Hello and welcome aboard this week’s edition of your maritime programme Seascapes, tonight we hear about the commemoration of the United States Navy in Cobh one hundred years ago we’ll be talking to Commander Taussig’s great grand daughter Elizabeth Helmer, also from the recent Shore Shorts festival in Sligo Lucia Griggi; Finn Ni Faoileain and Ben Selway; Gerry Culloty brings us the story from the Royal Canal of the the loss of a passenger vessel The Longford in November of 1845 at McGoverns Rocks between Porterstown and Clonsilla which inspired a piece of his music .....and we were on the Old Head of Kinsale at the signal tower for the opening of the Lusitania Memorial Gardens which we’ll be featuring in the coming weeks ... first this week on Seascapes to Cobh and the ceremony held last week to mark the centenary of the arrival of the United States Navy in Queenstown supported by The Port of Cork and Cork County Council titled “We Are Ready Now” with a series of events taking place throughout this year , Seascapes met the great grand daughter of Commander Taussig of the SS Wandsworth – Elizabeth Helmer is studying in University College Cork........
In the magnificent Victorian gardens in the grounds of the Benedictine Convent in Cobh Seascapes talked to Dermot O’ Mahony, formerly of the Port of Cork who had a close connection with the morning’s proceedings
Next to Aghada and to Willie Cunningham of Cork Harbour Heritage Alliance – Noel Sweeney met up with Willie last week
Willie Cunningham from Cork Harbour Heritage Alliance speaking with Noel Sweeney for Seascapes ...
During the two years after the arrival of the U.S. Navy in Ireland, many young Irish women met and married American sailors.
But, American service mens interest in Irish women would cause controversy, leading to violent attacks by locals and condemnation from the church.
Archaeologist and historian Damien Shiels has been studying the lives of 99 Irish women who married American sailors, most of them from Cork, ahead of the centenary commemorations.
His research has resulted in the exhibition Portraits: Women of Cork and the U.S. Navy 1917-19, which runs at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh until September.
Damian spoke to Justin Maher about the backgrounds of the women who are featured in the exhibition and the contrasting attitudes towards them on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
We’ll have a full programme marking the opening of the Lusitania Memorial Garden here on Seascapes on Friday 2nd June ....in the meantime here’s Minister Simon Coveney TD who unveiled the Lusitania Memorial Sculpture – The Wave designed by Liam Lavery and Eithne Ring which was cast in Normandy in France...
Minister Coveney......
As I mentioned earlier we’ll be featuring the ceremony at the Lusitania Memorial Gardens on Seascapes on Friday 2nd June ....
Next here on Seascapes to the Royal Canal and a location called McGovern’s Rocks between Porterstown and Clonsilla, regular Seascapes listener and musician Gerry Culloty brings us the story of the loss of a passenger vessel The Longford in November of 1845
Gerry Culloty on the loss of The Longford on The Royal Canal in 1845......
The recent Shore Shots Festival held in Sligo which we featured last week .........was attended for Seascapes by Ron Coveney and Justin Maher, First we hear from Ben Selway .........Ben is the former photo editor of Wavelength Magazine and gave a fireside chat at the festival talking about his career. Ben recalled experiences he's had photographing surfers around the world.
Ben Selway speaking to Justin Maher at Shore Shots , next to Finn ní Fhaolain- Author of “Finns World “ and a keen surfer.....Finns background is in marine science, she spoke to Ron Coveney for Seascapes ...
Just to let you know that I’m set to retire on the 16th June, Seascapes will continue and my successor at the helm will be RTE Correspondent – Fergal Keane who is a keen angler and yachtsman....fair winds.....
A Norwegian billionaire has promised to give "the lion's share" of his money away. Kjell Inge Roekke, a former fisherman who made his fortune in the oil industry, will begin by funding a research ship that will remove plastic from the ocean, and will operate in partnership with the environmental organisation WWF. Mr Roekke has an estimated wealth of $2bn (£1.6bn).
"I want to give back to society the bulk of what I've earned," he said in an interview with the Aftenposten newspaper. "This ship is a part of that." The research vessel will have a crew of 30, with space for up to 60 scientific staff and some laboratories. It will remove from the water and melt up to five tons of plastic a day...according to Aftenposten.....
Well that’s about it for this week here on Seascapes , next Friday night we bring you author , poet and playwright Dermot Bolger on his novel “The Lonely Sea and The Sky” originally broadcast last Summer when I spoke to Dermot at his home in Drumcondra about his late father, his interest in the sea and what inspired his interest in the story of the MV Kerlogue......Thats “The Lonely Sea and the Sky and distinguished author Dermot Bolger next Friday night , until then tight lines and fair sailing.”
