Population centre

Porturlin

Port Durlainne

A Porturlin-based company’s own history documents changing vessels and the development of crab fishing from the harbour.

Recorded locationPorturlin54.31437° N · 9.72119° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Approximate recorded location · Logainm.ie

The name

These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.

An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.

Recorded forms

  • Port Durlainne · Irish · main form · validated name
  • Porturlin · English · main form

Place & story

A harbour-based enterprise

West Coast Crab Sales identifies Porturlin Harbour as the base of its family fishing business. Its published history records Patrick O’Donnell senior purchasing the crabber John Michelle in 1980. He subsequently moved to the larger Rachel Mary, which worked with a three-person crew. This account documents one strand of the harbour’s working life through named vessels and the people who operated them. [2]

People & connections

A new generation at sea

The company records Jonathan O’Donnell joining the business aboard Rachel Mary in 2002 and acquiring James Collins in 2004. Patrick O’Donnell junior entered the business in 2011 and subsequently acquired the catamaran Aisling Patrick. These details belong to the company’s account of its own development, showing successive generations entering the same harbour-based trade rather than a history of every Porturlin fishing family. [2]

Changing boats and markets

The company describes further fleet investment in 2016, when Sean Óg 2 and Seimi entered its operations. Additional crabbers followed in 2021 and 2022. Its history connects those purchases with the development of markets for live crab. The vessel sequence illustrates changes in one local enterprise’s scale and equipment, while remaining a business history published by the operator itself. [2]

Geographic information

Place type
Population centre
County
Mayo
Barony
Erris
Civil parish
Kilcommon
Coordinates
54.31437, -9.72119 (approximate)
Logainm ID
1417310 ↗

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Porturlin. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. Our History, West Coast Crab Sales · West Coast Crab Sales Ltd

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2014-11-03. How this page was prepared.