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Historic Boats
De Wadden: After many months of planning by Wicklow maritime enthusiasts, large sections of the former Arklow general cargo sailing vessel ‘De Wadden’ built in 1919 are now back in the vessel’s Irish home port. AFLOAT adds that the schooner was the last to trade under sail in the Irish Sea, calling to ports on both sides, including Liverpool, with cargoes, chiefly coal, pit props, gravel, and burnt ore from Arklow.
A community of Wicklow maritime enthusiasts, after many months of planning, has secured large sections of Arklow's historic last sail cargo vessel ‘De Wadden’ that were returned to the schooner’s home port, having been a static-ship exhibit in the UK.…
The Anú Pictures documentary 'The Camino Voyage' is on TG4 at 21.20 tonight, Easter Saturday
“The Camino Voyage”, the award-winning documentary on a naomhóg journey by sea from Ireland to northern Spain, will be broadcast again on TG4 tonight (Saturday, March 30) Dónal Ó Ceilleachair’s film followed the late poet Danny Sheehy, artist Liam Holden,…
The 126-year-old traditional Dutch Sailing Barge Drie Gebroeders is one of less than a handful in Ireland
In May 2024, a 126-year-old Dutch Sailing Barge named Drie Gebroeders will set off on an epic adventure from Lough Erne in Co. Fermanagh to the eastern Scottish coast, and back again. The goal is to attend two maritime festivals…
“A History of Lifeboats in Dublin Bay”, an illustrated lecture by Cormac Lowth, takes place in the Maritime Museum, Haigh Terrace, Dun Laoghaire on March 12th at 1.30pm.
While the RNLI celebrates its bicentenary, the first lifeboats in Dublin Bay date back to the early 19th century and were run by the Port Corporation. This is the subject of a talk by maritime historian and researcher Cormac Lowth…
TG 4 TV drama Tarrac, which involves rowers Rachel Feeney, Kate Finegan, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, and Kelly Gough, is set on the Dingle peninsula and will be aired on TG4 and TG4.ie on Monday, March 18th, 2024,at 9.30 pm.
A drama which involves a group of female rowers training in the Atlantic off the Kerry Gaeltacht will have its first television screening on TG4 this month. Tarrac, which involves rowers Rachel Feeney, Kate Finegan, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, and Kelly…
The restored Dublin Bay 24 Periwinkle has been brought back to the original racer/cruiser concept as first developed in Dun Laoghaire in the 1930s
The concept of the Dublin Bay 24, envisaged as a 24ft waterline 37ft LOA Bermuda-rigged racer-cruiser, was first suggested in 1934 at a Committee Meeting of the innovative yet “homeless” Royal Alfred YC in Dun Laoghaire by the owner-skipper of…
Poet Keith Payne
Currachs and naomhógs are among the only sea craft built upside down, and the expertise dates back generations. Poet Keith Payne learned all this and much more when he found himself working on a Dunfanaghy currach over 16 weeks. He…
The legendary Commodore John Paul Jones of the US Navy during the American War of Independence against Britain
February the 14th is mostly known as Valentine’s Day, but it has a significance in maritime history far removed from romantic exploits – other, of course, than the romanticism of sailing the seas…..! In 1813, it was the day when…
The Aran Island Ferry Naomh Éanna has been broken up for scrap but its bow is en route to Galway
The bow of the former Aran island ferry Naomh Éanna, which has been broken up for scrap, is en route to Galway. As The Irish Independent reports, Port of Galway harbourmaster Capt Brian Sheridan hopes to take delivery of the…
Businessman and sailor Enda O’Coineen
Businessman and sailor Enda O’Coineen is spearheading a 14 million euro project to build a replica of adventurer Ernest Shackleton’s most famous ship, Endurance. As The Sunday Independent reports, details of an “Endurance II” construction will be outlined at events…
The mysterious shipwreck washed up on Canadian coast
Archaeologists in Newfoundland are planning a survey of a wrecked ship which has recently washed up on the coast and may be up to 200 years old. As the BBC reports, the 24 metre-long shipwreck was found by a boy…
All curves and ornamentation, and yet with good speed too. The 72ft 1936-built ketch Ticonderoga is L Francis Herreshoff’s definitive design
The Slow Food Movement started in Italy many years ago, with its admirable ideal in the notion that the gentle preparation and leisurely cooking - preferably of locally sourced ingredients - was best complemented by then eating the simple feast…
Royal Daffodil, a former Mersey ferry withdrawn more than a decade ago is to a have a new lease of life as a multi-purpose dining / music event venue, along with a mini-museum in the Wheelhouse to honour the history of the famous ferries. The veteran vessel, almost 62 years, docked at Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, is to be relocated to Liverpool’s Canning Dock, part of the Royal Albert Dock. The restoration project, AFLOAT echoes that of MV Cill Airne, the Dublin based venue with similar features, originally served at Cobh as a trans-Atlantic liner tender / later crew training vessel, was designed by the same naval architects of Overchurch, but in 1999 was renamed after major works.
As news of a new Mersey ferry to be built in 60 years was announced recently, a former such historic ferry is to receive a £2.5m project to transform the MV Royal Daffodil into a major destination set for completion…
Patsy Lydon bringing his Christmas tree and bicycle in a currach to his Inis Treabhair home in December 1991
The tough realities of Irish island life are depicted in a new memoir of the Connemara island of Inis Treabhair. The last years of an Irish-speaking community are recorded by Micheál Ó Conghaile in his book, An Island Christmas. The…
Endurance became stuck in ice and sank in the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica in 1915
An assessment of Ernest Shackleton's lost ship, the wreck of the Endurance in the Antarctic, recommends it is best preserved if left where it is. The shipwreck is 3,000 metres below sea level and in a "very stable" condition, the…
Locals in Arklow call on Wicklow County Council to retain parts of historic former Arklow schooner, De Wadden, before demolition. The three-masted cargo ship traded for decades on the Irish Sea, is seen above at Liverpool Maritime Museum, where it has been on display for decades.
Maritime enthusiasts from Arklow have implored Wicklow County Council to help them in their race against the clock to save parts of an historic auxiliary sailing cargo-ship, the last of its type to serve on the Irish Sea. The local…