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Displaying items by tag: Tugs

Visitors to the Merseyside Maritime Museum have just over a fortnight to view Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure! writes Jehan Ashmore.

The exhibition which has been running since last July, tells the epic story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition and the incredible real life tale of survival. For over two years, Shackleton and his men became castaways during their Antarctic ordeal.

Also featuring in the exhibition are 150 compelling images taken by the ships photograph, Frank Hurley who saved the negatives from perishing in the icy waters.

The Endurance exhibition ends on Sunday 27 February and admission is free. For further details logon to the National Liverpool Museums website here

Last year the Dublin Port Company named a new tug, Shackleton in honour of the Athy-born, polar explorer and a sister tug was named Beaufort after the Navan-born innovator, Sir Francis Beaufort.

To read about the tugs in their starring role in an advertisement made for the National Lottery last year click this link and to see the tugs in Making Magic mode click video

Published in Boating Fixtures
The ongoing broadcasting of the National Lottery TV advert-campaign 'Making Magic Happen' depicts an impressive 'man-made rainbow' display on the River Liffey, which was created by a pair of new tugs, a helicopter and the rising sun, writes Jehan Ashmore.
During a mid-summer morning, onlookers witnessed the spectacle created as the Dublin Port Company's new tug-sisters, Shackleton and Beaufort arrived close to the Sean O'Casey Bridge and the Convention Centre. In tandem the tugs fired 2,200 gallons of water reaching to heights of 70 metres and a throw of 95 metres. In fact the highest 'water fountain' reached some 10 metres above the equivalent height of nearby Liberty Hall.

The spectacular effect of the life-size rainbow had never been achieved before in Ireland. Steve Green, the director of the advertisement used a 35mm film, with footage from HD cameras, including one mounted on the helicopter which hovered over the 'new' landmarks of the 'Docklands'.

The imaginative advertisement was created by Sweet Media, the production company chosen to produce the campaign, under the direction of the National Lottery's advertising agency, DDFH&B. The soundtrack for 'Making Magic Happen' is the appropriately titled 'Pocketful of Rainbows', sung by Elvis Presley. The version used is Take 16 from the 1960 recording sessions for the 'G.I. Blues' soundtrack.

As for the stars of the advert, the tugs are named after Irish figures, Shackleton, named in honour of Antartic explorer Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton and Beaufort, named after Navan-born, Sir Francis Beaufort, who created the world-renowned wind-scale measurement.

The 50-bollard ton tugs cost €6m each and were built at the Astilleros Zamakona Shipyard, Bilbao. In March the tugs officially entered service after a joint naming ceremony was held in Dublin Port.

To view the tugs in water-firing, making magic mode!... click the link here

Published in Dublin Bay

Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 Cruisers Three

A 19-boat Cruisers Three IRC fleet will compete at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023: 

  • GBR 144 Gerda Soling Andrew Riches
  • GBR 9140Y HRT Charisma 22 Mini Tonner Charles Adams
  • 5637Y F A 2 Limbo 6.6 Charlie McAllister
  • IRL 2 Chinook Soling Cormac Murphy
  • IRL 2855 Pamafe First 285 Gerry Costello
  • GBR 9589 Checkmate Impala 28 Ian McMillan
  • FRA 8214 Protis 1/4 Tonner Ian Southworth
  • IRL 89100 Imprint Formula 28 Johnny Flood
  • GBR 2840 She Too She 31 Jonathan Fawcett
  • IRL 7115 Gecko Kevin Darmody
  • IRL 1751 Illegal Kieran Dorgan
  • IRL 8001 Jibberish Lorcan O'Brien McLoughlin
  • IRL 90210 SNOOPY Martin Mahon
  • IRL 246 Saki Nicholson 31 Michael Ryan
  • IRL 35 ELEINT Trapper 300 Michal Matulka
  • IRL 3 ROMANCE II Soling Paul Tully
  • IRL 9554 Kahera Russell Camier
  • GBR 5373 HONEY BEE Hunter HB31 William Partington
  • IRL 307 Wynward Wyn McCormack