rosslare, the youth's uncle, Nicholas Barry,
was captain of a fishing skiff, and the young man
determined at an early
age to follow his uncle to sea.
Barry started out as a ship's cabin boy, and graduated from seaman
to able seaman and ultimately
achieved Mate's rating. Barry grew to become a tall, muscular, and well
respected seaman. |
Statue of
Commodore
John Barry
Crescent Quay,
Wexford. |
