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ARTUR KOZLOWSKI
(1977 - 2011)
By Edel Nolan
On a fine Saturday in March 2008,Dad was mowing the lawn when a friendly looking young man walked in the drive and introduced himself as Artur Kozlowski from Poland whose hobby is diving, especially in caves. He had been told that there was a cave on the farm and would Dad mind if he had alook. Dad immediately said yes as he was intrigued by the cave since he was a child.
The cave called Pollonora 10 is about 100m from our house in Corker, Gort. We were strictly forbidden to go near the cave as our parents did not know how deep it was and if the land around it was secure. Mom always worried that we would wander near the cave and the ground would cave in under us!
Artur gave a quick exploration of the cave that day. He seemed really pleased with what he had seen and asked Dad if he could call again. After that, Artur became a regular visitor to the area. He was really excited about the cave and was amazed at how extensive the cave system was - he often brough this friends; Jim, Frank, Dave and Walter cave divers from England, Belgium, Ukraine and Poland.
Dad was always very interested in what they had to say about the cave. Artur mapped the cave and was still modifyIng this map right up to his death. Artur and his friends had travelled 810m in a south-westerly direction within the cave, which is called the 'known limits' of the cave. However, experts agree that the cave extends beyond this distance, the cave has a known depth of 52m below ground level.
As the 'new M18 motorway' is to be built directly over these huge caves Galway County Council enlisted Arturs help as a consultant to give his opinion if the terrain could withstand the weight of a road on top of it. Artur got paid for work like this and also for items he submitted to newspapers, all money he received was spent on up-dating his diving equipment. He might have holes in his shoes but he would buy an underwater compass instead.
Artur became really friendly with our family and began staying in my grandparents house during bad weather, and in the summer he would sleep in a tent on the farm. He would turn up unannounced and would depart just as suddenly, It was only after his death that we realised how friendly he was with all the neighbours. He had such a friendly nature that anyone he met liked him,
OFTEN I WOULD SEE HIM WALK PAST THE SCHOOL AND ALL THE CHILDREN WOULD WAVE AT HIM AND I WOULD TELL THEM WHO HE WAS.
and because what he was doing was so unique he had everyone captivated with this unexplored world right outside our back door. Often I would see him walk past the school and all the children would wave at him and I would tell them who he was.
Sometimes months would pass without seeing him at all, and then he would return and tell us about other caves he was diving In Mayo, Doolin or Fermanagh.He also cooldn't dive if the caves were very flooded so the bad summers in 2009 and 2010 kept him away. He holds the record for the deepest cave dive in Ireland and the UK at a depth of 103 m (338 ft) in Pollaloomary, near Killavally,Co. Mayo.
On Sept 3rd 2011, Artur and two of his friends called to the house. He told Dad he was really excited as he was about to go further into the cave than he had previously been. In order to do this he would need to do a lot of preparatory work and he intended starting that weekend. Artur dived as usual on Saturday and again on Sunday, on Monday he entered the cave at 2pm and said to his friends he would exit again at 5pm. As it was an extremely wet day, his friends relaxed while Artur dived. However, when Artur wasn't back by 5pm his friends got concerned and as they were quite novice divers they contacted his more experienced friends, very quickly the alarm was raised. We were told and we all started to pray that he would be found alive.
News spread very quickly that he was missing and by the following aftemoon Kiltartan was a hive of media activity.Numerous TV and radio stations descended on Kiltartan as everyone waited anxiously for news of Artur. Our garden was centre of operations with specialist search and rescue teams from Ireland, Wales and England involved in the rescue attempt. Our hopes of finding him alive were short-lived as experts in the field explained it would be impossible to survive in such conditions. Hourly there were conflicting reports that possibly he had travelled too far into the cave and may never be found, or even if his body was discovered they may not be able to bring it to the surface. It was with huge relief that we welcomed the news that they had found his body and also it was going to be possible to bring it to the surface. On the day his body was taken above ground it was treated with utmost dignity. Fr Marrinan was present to bless him, and a doctor from Gort was there to confirm that he was deceased. Artur's friends formed a guard of honour and carried him carefully to a hearse. He was taken to University College Hospital Galway for a postmortem. Everyone was very sad to realise that we wouldn't see him again, by this stage the story of Artur had reached the rest of the country, and the whole country united in grief when it was confirmed that he had died.
Arturs family came from Poland for his funeral and were so touched by the kindness of everyone in Kiltartan, when they witnessed the obvious affection everyone felt for Artur they decided to bury him in Kiltartan graveyard. His family write to us regularly and send us little personal mementos to place on his grave, in return we take photos of his grave and send them to his family. Fr Tommy Marrinan officiated at his funeral Mass which was a lovely celebration of his life, the church was packed and it was celebrated in both English and Polish. His friends were inconsolable at his death, and as a mark of respect to him they have filmed a documentary of his life with lots of footage from his own camera, this film titled 'Riders on the Storm' was shown in Trinity College Dublin and University College Galway through the Sub Aqua societies of these colleges, and at a Polish film festival the film won a prestigious award at the Polish film festival.
People often remarked to us that we must have regretted letting him dive in the cave because of all the bother it caused during the time he was missing. But my family always say although it is sad that he died on our farm we have no regrets; it was a pleasure to have met him and we are honoured to now maintain his grave.
Source: GUAIRE magazine, December 2012, Issue 33
Published with Kind permission of the Nolan Family.
