Meilyr Powel: 'This is the Sea, Part II' (2022)

Description

Lede
This is the Sea’ by The Waterboys speaks of opportunities and forging new destinies whilst alluding to spiritual experiences. With this in mind, a recent ferry crossing to Ireland made me think how the Irish Sea has been a conduit of historical forces.

Story
The Vikings in the ninth and tenth centuries established Dyflin (Dublin) and Jórvik (York) as colonial centres and the Irish Sea became a maritime thoroughfare between the two in addition to playing a key navigation route around the islands’ shores. The sea brought the Vikings into conflict with Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd, whose father possibly hailed from the epicentre of the region, Manaw, the Isle of Man. In the 1080s and 1090s, Gruffudd ap Cynan made several journeys across the Irish Sea with forces of Welsh, Irish, and Danes to reclaim the kingdom of Gwynedd, and to ally with Rhys ap Tewdwr and secure the throne of Deheubarth at the Battle of Mynydd Carn in 1081. Rhys fled to Ireland within a few years in the face of aggression from Powys but once again returned from across the sea with an Irish fleet to reconquer his kingdom. The sea, then, formed a route to sanctuary for Welsh noblemen in times of hardship but equally provided a launchpad for reconquest and reaffirmation of royal claims.

Norman lords crossed the sea to seize lands from Irish lords, leading to Henry II’s invasion in the late twelfth century and the beginning of centuries of English encroachment and interference in Ireland. No doubt the worst of these came when Oliver Cromwell invaded with his New Model Army in 1649 and along with his generals caused utmost destruction and suffering. Cromwell marched south along Ireland’s east coast, capturing key harbours and forts, such as Rosslare and Wexford, to facilitate the crossing of more soldiers and supplies from across the waters. The port of Milford Haven in Wales and those in Ireland were vital logistical features of a brutal war that led to famine, plague, ethnic cleansing and deportation, and has left a momentous legacy to this day. Legend has it that when Cromwell died, the earth rejected his body and threw him into the Irish Sea, the location of which is often turbulent even on the calmest of days.

And so when standing on the ferry deck and looking out across the waters I also thought of what lies beneath. Hundreds of known and unknown shipwrecks along with the poor souls of those who perished; whether through misfortune in treacherous conditions in the Dark Ages or in wartime as recent as the twentieth century. You’re trying to make sense of something that you just don’t see, as The Waterboys sang. And it’s not only history that encompasses the Irish Sea but mythology too; did Bendigeidfran not cross the sea to Ireland with his fleet to avenge the mistreatment of his sister Branwen by Matholwch, King of the Irish? While the sea plays a key role in the Mabinogi, it does too in Irish mythology, as Manannán mac Lir, a king of the Otherworld and ‘son of the sea’ rides a chariot over the waters in the tale of Imram Brain. The sea fascinates and charms the literary imagination as much as it evokes the vexations of history.

I’ll end this musing by acknowledging the forces and features of the Irish Sea, and doffing my cap to the hoary voyage between lands steeped in historical, cultural, and literary connections. The ‘secrets of the sea’ that poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow spoke of suggests a temporality to the journey, arousing in us a relationship with the seascape that many before us have surely felt. And returning to Fishguard from Rosslare on a fine spring evening, surprisingly fresh and awake following a few days of merriment, I watched the glorious sunset from the deck. I was glad that I’d made this sea crossing, if only to experience what many others over the centuries have experienced, and to pay homage to an age-old way of travelling. Despite the cruelties of war and the hostile intentions of invaders, the Irish Sea has played host to literary inspiration, cultural exchange, and natural wonder. Indeed, this is the sea and its offerings are abound.

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