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Discovering the Six Metre 'Southern Cross' Painting by John Ryan

11th February 2023
The painting of the Southern Cross is quite typical of John Ryan's output. He took a lot of care to get the nautical details correct. The pre-Dacron mainsail is multi-panelled. A female crew on the foredeck is attending to the spinnaker. The sky is well-painted and dramatic. There is a yacht in the middle distance beating to windward
The painting of the Southern Cross is quite typical of John Ryan's output. He took a lot of care to get the nautical details correct. The pre-Dacron mainsail is multi-panelled. A female crew on the foredeck is attending to the spinnaker. The sky is well-painted and dramatic. There is a yacht in the middle distance beating to windward Credit: John Ryan

Pete Hogan on receiving a painting by John Ryan that depicts Ryan's boat from the artist's book "A Wave of the Sea" 

A friend recently arrived at my place and presented me with a nice picture of a sailing boat. 'Here you are,' he said. 'You might like this'.

Signed simply 'Ryan' I recognised immediately that it was a painting by Dubliner John Ryan (1925 – 1992). It's of a yacht running under a spinnaker through Dalkey Sound. The Muglins and Howth Head are in the background. The yacht looked a bit like a Dublin Bay 24 with its small raised doghouse and big mainsail. Then I noticed the number on the sail - 6, followed then a K27. It didn't take me long to deduce that it was a 6 Metre and of UK registration – the K27.

I was delighted with the painting and embarked upon a bit of further research.

John Ryan will be familiar to many as a central figure in the Dublin literary scene of the immediate post-war years. Ryan was the publisher of Envoy Magazine, which first featured stories by Behan and Dunleavy. He owned the Baily Pub, was a friend of Patrick Kavanagh and was a Joycean enthusiast when it was neither popular nor profitable. In this regard, he had been instrumental in opening the Joyce Museum in the Sandycove Martello tower and saved the door of Bloom's house at 7 Eccles St. when the house was demolished. He is famously credited with establishing Bloomsday as a celebration of Irish literary traditions.

John Ryan had written two books - 'Remembering How we Stood' (still in print) and 'A Wave of the Sea'. With the latter book, I struck gold. On the title page, there is a drawing of the same 6-metre yacht K 27, in the same pose as the painting I had just been given. I quickly realised I had John Ryan's picture of his boat, Southern Cross. The book, A Wave of the Sea, is mainly about his sailing exploits in this boat.

The front piece of Ryan's Book A Wave of the SeaThe front piece of Ryan's Book A Wave of the Sea
 Illustration from Ryan's book Illustration from Ryan's book

Southern CrossSouthern Cross

Southern Cross had been built in 1928 as a racing 6 metre and competed in the Olympics of 1936. Her records are still on the excellent 6 Metre Class website (6metre.com). By 1948 when she retired from racing, she was converted to cruising with the addition of a cabin. This was a common fate for both six and 8-metre yachts as they made handy cruisers in those days before the event of fibreglass boats. Up to six 6 metres in Dun Laoghaire in the 1960's racing in the top cruiser class. (I remember in particular Rainbow 2 excellently sailed by Launce Mc Mullen).

John Ryan does not seem to have raced Southern Cross much but enjoyed cruising with his favourite crew, 'the Briar', who he befriended in one of the Dun Laoghaire bars. The Briar comes across as a nautical equivalent of Ryan's other bawdy friend, Brendan Behan. Together they cruised and caroused the length and breadth of the Irish Sea, around Ireland and many English ports.

John Ryan contributed to the radio programme Sunday Miscellany frequently on marine subjects. He took a keen interest in the Spanish Armada.

The painting of the Southern Cross is quite typical of Ryan's output. He took a lot of care to get the nautical details correct. I was surprised by the complex three-spreader rig on the mast but realised it is probably correct on an old racing six mast. The pre-Dacron mainsail is multi-panelled as the old cotton sails were. What looks like a female crew on the foredeck is attending to the spinnaker, something which is absent from the drawing in the book. The sky is well-painted and dramatic. There is a yacht in the middle distance beating to windward.

Perhaps it is a race, as both yachts sport the old square racing flags. Racing flags were de rigour in the old days. They were square and indicated to other yachts the fact that one was racing and they should get the hell out of the way. Interestingly, the Southern Cross is sporting a burgee, a triangular flag, of indeterminate identity in the book drawing. Also in the distance is a passenger ferry that could be one of the old Isle of Man steam packet ships operated from 1946 to 1982. A fleet of racing sails in the far distance and some seabirds complete the detail. Quite a busy picture. 

A female crew on the foredeck is attending to the spinnakerA female crew on the foredeck is attending to the spinnaker

A female crew on the foredeck is attending to the spinnaker

The yacht looked a bit like a Dublin Bay 24 with its small raised doghouse and big mainsailThe yacht looked a bit like a Dublin Bay 24 with its small raised doghouse and big mainsail

There are a few paintings by John Ryan on the internet, usually from auction room catalogues.

