James Fortune was born in County Wexford circa 1852. His father was a fisherman working out of Courtown Harbour .Over time the young James graduated from ‘Boy’ to ‘Ordinary Seaman’ to ‘Able Seaman’ in the Mercantile Marine. By 1890 James was living on the South Docks of Dublin City with his sister Jane and brother-in-law Robert Dillon. Both men would have a long association with Tedcastles.
In 1899 he married Mary Anne Kane in St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church, Westland Row. James moved in with his in-laws, in Lime Street, afterwards moving to Hanover Street and eventually to Hastings Street in Ringsend.
In 1896 James had begun his long working relationship with the SS Adela, when he signed on as an Able Seaman. In 1906 he became the ‘Lamptrimmer’. In 1916 he was promoted to ‘2nd Mate’, earning him a salary of £2 8s per week. His good fortune was short-lived: he was among those killed in December 1917.
Unfortunately for Mary Anne her husband’s body was never recovered. She did not remarry. James gave 48 years of his life to the Mercantile Marine, and ultimately was embraced forever by the might of the sea.
