My grandmother who was born in Kerry (Caherciveen) in 1876 also told us the tale of the shipwrecked sailors from the Spanish Armada. Two of her daughters,(my mother and one of her sisters) had the blackest of black hair, olive skin, and green eyes. My sister looked so "Latin" as a child that on returning on a holiday trip from Mexico back to Texas, my parents were accused (perhaps jokingly) of having kidnapped her). On the other hand, a few years ago I read several articles completely debunking what scholars who have researched it have termed as a myth with no foundation. Those articles could probably be found by entering the phrase "black Irish" on Google. They said, as well as I remember, that all the shipwrecked sailors either died or were murdered before having any chance to intermarry with the locals. But I still believe my grandmother. Julie Hu