In the Middle of the Sea
at the Dark of the Moon
Forty-one days alone on the Atlantic. A small sailboat, the Falcarragh, crossing the space between two fatherlands — Philadelphia, and a stone village in County Donegal.
A man's search for his father — across an ocean.
In 2006, Joe Ferry sailed from Philadelphia, his birthplace, to Falcarragh, County Donegal — the birthplace of his father, also Joe Ferry. Singlehanded, only in the sense of how many were aboard the Falcarragh. In truth he carried the prayers and hands of dozens with him.
He wrote letters to his infant grandchildren, Madeline and Keiran. He logged the wind and the weight of the boat. He photographed every sunrise. Years later, his children and grandchildren helped him gather these pieces into the book you can hold today.
"The space between two fatherlands, two homes, two birthplaces — that space is the Atlantic Ocean. I crossed it, in a small sailboat, alone."
The Crossing
Forty-one days at sea. Three failed attempts before. A small sailboat named for a village she had never seen.
The Letters
Written on long watches to grandchildren still in cradles — Madeline and Keiran — for them to read in a future the author would not fully see.
The Homecoming
A welcome in Ballyness Bay, in the village his father left in 1929. Two shores, one family, one long Atlantic between.
From Philadelphia to Donegal.
A father left Ireland in 1929. Seventy-seven years later, his son sailed home in his place. The story is finally in print — a keepsake assembled by three generations of the Ferry family.