As they look across the great blue waters of the Atlantic, tour guides visiting Malin Head are often heard to remark that the next parish is America. For hundreds of Malin Head folk that comment became a reality, as they boarded the ships of Cooke and McCorkell and the great liners for a new life. One Malin man who made that journey was David A. Doyle who left Malin Head in his childhood. His family settled in Brooklyn and as…
The SS Athenia was one of the first British ships sunk by a Nazi U-boat in the opening days of World War 2. It was built in Glasgow in 1922 and carried 1,418 passengers. It was attacked on September 1, 1939 at a distance of 200 miles from Inishtrahull on a voyage from Glasgow to Montreal. 128 passengers lost their lives among them 28 US citizens. The faint signal of the distressed ship was picked up at Malin Head and…