BENCHMARKS continued
Regular readers of this site will have encountered references to B.B. and may have wondered about the identity of this particular person. Well perhaps the mystery is resolved at last. Recently Benchmarker spotted the initials B.B. carved into a granite block on the South Wall in Dublin Bay, about 1/3rd of the way along from the chain barrier to the Half Moon buildings. Now this was clearly not the work of some weekend graffiti artist with a screwdriver; it is expertly carved - in what Benchmarker takes to be Times New Roman - and obviously had an official function.
Many will be aware that Captain William Bligh spent some time in Dublin. Some believe that he was responsible for building the South Wall and the Bull Wall at the entrance to the Port. Not so, although he did recommend the building of the Bull Wall and carried out repairs to the eastern section of the South Wall.
His main task while at Dublin was in mapping the Bay. To do this he would obviously have had to establish a number of marks, and it is reasonable to conclude that some of these would have been made on the South Wall. Now it is reasonable to believe that Captain William Bligh was know to his fellow officers as 'Billy' (although apparently Fletcher Christian referred to him by a quite different label!), and so when it came to establishing the fundamental mark for the mapping exercise, they had it inscribed in honour of their commander.
And so perhaps the mystery is solved.
When Benchmarker concludes his great task he may turn to writing a novel in the style of Patrick O'Brian's naval adventures. It would centre on William Bligh's time while in Dublin. Wonder did he ever drink in The Windjammer, or Longs, or Kennys?
Below: The mark for B.B. on the South Wall.
Above: The South Wall looking west towards the city, with the mark in the foreground at bottom centre.