Pat Davis after completing his mural honoring the crew of the merchant ship Verity, which sank last year with the loss of five crew members.
A new Facebook page has been set up to celebrate the murals Pat Davis has been painting along the East Pier in Wicklow Harbour for nearly 50 years.
Each week East Pier Maritime Murals publishes one of Pat’s striking maritime murals, accompanied by text explaining the inspiration behind each mural. The mural consists mainly of images of ships and other watercraft that regularly visit, or have visited, Wicklow Harbour.
“I met a man named Mark Hogan while I was out on the pier working on some of my artwork,” Pat said.
“We usually met at least once a week and talked. It was his idea to set up a Facebook page with all my work and so far it has had a great response. We add a different image every week with a description of the image and the inspiration behind it.
“We’re not hanging them in the order I finished them. Instead, we’re choosing them randomly. It’s a great way to get the murals out there, and the site has already gotten a lot of traffic, even though it’s only been online for a short time.”
Pat has just completed his 66th mural along the pier wall, but until recently had difficulty getting much work done this summer due to rainy weather conditions.
“I’ve been painting the murals for over 48 years now and I can’t remember a summer this bad. We haven’t had any extended periods of good weather, even for a week, which makes it difficult for everyone. It’s hard to get inspired to do anything when the weather is this bad, but luckily we’ve had the odd nice day here and there.”
Most recently, Pat has completed the lettering in his tribute to the crew who lost their lives in the sinking of the coastal merchant vessel Verity, which sank in the North Sea in October last year following a collision. Two survivors were rescued while five crew members lost their lives.
Pat said: “The Verity used to be a regular visitor to Wicklow Harbour and could often be seen moored there in her pristine condition, loading scrap for the UK and other European ports. She was always considered a very neat and well maintained ship. People always asked me if she was a new ship because she was so well maintained and looked so good.
“Tragically, on 24 October last year, this vessel was involved in a collision with the larger vessel Polesie off the German island of Heligoland and sank, killing five of her seven crew members. All vessels in the immediate vicinity took part in a large-scale search of the area in difficult weather conditions, during which one body was recovered.
“I was deeply moved by this tragedy and wanted to pay tribute. The mural is dedicated to the families and loved ones of the crew members who lost their lives at sea.”
