John Joseph O'Flaherty

Grandfather was expected to follow in his dad's footsteps and join the Irish Lights. He found this job too boring and wanted more adventure. Most youth of those days either went to sea or became a priest. He chose the sea.

Another story about grandfather is when he was working with his father in the Irish Lights. A storm broke out and several ships were out to sea and in trouble. The town bell tolled and all the Irish Lights manned their small boats to rescue the seamen floundering in the storm. Somehow, grandfather was left behind! Either he was late or didn't hear the bell, I don't know. As the story goes, all the Irish Light drowned at sea along with most of the floundering seamen. Fate, or God saved grandfather to live another day.

After grandfather finished his schooling, he sailed on Irish ships that traded along the shores of Wales and Ireland.

A story has been told that when he applied for his "Chief Mate's" License one of the questions he had to answer was: "Your ship has just been built and launched, her spars and rigging are alongside the fitting out dock. Describe in detail how you would rig this vessel." Apparently, he wrote for several hours, if not all day, to answer this question. Years later when applying for his Captain's License, he was asked the same exact question. He answered the question in less than a minute. His answer: "Tell the Chief Mate to rig the vessel."

When sailing the coastal waters of Ireland and Wales on the coastal schooners they went up the small rivers to pick up eggs, corn and most any produce. Many times they would get their schooner stuck in the narrow rivers and would run aground. It was grandfather's job to go up to the top of the highest mast and pound on the top of the mast with a sledge hammer. This pounding would cause a vibration that would free the ship.

After Grandfather sailed the coastal waters for some time, he decided to become a Harbor Pilot in Cork. It wasn't long before he got bored with this job too. Ireland had very few large ocean-going ships, so grandfather left Ireland and sailed on British ships.

Nobody knows the real reason he left Ireland. If was said that after his dad, Willaim O'Flaherty, re-married, John Joseph didn't get along with his dad's new wife. Another and probably the most probable reason is that it was in his nature to seek adventure.

At the ripe old age of nineteen (1890), he sailed on his first long journey on a British ship named; "Rubbuck". Over the next few years he sailed on ships named; Tonjoy, Zemindar, Gateacre, Rubbuck, Constance and many others (my Seaman's Records have additional information). He sailed the seven seas from Liverpool to Australia, New Zealand, Java, Borneo, Indonesia, South China Sea, New Guinea, Tasmania, South Anerica, Africa, to name a few.

While serving on the British ships, the British treated grandfather and most Irish seaman fairly well. The British knew that the Irish were the "best sailors in the world". But we must remember that a British captain was like a god. His word was the only and final law on his ship.

On one of his voyages, he jumped ship in Australia to sail on Australian ships. After a time he sailed to the east coast of America. He sailed on an American supply ship named the "Buford". Grandfather told us stories of the Spanish-American war and stated that he thought the war was a "farce". He told me that on a certain day there were American headlines in all the newspapers stating that America had just captured a large Spanish fort, a great garrison. In fact, my grandfather stated that he was on the lead ship and all that they captured was a "small village" and they put up "no resistence at al.l"

From the Spanish American war, grandfather served with the American Navy in the Philippine Insurrection and the Boxer Rebellion. He spent most of his time in the Philippines, Shanghai and China.

One of the most dangerous incidents in grandfather's life was when he was in Uruguay, not far from Buenos Aires in South America. He was in a bar and befriended another Irishman. The friend took grandfather home with him. As it so happened, this so called friend had two daughters, both of marriageable age. Grandfather just escaped with his life!!

One year, grandfather sailed into Puget Sound in Washington, U.S.A., and found it to be one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. He purchased his own schooner and sailed up to Alaska during their Gold Rush. He spent some time in Nome and sailed the waters between Alaska and Puget Sound for twenty years as Captain, Pilot and Mate.

He didn't hunt gold in Alaska. He thought he could make a lot of money running a little ferry boat across a river. Each time he took a gold miner across the river they paid him in gold. He made enough money to purchase a tract of land that is in the middle of downtown Seattle (The old Olympic Hotel site). Grandfather wasn't a very good business man, and soon lost this tract of land.

