Spike Island

 We knocked another item off our bucket list with a visit to Spike Island In Cork Harbour today. As I am interested in sites related to convict transportation. This was of special interest to me as two of my direct ancestors Patrick Curry and Ellen Moore were transported from Cork to Australia in the 1820s. At that time the former monastery on Spike Island was used as a fort but then later that century as a prison where some transportees may have been housed.

The site is huge and I returned to the ship footsore but so satisfied. Of course I took my camera with me and took several snaps.

A short ferry ride took us from the port of Cobh to Spike Island.
I spy our ship in the background.

There was an app available for tech savvy visitors

We followed the map but didn't manage to walk the whole site

There were several interactive activities to amuse the visitors

The prison entrance was up a steep incline but old people like me got could get a ride up

A typical prison cell

This impressive building hosted a museum with displays

There was plenty of signage and information boards 

Not the Patrick Tierney in my family tree

A Prisoner's Plea

Small Chapel

Looking back to Cobh from Spike Island

Looking up from the ferry wharf

Dull and Gray

On reviewing my pics from our visit to Kilmainham Road Gaol and Museum in Dublin today I noticed how gray and dull they are. Rather appropriate for this sad place. 

It is likely that our Irish convict ancestors passed through this prison.

Windows on the World - I is for incarcerated on Iles de Salut

This month I am participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge where I will endeavour to post on this blog each day. I will be sharing photos of Windows that I have photographed on my travels and highlighting from A-Z the places where I found these Windows on the World.

Years ago I read Henri Charriere's book Papillon, the story of his incarceration and escape from Devil's Island. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have the opportunity to visit this isolated place. After a cruise down the Amazon River in 2014 our ship called in at The Iles de Salut in French Guiana and, although we couldn't land on Devil's Island we were able to visit the adjoining island, Ile Royale, where most of the French prisoners had been held in the penal colony's gaol. It was only the incorrigibles like Charriere who were sent across to Devil's Island.

This site was one of the best I have visited in my travels. It is a shame that most of the buildings are in a poor state of repair.

At least the chapel was in good repair.

Hell on Earth

10 December 2012

What a day we had on Ile Royale in the beautiful Iles Du Salut (one is Devil's Island), French Guyana, the site of a former French penal colony and the setting for the novel and film Papillon. It was a beautiful spot that in ways reminded us of Port Arthur.

There was no organised tour of this isolated spot with few inhabitants so we spent our time wandering around the site at our own pace.

That's Devil's Island over the water

Schoolgirl French came in handy in the small museum

Devil's Island

View from our ship