#SeafarersMemorial – The annual National Commemoration Service for Irish Seafarers in Dublin is to held this Sunday, 19th November.
The annual service hosted by the Maritime Institute of Ireland will involve a wreath-laying ceremony at 12.00 noon on City Quay Memorial. All are welcome to attend the ceremony at the granite stone-cut monument located along the south quays near to both DART stations at Pearce Street and Tara Street.
The Memorial monument is dedicated to honour seamen lost while serving on Irish merchant ships 1939-1945 in WW2. Also to be recognised the signifcance loss of fellow seafarers in this centenary period of the previous WWI, the so called 'great war'.
War-time Irish shipping companies ‘House Flags’ along with the banner of the Maritime Institute of Ireland will be paraded by the Sea Scouts.
In addition to addresses made the wreaths will be brought into Dublin Bay and floated on these waters. Traditionally this honour is performed on a rotational basis between the tugs of the Dublin Port Company, Naval Service vessels or a R.N.L.I. lifeboat.
On conclusion of the land-based ceremony, light refreshments will take place across the Liffey in the Stella Maris Seafarers Centre on Beresford Place, nearby of Busáras Bus Station.
Maritime Institute of Ireland (Foras Muiridhe na h-Eireann)
The M.I.I. which has the National Maritime Museum of Ireland located in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, was founded on 31st October 1941 during one of the most critical moments in this country’s history.
Some of the founders and earliest supporters had been trying to impress on the general public and on government for at least the previous five years, in particular its real founder and longest serving President, Colonel Anthony Lawlor, that if, as seemed more and more inevitable, a catastrophic European war were to break out, Ireland would very quickly be in crisis.
While we had very good reason to declare ourselves neutral, nobody in the highest position of critical responsibility had taken the trouble to ensure how a small neutral island which depended on the importation of vital food and other supplies was going to survive when the ships, mainly owned by non-nationals that carried our vital imports and valuable exports were no longer avail-able. Yet, by 1942, this was precisely what had happened and starvation and economic collapse were all too visible on the horizon to even the dumbest politicians.
The current role of the M.I.I. is to foster an appreciation of our maritime heritage. To that end asides hosting and supporting commemorations, they operate the maritime museum, host lectures, issue newsletters, maintain a library and promote and conduct research.
