Robert Halpin

Robert Charles Halpin, Master Mariner, (born February 16, 1836 in Wicklow, Ireland - died January 20, 1894 in Tinakilly, Wicklow as well), was the son of James and Anne Halpin (nee Halbert) and captained the Brunel-designed leviathan SS "Great Eastern" which laid transoceanic telegraph cables in the late 1800s. He was, arguably, the most important mariner in the 19th century. In effect, he made the world a global village by connecting empires and continents via submarine telegraph cables.Halpin left home at age 11 to become a seafarer. As such, he led an adventurous life. In 1851 Halpin survived the wreck of the brig "Briton" while many of his shipmates were lost - indeed he had lost both parents, was shipwrecked and traveled over convert|26000|nmi|km|-3 back and forth across the Atlantic (equivalent to a circumnavigation) all before his 15th birthday. At age 22, he was appointed master of the "Propellor" and later of "Circassian", both steamships. Two years later, while commanding S.S. "Argo", it hit an iceberg and sank. In 1860, Halpin ferried two troop ships to South America for Spain. During the American Civil War, he was a blockade-runner, re-supplying the Confederacy, and in 1864 Union forces captured and released him, after the Battle of Mobile Bay.

The "Great Eastern", by far the largest ship in the world, was converted from passenger liner to cable-layer. Halpin was first officer on her when one of the first transatlantic telegraph cables was laid in 1865. Later, as captain, Halpin laid an estimated convert|26000|mi|km|-2 of cable (more than enough to circle the globe). The cable routes included the French Transatlantic Cable from Brest to St. Pierre-Miquelon in 1866 (under the patronage of Julius Reuters), the 1869 Bombay-Aden-Suez cable, and the Australia-New Zealand-East Indies, Madras-Singapore-Penang, and Madeira-Brazil. For Halpin's services, Brazilian Emperor Pedro II made him Knight of the Order of the Rose. He was also awarded the Legion d'Honeur. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His circle included Admiral Sherard Osborn, who proposed him for Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society, the American hydrographer Matthew Fontaine Maury, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ferdinand de Lesseps, and Edmund Dickens, nephew of Charles Dickens.

Returning to Wicklow c.1875 after a brief residence near London, Halpin became chairman of the Wicklow Gas Company, Wicklow Harbour Master and Secretary of Wicklow Harbour Commissioners. He built his family home at Tinakilly, two miles north of Wicklow. He was Secretary of Wicklow Harbour Commissioners in 1880 when the East Breakwater was built - arguably the most important built structure in the small maritime port's history. He also ran for political office on the Unionist ticket in July 1892 but was unsuccessful. On 20 January 1894, Robert Halpin died at age 58 of gangrene resulting from a minor cut. (While trimming his toe nails he accidentally cut into the skin). A granite obelisk erected in 1897 in the centre of Wicklow town commemorates his life and career. He was married to Jessica Munn of Heart's Content, Newfoundland. They had three daughters. The family is buried at the Wicklow Parish Church where a single Celtic Cross headstone marks the grave.

ee also

* List of people on stamps of Ireland

External links

* [http://www.tinakilly.ie/Pages/history.html Robert Halpin - Mariner Supreme]