I am attempting to write an appreciation of John Ryan as a marine painter, which hopefully would be published in a learned journal.

I would be grateful if anyone out there could send me details of his paintings that they might have or know the location of. There is a very fine example in the National Yacht Club. The OPW is supposed to have one, but I cannot track it down. He exhibited over a long career in the RHA and other exhibitions, including ROSC. Perhaps some curious art student might try and assemble a catalogue raisonné of his work.

Pete Hogan. [email protected] 

(With thanks to David Pearson and Colin Mc Mullen).

Detail of the Ryan painting in National Yacht Club, Dun LaoghaireDetail of the Ryan painting in the National Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire

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Dublin Bay

Dublin Bay on the east coast of Ireland stretches over seven kilometres, from Howth Head on its northern tip to Dalkey Island in the south. It's a place most Dubliners simply take for granted, and one of the capital's least visited places. But there's more going on out there than you'd imagine.

The biggest boating centre is at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the Bay's south shore that is home to over 1,500 pleasure craft, four waterfront yacht clubs and Ireland's largest marina.

The bay is rather shallow with many sandbanks and rocky outcrops, and was notorious in the past for shipwrecks, especially when the wind was from the east. Until modern times, many ships and their passengers were lost along the treacherous coastline from Howth to Dun Laoghaire, less than a kilometre from shore.

The Bay is a C-shaped inlet of the Irish Sea and is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and 7 km in length to its apex at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south. North Bull Island is situated in the northwest part of the bay, where one of two major inshore sandbanks lie, and features a 5 km long sandy beach, Dollymount Strand, fronting an internationally recognised wildfowl reserve. Many of the rivers of Dublin reach the Irish Sea at Dublin Bay: the River Liffey, with the River Dodder flow received less than 1 km inland, River Tolka, and various smaller rivers and streams.

Dublin Bay FAQs

There are approximately ten beaches and bathing spots around Dublin Bay: Dollymount Strand; Forty Foot Bathing Place; Half Moon bathing spot; Merrion Strand; Bull Wall; Sandycove Beach; Sandymount Strand; Seapoint; Shelley Banks; Sutton, Burrow Beach

There are slipways on the north side of Dublin Bay at Clontarf, Sutton and on the southside at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, and in Dalkey at Coliemore and Bulloch Harbours.

Dublin Bay is administered by a number of Government Departments, three local authorities and several statutory agencies. Dublin Port Company is in charge of navigation on the Bay.

Dublin Bay is approximately 70 sq kilometres or 7,000 hectares. The Bay is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and seven km in length east-west to its peak at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the southside of the Bay has an East and West Pier, each one kilometre long; this is one of the largest human-made harbours in the world. There also piers or walls at the entrance to the River Liffey at Dublin city known as the Great North and South Walls. Other harbours on the Bay include Bulloch Harbour and Coliemore Harbours both at Dalkey.

There are two marinas on Dublin Bay. Ireland's largest marina with over 800 berths is on the southern shore at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The other is at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club on the River Liffey close to Dublin City.

Car and passenger Ferries operate from Dublin Port to the UK, Isle of Man and France. A passenger ferry operates from Dun Laoghaire Harbour to Howth as well as providing tourist voyages around the bay.

Dublin Bay has two Islands. Bull Island at Clontarf and Dalkey Island on the southern shore of the Bay.

The River Liffey flows through Dublin city and into the Bay. Its tributaries include the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac.

Dollymount, Burrow and Seapoint beaches

Approximately 1,500 boats from small dinghies to motorboats to ocean-going yachts. The vast majority, over 1,000, are moored at Dun Laoghaire Harbour which is Ireland's boating capital.

In 1981, UNESCO recognised the importance of Dublin Bay by designating North Bull Island as a Biosphere because of its rare and internationally important habitats and species of wildlife. To support sustainable development, UNESCO’s concept of a Biosphere has evolved to include not just areas of ecological value but also the areas around them and the communities that live and work within these areas. There have since been additional international and national designations, covering much of Dublin Bay, to ensure the protection of its water quality and biodiversity. To fulfil these broader management aims for the ecosystem, the Biosphere was expanded in 2015. The Biosphere now covers Dublin Bay, reflecting its significant environmental, economic, cultural and tourism importance, and extends to over 300km² to include the bay, the shore and nearby residential areas.

On the Southside at Dun Laoghaire, there is the National Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club and Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club as well as Dublin Bay Sailing Club. In the city centre, there is Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club. On the Northside of Dublin, there is Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club and Sutton Dinghy Club. While not on Dublin Bay, Howth Yacht Club is the major north Dublin Sailing centre.

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