The Sea of Moyle sits between the northern part of Antrim, known as Moyle and stretches across to Scotland at the Mull of Kintyre. It forms part of the North Channel, that part of the Irish Sea north of the Isle of Man to the north coast of Northern Ireland, where the Irish Sea meets the open Atlantic again.
Interestingly the North Channel was the scene of the first success by the United States Navy under the command of John Paul Jones and his ship the USS Ranger against the HMS Drake in 1778. A battle almost took place in Carrickfergus before both ships met again a few days later in the East Antrim town on the 24th of April. Jones and his reluctant crew, in it for the money but not glory, successfully defeated HMS Drake after blasting the sails and masts to slow it down. The British ship had superior numbers but was poorly crewed and its guns were not in good working order.
John Paul Jones was from Scotland and along with Commodore John Barry from Wexford in Ireland is considered a founding father of the United States Navy.
The Sea of Moyle, as seen in the above image, was the location of one of the three places where the Children of King Lir were banished to live as swans for 300-years by their evil stepmother - a famous story in Irish mythology.
Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph the scenes, seascapes and landscapes of the Antrim Coast, Wicklow, Galway and all points in between.
This image is a reminder of how difficult life was on the west coast of Ireland, here on the Atlantic - what little soil there is inundated with salty ocean water.