Islands of Ireland: Waller's Island — named for a man who signed a king's death warrant
Waller's Island, County Limerick in the Shannon Estuary. Picture: Dan MacCarthy
It is a particular misfortune when those who are helping in the aftermath of one disaster themselves die as a consequence. Such was the fate that awaited aerial photographer and charter pilot, Alexander Morgan, on the night of January 15, 1958 when his plane crashed beside Waller’s Island on the Shannon Estuary.
Morgan was contracted to the Daily Express newspaper to photograph the Carmody Hotel in Ennis, County Clare, where a second floor had collapsed at an auction killing eight people and injuring 50 others. Morgan fulfilled his contract and took a number of photographs of the disaster. However, on returning to Manchester his Piper Apache plane ran into difficulties and it crashed at Waller’s Island at about 11pm. The wreckage of the plane was recovered from the river. William Madigan, a diver from Limerick, found Morgan still seated in the pilot’s seat.
An investigation suggested one of the cockpit doors may not have been fully closed. A witness testified that the wing flaps were turned down and the landing gear was still engaged — suggesting either instrument failure or pilot illness. Another witness stated that “the fuselage was badly broken and the plane gripped in the mud”.
Waller's Island on the Shannon, Cratloe in the background, blackthorn 3ft overhang on the western side of the little island, and the most beautiful Beech tree in the middle of it. 😎 pic.twitter.com/EgTVPmmTAc
— 🍋Nokost🍋 (@nookost) February 28, 2021
Morgan had been in touch with the control tower and informed it that he was in difficulties. The tower advised him to return and declared an emergency. The Limerick Leader reported that: “The airport launch and the launch of the Limerick Harbour Board went out to make a search but the plane was not located till daylight came. It was then found embedded in a mudbank at Waller’s Island, on the Limerick side of the river opposite the airport.” The search teams, including airport workers and other volunteers, had stayed out all night working in very difficult conditions, including fog.
Press photographer, Cliff Bedell, had a lucky escape as his newspaper had instructed him to fly with Morgan so it could publish photographs of the disaster in Ennis. However, Bedell received a last-minute change of instructions causing him to miss the fatal flight.
Morgan, who was nicknamed ‘The monkey’, was a founder member of the Irish Air Charter Ltd in 1957 as well as a company called Aerophotos. He was also chief pilot in Republic Charter Airlines in Cork.
He was an aviation pioneer and photographed many sites of post-war Ireland including Dun Laoghaire Harbour, Áras an Uachtaráin, Dublin Zoo and Trinity College. His photos were widely published in several newspapers. His collection can be seen in the National Gallery.
Waller’s island is situated about 2 kilometres east of Beagh Castle which itself is about 15km west of Limerick City near the town of Askeaton.
It is just a sliver of an island and comes in at 600sq m. It has one neighbouring island, equally diminutive, in Bushy Island. It seems incredible that one aircraft could collide with such a tiny scrap of land. It did have another neighbour in Pigott’s Island but that has been obliterated by the "mutinous Shannon waves", in the words of James Joyce. In between Pigott’s and Waller’s Island is a mudbank known as the Half Gloves which is an area of the river avoided by fishermen and other seafarers.
The name of Waller’s Island derives from the governor of Askeaton and MP in the 1640s, Hardress Waller who owned extensive lands south of Waller’s Island along the river. Waller distinguished himself in that very turbulent time in English politics by signing the death warrant for Charles I in 1649. He was sentenced to death for his regicidal intent but that was commuted to life imprisonment, and he saw out his days on Jersey Island in the English Channel.
In happier times, Waller’s Island was the focal point for days out such as this excursion centred around the adjacent townland of Ringmoylan in 1934: “All day immense crowds passed through the village on bicycles and cars. All along the shore, Rourke’s Strand and onwards towards Waller’s Island was a thick mass of people. Ringmoylan has become so famous now that it is second to none in west Limerick as a seaside resort.”
: Kayak from Beagh Castle.
Kerryman 14/07/1934
Limerick Leader 18/01/1958
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