Irish Ferries chartered cruise-ferry Oscar Wilde, currently operating Rosslare-Pembroke on a temporary basis, is later this month to return to Dublin-based routes to Holyhead and Cherbourg, France, but under a new name.
The ferry company has a proud tradition of extending its Irish heritage through the naming of its ships after famous Irish writers and their works of literature.
James Joyce for Wales and France routes
In keeping with this, Irish Ferries has announced that the Oscar Wilde serving the Dublin-Holyhead and Dublin-Cherbourg routes is to be renamed the James Joyce.
James Joyce, as Irish Ferries highlighted in its announcement, was appropriately built in the same dockyard as the Ulysses (named after Joyce’s most celebrated novel), the cruise ferry it will now partner with when sailing the Irish Sea.
Afloat notes, however, that the Oscar Wilde (originally named Star for its current owners, Tallink) was actually built at a different shipyard to that of the Ulysses. The Star was built in Helsinki, whereas the Ulysses was built in Rauma, located some 250kms to the west of the Finnish capital. Both yards, however, belonged to the same company, Aker Finnyards, along with a third shipyard in Turku, also in the Nordic nation. The shipbuilder changed its name to STX Europe but is no longer trading.
The legendary Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic needs little introduction and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century with a unique writing style.
Oscar Wilde for Strait of Dover
Irish Ferries has also announced that the Spirit of Britain, recently acquired from DP World, owners of P&O Ferries, on which it served Dover-Calais service, will be renamed Oscar Wilde. Afloat adds that this will be the third time that the company has used the name, as the original Oscar Wilde had operated on routes out of Rosslare to France. Such routes no longer exist between Wexford and the regions of Normandy and Brittany, but now run between Dublin and Cherbourg.
The Oscar Wilde (currently in dry-dock at A&P Falmouth, Cornwall) will join the Irish Ferries fleet on the Dover-Calais route later this month, replacing the Isle of Innisfree as Afloat reported will move to the Pembroke to Rosslare route. In a survey conducted by Irish Ferries, the new name had an astonishing recognition level of 92% among adults in England and Wales.
Dublin born Wilde was one of the most popular writers in London in the early 1890s for his works, including the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) and his most famous play, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
Appropriately for the Dover-Calais route, he had strong links to France: he was a fluent French speaker, and even wrote a one-act tragedy in French, Salomé (1893). Much drama and tragedy marred Wilde's private life, leading to a stay in prison, after which he fled by sea to France, where he remained in exile, until he died destitute in 1900. His tomb can be visited at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Andrew Sheen, Managing Director at Irish Ferries, said: “We are delighted to confirm the ship names James Joyce and Oscar Wilde, which will continue our proud heritage of Irish literary connections on our routes aligned to Irish Ferries’ award-winning hospitality and outstanding service for our freight and passenger customers. All of this truly lives up to our ethos of encouraging passengers to ‘Sea Travel Differently’”.
