Remembering an Alaskan hero

The Healy, an ice Cutler that will be
christened at Avondale Shipyard later this week.

(Editorial found in the New Orleans Times Picayune 11/11/97)

The Healy, an ice Cutler that will be christened at Avondale Shipyard later this week.

The memory of "Hell Roaring" Mike Healy will he honored Nov. 15 with the christening of a ship, the Healy, at Avondale Shipyard.

Healy's father, Michael Morris Healy, was horn in Knockcroghery, a small town in County Roscommon, Ireland, in 1812. He emigrated to America in his youth and joined the British army before moving to Georgia, where he married an Mrican-American woman. As slavery was still en-forced in the South, he sent his 10 children to New York to escape slavery and gain a formal education.

One of his sons, also named Michael or Mike, became a government official in the service of the U.S. revenue marine service and was most famous for his sail-ing on the Bear.

Following the sale of Alaska by the Russians to the United States in 1867, whalers indulged in the wholesale massacre of the Alaskan Eskimos. As a result, vast numbers turned to alcohol and subsequently were unable to hunt the indigenous wild caribou effectively. The Alaskan Eskimo was in danger of extinction.

However, in an innovative bid to assist them, "Hell Roaring" Mike Healy, also known as "Mad Mike," went to Russia and secured and later brought back herds of reindeer across the Bering Strait. He then began teaching the Alaskan Eskimos how to breed and herd the animals for their own use. This was to become the salvation of the Alaskan Eskimo.

In 1896, Healy was court-martialed for "perilously trying to dock his ship while under the influence of alcohol" the previous year and also for "harsh treatment" of the crew.

Because of his previous good conduct and his heroic work in Alaska, Mike's career bounced back, but he died the following year.

With the christening of the icecutter Healy by the U.S. Navy, the memory of Irishman "Hell Roaring" Mike Healy will be preserved.

The Rev. John Finn
Holy Family Church
Luling