(1977 - 2011)
By Edel Nolan
On a fine Saturday in March 2008,Dad was mowing the lawn when a friendly looking young man walked in the drive and introduced himself as Artur Kozlowski from Poland whose hobby is diving, especially in caves. He had been told that there was a cave on the farm and would Dad mind if he had alook. Dad immediately said yes as he was intrigued by the cave since he was a child.
The cave called Pollonora 10 is about 100m from our house in Corker, Gort. We were strictly forbidden to go near the cave as our parents did not know how deep it was and if the land around it was secure. Mom always worried that we would wander near the cave and the ground would cave in under us!
Artur gave a quick exploration of the cave that day. He seemed really pleased with what he had seen and asked Dad if he could call again. After that, Artur became a regular visitor to the area. He was really excited about the cave and was amazed at how extensive the cave system was - he often brough this friends; Jim, Frank, Dave and Walter cave divers from England, Belgium, Ukraine and Poland.
Dad was always very interested in what they had to say about the cave. Artur mapped the cave and was still modifyIng this map right up to his death. Artur and his friends had travelled 810m in a south-westerly direction within the cave, which is called the 'known limits' of the cave. However, experts agree that the cave extends beyond this distance, the cave has a known depth of 52m below ground level.
As the 'new M18 motorway' is to be built directly over these huge caves Galway County Council enlisted Arturs help as a consultant to give his opinion if the terrain could withstand the weight of a road on top of it. Artur got paid for work like this and also for items he submitted to newspapers, all money he received was spent on up-dating his diving equipment. He might have holes in his shoes but he would buy an underwater compass instead.
Artur became really friendly with our family and began staying in my grandparents house during bad weather, and in the summer he would sleep in a tent on the farm. He would turn up unannounced and would depart just as suddenly, It was only after his death that we realised how friendly he was with all the neighbours. He had such a friendly nature that anyone he met liked him,
OFTEN I WOULD SEE HIM WALK PAST THE SCHOOL AND ALL THE CHILDREN WOULD WAVE AT HIM AND I WOULD TELL THEM WHO HE WAS.
and because what he was doing was so unique he had everyone captivated with this unexplored world right outside our back door. Often I would see him walk past the school and all the children would wave at him and I would tell them who he was.
Sometimes months would pass without seeing him at all, and then he would return and tell us about other caves he was diving In Mayo, Doolin or Fermanagh.He also cooldn't dive if the caves were very flooded so the bad summers in 2009 and 2010 kept him away. He holds the record for the deepest cave dive in Ireland and the UK at a depth of 103 m (338 ft) in Pollaloomary, near Killavally,Co. Mayo.
On Sept 3rd 2011, Artur and two of his friends called to the house. He told Dad he was really excited as he was about to go further into the cave than he had previously been. In order to do this he would need to do a lot of preparatory work and he intended starting that weekend. Artur dived as usual on Saturday and again on Sunday, on Monday he entered the cave at 2pm and said to his friends he would exit again at 5pm. As it was an extremely wet day, his friends relaxed while Artur dived. However, when Artur wasn't back by 5pm his friends got concerned and as they were quite novice divers they contacted his more experienced friends, very quickly the alarm was raised. We were told and we all started to pray that he would be found alive.
News spread very quickly that he was missing and by the following aftemoon Kiltartan was a hive of media activity.Numerous TV and radio stations descended on Kiltartan as everyone waited anxiously for news of Artur. Our garden was centre of operations with specialist search and rescue teams from Ireland, Wales and England involved in the rescue attempt. Our hopes of finding him alive were short-lived as experts in the field explained it would be impossible to survive in such conditions. Hourly there were conflicting reports that possibly he had travelled too far into the cave and may never be found, or even if his body was discovered they may not be able to bring it to the surface. It was with huge relief that we welcomed the news that they had found his body and also it was going to be possible to bring it to the surface. On the day his body was taken above ground it was treated with utmost dignity. Fr Marrinan was present to bless him, and a doctor from Gort was there to confirm that he was deceased. Artur's friends formed a guard of honour and carried him carefully to a hearse. He was taken to University College Hospital Galway for a postmortem. Everyone was very sad to realise that we wouldn't see him again, by this stage the story of Artur had reached the rest of the country, and the whole country united in grief when it was confirmed that he had died.
Arturs family came from Poland for his funeral and were so touched by the kindness of everyone in Kiltartan, when they witnessed the obvious affection everyone felt for Artur they decided to bury him in Kiltartan graveyard. His family write to us regularly and send us little personal mementos to place on his grave, in return we take photos of his grave and send them to his family. Fr Tommy Marrinan officiated at his funeral Mass which was a lovely celebration of his life, the church was packed and it was celebrated in both English and Polish. His friends were inconsolable at his death, and as a mark of respect to him they have filmed a documentary of his life with lots of footage from his own camera, this film titled 'Riders on the Storm' was shown in Trinity College Dublin and University College Galway through the Sub Aqua societies of these colleges, and at a Polish film festival the film won a prestigious award at the Polish film festival.
People often remarked to us that we must have regretted letting him dive in the cave because of all the bother it caused during the time he was missing. But my family always say although it is sad that he died on our farm we have no regrets; it was a pleasure to have met him and we are honoured to now maintain his grave.
Source: GUAIRE magazine, December 2012, Issue 33
Published with Kind permission of the Nolan Family.
