The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

THE AURANIA
The Cunard ocean liner that brought Aunt Delia to
America made headlines as it readied for its maiden
voyage in 1924. News accounts touted the Aurania’s
size (538 feet long) and very latest engineering and
architectural designs. Staterooms were said to be
“furnished with careful thought for the passengers’
comfort and equipped with every modern convenience
found in the finest hotels and best regulated homes.”
Aunt Delia’s October voyage was apparently
uneventful. But that could not be said of an Atlantic
crossing by the vessel a month later. Despite the ship’s
size and accommodations, four passengers were hurt
(including two broken noses) during a cyclone that
lasted for 21 hours with winds up to 90 mph.
Passengers declared it was impossible to sleep during
the storm and its “confused and terrific sea.” The vessel
did not “ship a gallon of water,” the captain boasted.
From the Victoria Daily (British Columbia) Times,
Aug. 29, 1924.
structure and its 300-foot tower took a half-century to build
and has stood watch over the harbor since it was
consecrated in 1919. Finishing touches were still being
done when the Titanic sailed from Cobh, then known as
Queenstown, in April 1912. Survivors and the dead from
the Lusitania were brought to the harbor three years later.
In 1924, the cathedral loomed prominently as a
“tender” quickly ferried Delia and 250 other passengers
anxious to join those already aboard the anchored Aurania.
The liner was “full up” when she sailed soon after noon
past Roche’s Point at the entrance to the harbor and on for
New York City. They were not far behind the largest ship in
the Cunard fleet, the SS Adriatic, which had just sailed to
great fanfare, with the Lord Mayor of Cork among those
bidding adieu to friends returning to The States.
That week, seas were reported as “rather rough”
from the English Channel to Southwest Ireland, with strong
winds and some rain. Whatever the conditions, by that
Monday, Aunt Delia and the Aurania were reported 273
miles west of Fastnet Rock, a small islet in the Atlantic that
is the most southern point of Ireland.
The date of Aunt Delia’s departure was Oct. 12,
1924. She was leaving for the U.S. on the anniversary of
Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas in 1492.
Columbus was at sea for 70 days. It took the Aurania nine.
BORN IN BALLINROBE
Aunt Delia was a generous woman.
She was opinionated, as were the rest of her
brothers and sisters, and she was dedicated to her family,
maybe to a fault, if such a thing is possible.
Delia was born in Ballinrobe on Aug. 24, 1901.
By the time she left for America, she was the oldest
surviving child of Pat and Mary (Sheridan) Gallagher. Her
birth came a year or so after the couple’s first daughter,
Mary, had died in infancy. Their first-born son, Michael,
died of tuberculosis in 1921, at age 24.
Such sorrows were balanced by the closeness of
the family, which for Aunt Delia grew into a fierce loyalty
over the years.
Chores around the family home would have been
a large part of Aunt Delia’s life growing up – and not just
what might be thought of as women’s work, such as
cleaning, cooking, churning butter, etc. She was required to
work in the fields along with her father and brothers.
However, she was still a child of about 10 when, rather than
being at home, she was living with her maternal
grandfather, John Sheridan, after his wife died. John
Sheridan had only one grown daughter, Maggie, at home to
take care of him. Whatever the reason Aunt Delia ended up
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