They subsisted mainly on fish, supplementing their diet with potato, oats, hunting rabbits and the eggs of birds who nested on the island; due to lack of wood they had to use heather, peat and turf as fuel.

During WWII shortages of sugar, soap, tea, paraffin, tobacco and flour/bread intensified this draw further.The weather was a present and constant hazard.

The Islanders sent a telegram to the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, urgently requesting supplies which duly arrived two days later by boat.

Continued inclement weather prevented his body being taken to the consecrated graveyard across the Blasket Sound in Dunquin for a number of days.

The company recruits two caretakers annually to manage the accommodation and café facilities where they live without electricity, hot water and other modern conveniences, similar to conditions the islanders endured.

[7] This old world living experience has attracted significant media attention about the role[8] with tens of thousands of applications for the position in recent years.

Considering the tiny population, the island has produced a remarkable number of gifted writers who brought vividly to life their harsh existence and who kept alive old Irish folk tales of the land.