The Mangerton Fusiliers
The Rise of Skellig Mór
(Part 1)
The origin of Boston, Massachusetts’s own ‘Puck Fair’ and its King ‘Skellig Mór’ is a curious tale. Skellig Mór’s first appearance was at the 1905 Puck Fair in Killorglin. Michael Shea, a member of the Knights of St. Brendan and domiciled in Boston was visiting his home town of Killorglin around the time of the fair and conceived the idea that the Knights ought to have a fair in Boston. The goat ‘Skellig Mór’ was purchased by Mr Shea from its owner on behalf of the Knights of St. Brendan and transported to the U.S.A. It is likely that the cost of the goat was refunded to Mr Shea by Colonel’ Roger F Scannell, President of the Knights of St. Brendan from the society’s coffers. As the goat became more famous, a legal question arose as to who was the legal owner of Skellig Mór. On arrival at Boston “His Majesty” was not allowed to land and was quarantined. However the Knights successfully petitioned the White House and President Roosevelt sent a telegram authorising all restrictions be withdrawn and allow “ The King of the Kerry Hill” to enter the state. On the day of the fair the throne was gaily decorated and ‘Skellig Mór’ duly ensconced. The streets of Boston were lined with people and bands playing ‘God save Ireland’ and ‘the wearing of the green’ were heard everywhere. Over one hundred thousand people participated in the festivities including over twenty thousand Irish-Americans.
Skellig Mór had become so popular that members of the Knights got zealous as to who was the rightful owner. When in-fighting and dissent split the organisation the following year, Scannell founded another society and took the goat with him. The two societies fought a long bitter battle in the courts over the rightful ownership of the Kerry goat until wiser heads prevailed and the factions compromised and made a present of the animal to the battleship USS Vermont (BB-20). What happened to the goat afterwards is told in the song ‘The Death of Skellig Mór’.
Source: Kerry Champion (6th July 1926, p6): Foster’s Historical Irish Oddities, Allen Foster
Air: The Yankee Man-o-War
I’ll sing you a ditty of a famous Kerry goat
Brought over by St. Brendan’s Knights in a trans-Atlantic boat;
A royal stud of Killorglin blood, in service thirty years
Was Skellig Mór when he first came o’er to the Mangerton Fusiliers.
St. Brendan’s hold a festival each fourth day of July
To which thousands of the Kingdom’s sons for miles around doth hie,
They’ve also got a marching squad equipped with guns and spears,
And that’s why they wrote for a mascot goat for their Mangerton Fusiliers.
When Skellig came to Boston port excitement there was great
Where, he detained at quarantine, for “Puck Fair” he’d be late.
O’Carroll wired to Roosevelt, who replied, allay your fears
You’ll have Skellig Mór, tomorrow ashore, to march with your Fusiliers.
The morning of the picnic dawned with music in the air
And fourteen thousand Kerry folk assembled ‘round Park Square.
Old Beacon Street supposed discreet, joined in tumultuous cheers
With the concourse drawn to view the “Puckawn” and the Mangerton Fusiliers.
The Marshal Denis Healy, looked a soldier bold and true
He’d remind you of the “Iron Duke” on the field of Waterloo.
With sword in hand he gave command however the weather veers
Take starboard tacks on street car tracks, my Mangerton Fusiliers.
They marched from “Kerry Village” and deployed thru Andrew Square
The people on the housetops with their plaudits rent the air.
Old ladies on the sidewalk danced, their eyes diffused with tears
They blessed their luck in beholding the “Puck” with the Mangerton Fusiliers.
In front of the drum Major Skellig strode erect and sleek
He turned every corner square, went right and left oblique.
Reminding us of Finn McCool and Ventry’s bygone years
As he wagged his tail like Ishkar’s flail in front of the Fusiliers.
South Boston such a grand display had never seen before
O’er twenty thousand Kerry folk to greet old Skellig Mór.
They stroked his patriarchal beard and whispered in his ear
Saying, what news from home ere you started to roam with the Mangerton Fusiliers.
The midnight moon shone brightly o’er Dorchester’s sparkling bay
Ere Skellig Mór’s admirers all had homeward ta’en their way;
His address is the Hotel Touraine, we pray he be spared many long years
To encircle the rounds of the Locust Street grounds with the Mangerton Fusiliers.