#LectureILEN - "The Ketch Ilen-Ireland's Sole Surviving Sail Trader" will be the public lecture presented by Gary Mac Mahon next Thursday (7 November) in the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club, Ringsend.

The talk which forms the members of Les Glénans & friends 2013/2014 lecture series starts at 20.00hrs in the Dublin docklands venue noting an entry fee of €5 in aid of the RNLI.

Ilen is a 56-ft sailing ketch that was built in 1926 in the Baltimore Fishery School Boatyard for the Falkland Islands Company. She was designed and sailed to the Falkland Islands by Conor O'Brien who in 1925 was the first Irishman to complete a circumnavigation of the world in the 42-ft ketch, Saoirse, also built in Baltimore.

The Ilen served seventy years as a trading vessel in the tempestuous seas of the South Atlantic before being brought back to Ireland in 1998.

Now being restored, she is the focal point for a remarkable maritime project embracing the A.K. Ilen School for wooden boatbuilding in Limerick and Hegarty's boatyard in Oldcourt.

Gary McMahon, in his illustrated presentation, will provide the background to the return of the Ilen to Ireland and the founding of the A.K. Ilen Company with Anthony Keane OSB.

It is an Irish-registered charity dedicated to education through the medium of sailing, very much in the spirit of the original aims of Glénans

Gary is a keen offshore sailor who publishes maritime books through the A.K. Ilen Company and will include Conor O'Brien and his exploits on Saoirse in his lecture.

For further details on this lecture contact: 087 2129614 and details for the Poolbeg Yacht, Boat Club & Marina visit: www.poolbegmarina.ie

#TheTalkingBox - The Waterways Ireland Visitor Centre in Grand Canal Dock in Dublin, affectionately known as the "Box in the Docks" is to host a couple of lectures starting at 7pm next Saturday, 17 August.

The lectures are part of National Heritage Week and the topics are outlined below.

Niall Galway is to present stories from 'Life on board the Grand Canal tradin boats -The latter years'

John 'Miley' Walsh, former Dublin Port Docker, will discuss; 'From the Bundy to the Button life - Life as a deep-sea Docker prior to 1972'

Admission is free, though booking advisable contact: (01) 677 7510 and by visiting this link.

All are welcome, bar and refreshments and a voluntary contribution is appreciated. Further lectures will be held throughout the winter, mostly on the third Thursday of each month and in the Stella Maris. Note that the March lecture is due to be held on the 'fourth' Thursday of that month.

For further information about lectures and updates on the M.I.I's maritime museum in Dun Laoghaire, log on to www.mariner.ie

The Maritime Institute of Ireland (M.I.I.) hosts a Winter /Spring lecture series. The first lecture of the new year is 'Historical Diving in Ireland' by Dr Edward Bourke.

The lecture is on 20 January and starts at 8pm and is to be held in the Stella Maris Seafarers' Club, Beresford Place. The club is located beside Busaras and faces opposite the rear of the Customs House. Nearby is the Irish Life Center (ILAC) which is convenient for car-parking and buses, the 'Red' Luas (Busaras stop) and DART stops at Connolly /Tara St. stations.

All are welcome, bar and refreshments and a voluntary contribution is appreciated. Further lectures will be held throughout the winter, mostly on the third Thursday of each month and in the Stella Maris. For further information about lectures and updates on the the M.I.I's maritime museum in Dun Laoghaire, logon to www.mariner.ie