Michael J. Carroll

By the age of ten, Michael was rowing miles across Bantry Bay, Ireland and hauling lobster pots in the dark before school. His father was Harbour Master, and the Spanish fishing fleets from Galicia used Bantry as their base throughout the 1950s - Michael grew up among them and was fluent in Spanish before he left for boarding school in Cork.

As a teenager, he spent his summers backpacking through France, Spain, and Portugal - one of the first post-war generation to do so. He ran with the bulls in Pamplona, and lived among the Gitanos in Granada, learning flamenco guitar by firelight.

His family had shaped Bantry Bay for generations - harbour masters, fish merchants, shipping contractors. Michael went further: a marine services and fishing company that took him from the oil tankers at Whiddy Island to helping raise Henry VIII's Mary Rose from the bed of the Solent.

When the sea was behind him, he turned to writing and to books - opening the Bantry Bookstore, known worldwide for its antiquarian and rare collection. After major heart surgery, he dedicated himself to writing full-time. The hidden histories, ruined castles, pirates, Templars, and defiant lives of Ireland's southwest became his subject.

Michael passed away on 24 May 2009.