After the Alaska Gold Rush, he came back and met my Grandmother Lucy Ford Deming from Port Angles, Wa. He was thirty five years old by now and had crammed a lot of adventure into those years and he was ready to settle down. He married my grandmother on 7/10/1906 in Port Angles, Wa. Grandfather lived with his wife's parents when he was talked into purchasing 180 acres in Monroe, Wa. This was poor ranch land. It seems like all Irish sailers want to become "farmers". In my dad's brother's (Paul O'Flaherty) words: "Grandpa was the most tenderhearted Irishman that he ever know, but probably the worst Irish farmer he had ever seen." One story told was that he raised a black steer each year. He would care for this steer like a household pet, and curry it each day. Each year when it was time to kill the steer and take it to the market, he would leave it home!

Another story along this line was when he was working on a survey ship in Alaska. He and the captain went on shore one day to hunt for meat when their supplies were running low. They took their guns and grandfather came upon a large deer. He said that its eyes were as large as saucers. Not only did grandfather not kill the deer, he picked up a rock and threw it at the deer to scare it off so that the captain wouldn't get a shot off and kill the deer.

He then worked for the Alaska Steamship Company, but after about ten years, became ill and had to quit.

The last ship grandfather sailed on was named the "Redwood". One day while they were loading lumber in Portland, Oregon he told the captain that they were overloading their ship. The captain told grandfather to mind his own business. So, grandfather that very night quit the ship. The next day, the ship sailed... and sank. That was the last ship grandfather ever sailed. While living on their 180 acres in Monroe ,grandfather not wanting to go back to sea, and by his own admission "I was a lousy farmer and couldn't make a living at it," started to work in a lumber mill. He didn't like this job, so he took his family and moved to Seattle.

He worked as a Longshoreman for a long time. Grandfather never really retired, he just kept working when he needed money. His family lived by Rainier Beach close to Lake Washington in Seattle. Both my dad, John Vincent O'Fllaherty. and Paul O'Flaherty graduated from Garfield High School.

They then moved to a small town on the hillside of Renton, Wash., called Earlington. He had five acres, but did very little farming. My mother, Lois Kathryn Rand lived just two houses from grandfather, but that's another story.

I have lots of memories of grandfather O'Flaherty. As a boy I would spend the summer moving between both my dad's side and my mother's, trying to finds out who would spoil me the most!

I remember both my dad and grandfather - and their old radio - listening to the W.W. II news and arguing about what we were doing right or not doing right. For some reason, grandfather didn't like President Roosevelt at all and my dad was always defending him. Grandfather never drank or smoked, but he did chew. One of my most vivid memories is of that old "gross" and dirty spittoon he had next to his favorite chair.

Grandfather was never a drinker or a womanizer. He did enjoy some good wine and, as I said, he chewed tobacco. I remember that grandfather most always believed what people told him. Maybe, he was too trusting. He liked the singer Kate Smith. I have an old 78 record cut in 1940 that has grandfather singing at a party. He was a very moral person who didn't like the modern songs that were suggestive.

Another thing I remember about grandfather was that he always wore a hat everyplace he went. He said that the sun fried your brains. Also, he didn't like "day light savings time". He thought that the government was messing with God's time table.

Grandfather took long walks each morning. Each walk was 3-to-5 miles long. In the summertime, he took me on some of his walks. Maybe that's why I like to walk so much, even today. He and his neighbors seemed to all operate on the "barter system." On these long walks he would "give" what he had to a needy neighbor, and they in turn would supply all that grandfather needed. What a good concept! He always had so many friends.

He had a dirt cellar and an old attic. I loved to play mostly in the attic. He had lots of old sea treasures: an old ship model, a muzzle loading rifle, brass knuckles, harpoon, butter churn, old style light bulbs and hundreds of miscellaneous items. In the cellar he had lots of old carpentry and ship tools, sea chests and farming equipment.

The morning before he died, he took his one last long walk. He was having circulation problems, but he had to go on his everyday walk. That night (4/8/1948) he died in his sleep.

Grandfather John Joseph O'Flaherty told me hundreds of stories and to this day I don't know if they are true or not, but looking back on his adventurous life, I bet most were true. I was thirteen years old at the time and when my mother told me he had died, I felt that I had lost more than a grandfather, I lost a true friend who had a profound influence in my life to this day.

I love you grandfather, and I hope that this story will in a small way make you to be more that just a name and statistic on a genealogy report.

Jack O'Flaherty's page
John Vincent O'Flaherty