Charles J. McGuinness "Nomad" and Irish Civil War

Charles McGuinness,
Larger Than Life

Charles 'Nomad' McGuinness
"Being a true account of the amazing
adventures of a Derryman"
By John McGuffin & Joseph Mulheron

"Pirate and freedom fighter, scoundrel and adventurer, sailor and smuggler extraordinaire, rogue and hero, womaniser and streetfighter, IRA man and gun runner, polar explorer and mercenary, deserter and rescuer, communist and fascist, a dangerous foe and perhaps an even more dangerous friend." McGuinness was a fifteen year old boy when he ran off to sea in 1908. The book recounts his adventures which include gun running for the IRA during the War of Independence and joining the communists in the Spanish Civil War.

Read Ireland Book Review - Issue 213
Charles 'Nomad' McGuinness: Being a True Account of the Amazing Adventures of a Derryman by John McGuffin and Joseph Mulheron

Paperback; 15.50 Euro / 18.00 USD / 11.00 UK; Irish Resistance Books, 248 pages

In this book the authors incorporated first-hand accounts, archival material, memoirs (some irrefutably authentic and others of questionable credibility) as well as interviews with long lost relatives, those who knew him and even those who just have a good yarn to tell. Having waded through reams of newsprint and poured for hours over yellowing photographs, not to mention the arguments over content, the unexpurgated truth can finally be told (or at least as near as it was possible to verify). The problem of piecing together the extraordinary life of Charles McGuinness was compounded for the authors by the shortage of independent accounts of his exploits. McGuinness was not one to hide his light under a bushel and his own accounts sometimes vary wildly from what was strictly accurate. However, this hugely enjoyable account separates the fact from the fantasy without losing the larger than life character of the man himself.
Sandino's Bar in Water Street was the venue last week for the launch of a book about a Derryman who during his fifty-odd years of life had been a sailor, an explorer, an adventurer, a republican and an author. Charles 'Nomad' McGuinness, whose story has been told by Joe Mulheron and the late John McGuffin, was born in Meadowbank Avenue and ran away to sea at the age of fifteen. He fought with the British navy in the First World War but deserted to join the War of Independence in Ireland, and he changed from republican to pro-Franco during the Spanish Civil War. He died in a shipwreck in the Irish Sea in 1947.