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Displaying items by tag: Captain Robert Halpin

4th April 2022

New Dun Laoghaire Harbour Exhibition About Irish Maritime Legend Captain Robert Halpin

The National Maritime Museum of Ireland, at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, has opened a revamped exhibition on Wicklowman Captain Robert Halpin and his adventures and achievements at sea.

The exhibition has three strands: Captain Halpin himself and his recently restored naval uniform; the ship he commanded, the SS Great Eastern; and his achievement in laying the first successful trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. Most of the exhibits are part of the “Halpin Collection”, donated to the Museum by the Halpin family.

Maritime legend

Captain Robert Halpin is an Irish maritime legend. He was born in Wicklow town on 17th February 1836 and went to sea when he was 11 years old. After a varied career at sea, in June 1865 he was appointed chief officer of the Great Eastern, the world’s largest ship. She had been unsuccessful as a passenger ship but was altered to lay a telegraph cable across the Atlantic from Ireland to America. Halpin spent many years as a highly respected commander on the Great Eastern, and was also a popular host to the vast number of guests and spectators that the ship carried. When Halpin retired from the sea he bought Tinakilly House in Wicklow, became involved in politics, and finally died in January 1894. Having survived many years of peril on the high seas, he sadly died as a result of gangrene contracted while cutting his toenails.

Largest ship in the world

The Great Eastern was designed by the great Victorian engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and when she was launched in 1858 she was the largest ship in the world. She was designed to carry 4,000 passengers and could travel around the world without refuelling. She was powered by sails, paddle wheels, and a screw propeller, and had six masts named after the days of the week from Monday to Saturday. Eight years after she was launched, she was refitted as a cable-laying ship and, as the only ship afloat that could hold the necessary amount of cable, she laid the first successful telegraph cable across the Atlantic from Ireland to America. She ended life as a floating music hall and gym and one of her masts, “Thursday”, is now the flagpole at Liverpool Football Club.

Cable to North America

In 1866 the Great Eastern laid a telegraph cable from Valentia Island in Co Kerry to Hearts Content in Newfoundland, Canada. The first cable broke after 1660 miles (2670 km), just short of halfway across. Next year they tried again, this time successfully, when Halpin, as First Officer of the ship, really made his name by navigating the ship back to the first broken cable in 2000 feet (610 metres) of water, picking it up, splicing it and finishing the job.

Rare dress uniform and sword

Halin's Royal Navy Reserve Officers Dress UniformHalpin's Royal Navy Reserve Officers Dress Uniform

The Maritime Museum’s Halpin Collection includes his Royal Navy Reserve Officers Dress Uniform, including tailcoat, epaulettes, and dress sword. President Michael D. Higgins used Halpin’s sword to officially open the newly refurbished Museum in 2012.

The uniform was recently restored to the highest possible standard by an expert textile conservator and is now proudly displayed on a custom conservation/display mannequin. The restoration included cleaning, removal of creases and distortions, and polishing of metal elements. The Heritage Council and Dublin Port Company generously supported the restoration and new display cabinet.

Halpin's sword handleHalpin's sword handle

The Halpin Collection

The Museum’s Halpin Exhibition also includes the uniform, a model of the SS Great Eastern, paintings of Halpin and of the ship, various personal effects of Halpin (including even his teapot!), a short video about his life and career and a fun interactive quiz for all the family.

Open every day

The Maritime Museum is located in the old Mariners’ Church on Haigh Terrace, less than five minutes’ walk from Dun Laoghaire DART Station, and is open every day from 11 am to 5 pm. The Halpin Exhibition is a permanent exhibition included in the standard ticket price. The new exhibition will be officially launched by Eamonn O’Reilly, CEO of Dublin Port Company, on 21st April 2022, but is fully open for visitors now.

Published in Dun Laoghaire Harbour News
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About Dublin Port 

Dublin Port is Ireland’s largest and busiest port with approximately 17,000 vessel movements per year. As well as being the country’s largest port, Dublin Port has the highest rate of growth and, in the seven years to 2019, total cargo volumes grew by 36.1%.

The vision of Dublin Port Company is to have the required capacity to service the needs of its customers and the wider economy safely, efficiently and sustainably. Dublin Port will integrate with the City by enhancing the natural and built environments. The Port is being developed in line with Masterplan 2040.

Dublin Port Company is currently investing about €277 million on its Alexandra Basin Redevelopment (ABR), which is due to be complete by 2021. The redevelopment will improve the port's capacity for large ships by deepening and lengthening 3km of its 7km of berths. The ABR is part of a €1bn capital programme up to 2028, which will also include initial work on the Dublin Port’s MP2 Project - a major capital development project proposal for works within the existing port lands in the northeastern part of the port.

Dublin Port has also recently secured planning approval for the development of the next phase of its inland port near Dublin Airport. The latest stage of the inland port will include a site with the capacity to store more than 2,000 shipping containers and infrastructures such as an ESB substation, an office building and gantry crane.

