The bow of the former Aran island ferry Naomh Éanna, which has been broken up for scrap, is en route to Galway.
As The Irish Independent reports, Port of Galway harbourmaster Capt Brian Sheridan hopes to take delivery of the bow within the coming weeks.
He has said he is “thrilled to have secured the bow section” and plans to restore it and have it displayed on the quays in Galway “as a reminder of the historic trading link” between the city and the Aran islands.
He said it was “ a sad day for maritime Ireland that plans to save the ship fell foul of a raft of issues”.
Capt Sheridan had supported efforts to return the ferry to Galway for marine heritage and tourism purposes, after images of it listing to one side in Dublin’s Grand Canal basin prompted calls for it to be saved.
Year-long efforts to realise that failed, and a decision was made to scrap the deteriorating hull.
A contract was awarded last year to Cunningham Civil and Marine to dismantle it.
The bow of the former Aran island ferry Naomh Éanna
The 65-year-old ship formerly run by CIÉ as a passenger ferry serving the Aran islands from Galway had been one of the last large vessels built by the Liffey Dockyard Company.
Shortly after it began serving the island route, it was drafted in to the search for survivors of the KLM flight 607E which crashed into the Atlantic ocean some 160 km west of Connemara shortly after take-off from Shannon airport in August 1958.
As Afloat has previously reported, Inis Mór resident Micheál Ó Goill has said islanders had mixed memories of it as sailings could take six to seven hours.
Although it was “not a good weather boat”, it had its own sick bay for use by pregnant women and others, and it also had a bar.
The Naomh Éanna was withdrawn from service in 1986, and was then purchased by the Irish Nautical Trust which brought it to Dublin’s Grand Canal basin.
It was part of the “set” in the 1996 Neil Jordan film on Michael Collins, and was used as a floating surf shop.
The most recent owner, Sam Field Corbett of Irish Ship and Barge Fabrication Company Limited (ISBF) sought Fáilte Ireland support to have it restored as a tourism project or a floating hotel.
When that was unsuccessful, Galway City Council was approached, but it told him there would be “planning issues”.
Fáilte Ireland has said that the owners of the Naomh Eanna applied for Fáilte Ireland capital funding under the Large Grant Scheme 2016 scheme, but the application “was not successful as it did not meet the minimum eligibility criteria necessary”.
Richard Cunningham of Cunningham Civil and Marine said that his company would deliver the bow to Galway, and several other artefacts associated with the ship, including its propeller, anchors and chain, would be saved for historic purposes.
Read The Irish Independent here
