Eugene Daly's pipes

Bok Choi · Post by **Bok Choi** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 10:49 pm

Hey all,

Anyone know who made Eugene Daly's pipes?

"Mr Eugene Patrick Daly, 29, from Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland, was travelling to New York City. He boarded the Titanic at Queenstown (ticket number 382651, £7, 15s).

Daly played "Erin's Lament" on his uilleann (elbow) pipes (a traditional Irish instrument) for his fellow steerage passengers, as the Titanic steamed away from Queenstown, bound for the new world. He would later file a claim for $50 for their loss. Similar pipes, possibly Daly's, were recently salvaged from the wreck."

(http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/bi ... gene.shtml)

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 8:07 am

Bok,
A few years ago Bruce Childress sent me some information about a piper who travelled on the Titanic. I can't recall who it was and if it was a link to a website or he e-mailed the information directly. I think there was a picture of a man holding pipes in the article but it was not clear enough to determine if they were Uilleann Pipes.
I'll pass the link if I can find it.

Bok Choi · Post by **Bok Choi** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 1:08 pm

Thanks, Tony, I'd love to see the pic. I think it was Bruce who wrote an article once (in Seanchas was it?) about Mr. Daly. I've heard that Eugene lived until 1965 or so...I wonder if he gave anyone further stories of his pipes and their ill-fated journey. And I wonder what that salvaged set looks like, whosever they are...

Bok

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 1:18 pm

Some words have been written about this in An Piobaire, I can't remember exactly but the jest of it was that your man lost a set of pipes and received an amount in compensation afterward. From the set of pipes salvaged and some other information the conclusion emerged the pipes were the warpipes, not uilleann.

As far as I know NPU has the old piobaires on-line so you can look it up on their site
the articles are [courtesy of Thomas Johnson's index ]:

Vol. 4. no. 5 Bealtine 2000: page 17-19, "Seanchas: the Titanic piper and his pipes" article by Bruce Childress, first published in Iris na bPíobairi. The story of the supposed Titanic pipes, photo of EugeneDaly with a set of warpipes

Vol. 4. no. 4 Feabhra 2000: page 21, "Eugen Daly and the Titanic pipes" article from Encylopedia Titanic submitted by Joe Doyle

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2003-02-08 14:23 ]</font>

marcpipes · Post by **marcpipes** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 5:28 pm

I remember seeing one of the big dives on a T.V. show about 10+ years ago. As they scanned around, there sat a set of pipes with gleaming regulators and seemingly intact chanter. Ever since then, I've wanted to see those brought up to the surface. Is there any word as to whether or not they will be restored or will they languish in a museum never to be heard again?
Maybe the depths cured all the reed problems.
Marc

Bok Choi · Post by **Bok Choi** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 7:25 pm

Thanks, Peter, that's lovely...looking forward to perusing them. And thanks very much Tony for the jpeg of Daly and his pipes! I wonder if those are the very same...

B

bcpipes · Post by **bcpipes** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 3:50 pm

Hi folks,

Couldn't help but notice the discussion of Eugene Daly's Pipes.

I Did some homework on this, as I was excited as anyone about it. Turns out that, in the famous Photo of him, he is holding a set of War Pipes (essentially Highland Pipes). The way he is holding them, it looks like Uilleann Pipes at a glance. But further inspection reveals the type of pipes they are.

Eugene Daly, as mentioned, did survive, but his pipes did not. I had lengthy email discussions with Matt Tulloch. He was on 4 of the 5 expeditions to the Titanic, and has access to all salvage manifests. He reported to me that the original find, that was thought at first to be Uilleann Pipes, turned out to be a pair of clarinets in a leather case. As far as Matt knows (and he would ring some bells if he found bagpipes) there has been no recovery of bagpipes of any kind from the Titanic.

They are still down there but, recovery of Daly's warpipes is unlikely, unless it was among the items fallen from the ship in the debris field. And furthermaore, to survive being critter eaten, it would have to have been in a sealed leather case. The debris field, of course, has been thouroghly explored.

Although, all of this is a bit of a letdown, it is worth knowing.

Cheers,
BC Childress

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 5:09 pm

And hello to you Bruce...
it's nice to have another qualified C&Fer around,
I enjoyed your comments.
We are kind of a rowdy-dowdy bunch sometimes,
but we're really all civil at heart,
with good intensions,
and need all the help we can get.

Enjoy your time here on the board!

bcpipes · Post by **bcpipes** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 7:58 pm

Thanks Lorenzo!

I forgot to mention that the E. Daly post is my first post to this list. This looks like a really interesting group, and I'm happy to be here.

Cheers,
BC

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 11:41 pm

I go off to a Yanni concert and Bruce joins the forum...
This could be a good month for me.

Bruce, welcome aboard !!

Bok Choi · Post by **Bok Choi** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 11:31 am

Welcome, Bruce, and thanks--that's fascinating new stuff for the Eugene Daly file! And I'm still drooling over the B-set you let me try in Chicago...

Bok Choi (aka Sheila)