Dublin Port Company recently submitted a planning application for a €320 million project that aims to provide significant additional capacity at the facility within the port in order to cope with increases in trade up to 2040. The scheme will see a new roll-on/roll-off jetty built to handle ferries of up to 240 metres in length, as well as the redevelopment of an oil berth into a deep-water container berth.

Dublin Port FAQ

Dublin was little more than a monastic settlement until the Norse invasion in the 8th and 9th centuries when they selected the Liffey Estuary as their point of entry to the country as it provided relatively easy access to the central plains of Ireland. Trading with England and Europe followed which required port facilities, so the development of Dublin Port is inextricably linked to the development of Dublin City, so it is fair to say the origins of the Port go back over one thousand years. As a result, the modern organisation Dublin Port has a long and remarkable history, dating back over 300 years from 1707.

The original Port of Dublin was situated upriver, a few miles from its current location near the modern Civic Offices at Wood Quay and close to Christchurch Cathedral. The Port remained close to that area until the new Custom House opened in the 1790s. In medieval times Dublin shipped cattle hides to Britain and the continent, and the returning ships carried wine, pottery and other goods.

510 acres. The modern Dublin Port is located either side of the River Liffey, out to its mouth. On the north side of the river, the central part (205 hectares or 510 acres) of the Port lies at the end of East Wall and North Wall, from Alexandra Quay.

Dublin Port Company is a State-owned commercial company responsible for operating and developing Dublin Port.

Dublin Port Company is a self-financing, and profitable private limited company wholly-owned by the State, whose business is to manage Dublin Port, Ireland's premier Port. Established as a corporate entity in 1997, Dublin Port Company is responsible for the management, control, operation and development of the Port.

Captain William Bligh (of Mutiny of the Bounty fame) was a visitor to Dublin in 1800, and his visit to the capital had a lasting effect on the Port. Bligh's study of the currents in Dublin Bay provided the basis for the construction of the North Wall. This undertaking led to the growth of Bull Island to its present size.

Yes. Dublin Port is the largest freight and passenger port in Ireland. It handles almost 50% of all trade in the Republic of Ireland.

All cargo handling activities being carried out by private sector companies operating in intensely competitive markets within the Port. Dublin Port Company provides world-class facilities, services, accommodation and lands in the harbour for ships, goods and passengers.

Eamonn O'Reilly is the Dublin Port Chief Executive.

Capt. Michael McKenna is the Dublin Port Harbour Master

In 2019, 1,949,229 people came through the Port.

In 2019, there were 158 cruise liner visits.

In 2019, 9.4 million gross tonnes of exports were handled by Dublin Port.

In 2019, there were 7,898 ship arrivals.

In 2019, there was a gross tonnage of 38.1 million.

In 2019, there were 559,506 tourist vehicles.

There were 98,897 lorries in 2019

Boats can navigate the River Liffey into Dublin by using the navigational guidelines. Find the guidelines on this page here.

VHF channel 12. Commercial vessels using Dublin Port or Dun Laoghaire Port typically have a qualified pilot or certified master with proven local knowledge on board. They "listen out" on VHF channel 12 when in Dublin Port's jurisdiction.

A Dublin Bay webcam showing the south of the Bay at Dun Laoghaire and a distant view of Dublin Port Shipping is here
Dublin Port is creating a distributed museum on its lands in Dublin City.
 A Liffey Tolka Project cycle and pedestrian way is the key to link the elements of this distributed museum together.  The distributed museum starts at the Diving Bell and, over the course of 6.3km, will give Dubliners a real sense of the City, the Port and the Bay.  For visitors, it will be a unique eye-opening stroll and vista through and alongside one of Europe’s busiest ports:  Diving Bell along Sir John Rogerson’s Quay over the Samuel Beckett Bridge, past the Scherzer Bridge and down the North Wall Quay campshire to Berth 18 - 1.2 km.   Liffey Tolka Project - Tree-lined pedestrian and cycle route between the River Liffey and the Tolka Estuary - 1.4 km with a 300-metre spur along Alexandra Road to The Pumphouse (to be completed by Q1 2021) and another 200 metres to The Flour Mill.   Tolka Estuary Greenway - Construction of Phase 1 (1.9 km) starts in December 2020 and will be completed by Spring 2022.  Phase 2 (1.3 km) will be delivered within the following five years.  The Pumphouse is a heritage zone being created as part of the Alexandra Basin Redevelopment Project.  The first phase of 1.6 acres will be completed in early 2021 and will include historical port equipment and buildings and a large open space for exhibitions and performances.  It will be expanded in a subsequent phase to incorporate the Victorian Graving Dock No. 1 which will be excavated and revealed. 
 The largest component of the distributed museum will be The Flour Mill.  This involves the redevelopment of the former Odlums Flour Mill on Alexandra Road based on a masterplan completed by Grafton Architects to provide a mix of port operational uses, a National Maritime Archive, two 300 seat performance venues, working and studio spaces for artists and exhibition spaces.   The Flour Mill will be developed in stages over the remaining twenty years of Masterplan 2040 alongside major port infrastructure projects.

Source: Dublin Port Company ©Afloat 2020. 

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