MOBY DICK’S PUB - YOUGHAL
A Whale of a Movie Tale in County Cork
There has, of
late in America, been a television commercial for a mobile smart phone
of some
particular brand featuring the theme of searching for
Moby Dick. Images on the phone flip through various images of Moby related
subjects. But for fans of the great white whale of Herman Melville’s
1851 novel and the classic film made of the story a century later, one can
surely go to the whaling ports of New England where the fictional story took
place, but to find the original scene of the John Huston movie, get thee
to Ireland.
In
1954, John Huston settled on the historic coastal town of Youghal
(pronounced rather
like the sailing
ship ‘yawl’), just east of Cork on the
southern coast of Ireland to film his epic masterwork ode to man’s
hubris against the forces of nature in the guise of a mythical white whale
named Moby Dick. Youghal had a unique history as one of the great port
towns of Ireland. Dating from well before the Vikings, the city’s
still standing medieval walls were first constructed under charter from
England’s
King Edward I. During the Elizabethan age of discovery, Youghal was one
of Ireland’s most important ports. Sir Walter Raleigh was the town’s
mayor in 1588 to 1599 (see Castle Lismore Gardens).
But as ships got bigger, the shallow bar at the mouth of the harbor became
a hindrance and Cork became the big city
and
Youghal,
a medieval walled port town more frozen in time. In the 1950s and 60s
Youghal became one of the country’s more popular coastal holiday
resorts, still a tourist getaway of quaint harbor and historic sites.
It
was the shallow harbor and old time feel of the town which drew director
John Huston and his mostly
English crews from Elstree Studios to Youghal to double for the 1850’s
Massachusetts whaling port of New Bedford. The set of a busy 19th Century
sailing port was built around the sleepy harbor of the town, surrounding
an 18th Century pub which would serve as the location of the boarding house
and sailors drinking house, the Spouter Inn, where Ishmael first shares 
a cramped
bed with the harpooner Queequeg, before
setting sail on the Pequod with Captain Ahab. In the months of planning
and construction of the port
set, Huston
spent much of his time in the pub, thinking, planning and of course drinking
the flowing ale, ultimately joined by his movie’s stars, Gregory
Peck and Richard Baseheart. The port is nearly unchanged since the film.
Look
at the still photo on the wall of sailing ships in the bay and step outside
for the same view, though now of pleasure boats and fishing dingys.
The pub is still
owned by the same family which has been its proprietors for over a hundred
years.
After the release of the film of the famous novel,
proprietor Paddy Linehan renamed his establishment the Moby Dick Pub. Easily
recognized now by a painted wall and well marked with signs as the “location
of John Huston’s film Moby Dick” just at the harbor’s edge,
steps from the town’s tourism center and the famous 18th Century clock
gate tower which served as a gallows where the condemned were hung from
the windows. 
Inside the Moby Dick Pub, you’ll find three rooms of a traditional
licensed drinking establishment, but with walls crowded with photographs
and memorabilia from the iconic motion picture. At the bar, with a Guinness
or local Cork favorite brew Murphys in hand, you can peruse one of the
scrapbooks of news items, letters and notes of the filming which took over
the town.
But don’t look to share a bed with a tattooed cannibal, you’ll
have to look elsewhere for a hotel and settle for darts rather than a harpoon. © Bargain
Travel Europe
Find best hotel and travel deals in Cork on TripAdvisor
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Info
Moby
Dick's Pub
These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission.
SEE ALSO:
TANNERY COOKERY SCHOOL - DUNGARVAN
ST
DECLAN’S WELL & COAST WALK – ARDMORE
DRIVING
IRELAND'S SCENIC COUNTRYSIDE
TULLAMORE DEW WHISKEY HERITAGE CENTER
SMITHWICK’S BREWERY TOUR - KILKENNY
AVOCA
MILL TOUR IN TV'S "BALLYKISSANGEL"
