Saoirse: Celebrating 100 Years of Ireland's Historic Voyage

19th July 2025

Afloat.ie Team

The newly reconstructed Saoirse sailing Credit: Kevin O'Farrell

A significant milestone, documented in Afloat last month, the centenary of the Saoirse’s historic voyage has quietly passed by, writes Flor McCarthy in this weekend's Irish Times.

In June 1925, the small Irish ketch became the first vessel to sail around the world while carrying the Tricolour.

Owner and skipper Conor O’Brien led Saoirse on its epic journey, which included navigating the Three Great Capes without an engine or radio. The return to Dún Laoghaire attracted 10,000 spectators celebrating Ireland’s first international sporting achievement.

O’Brien, described by The Irish Times as an "ambassador," was greeted with cheers and a grand procession. His voyage inspired a new era of ocean-going sailing aboard smaller crafts.

According to Dermod O’Brien, O’Brien's great grandnephew, the purpose of the voyage may have been related to his interest in global exploration rather than a specific plan. “He’d wanted to go mountaineering with friends and this was the easiest way to get there,” Dermod noted.

O’Brien also documented his adventures, contributing articles to The Irish Times and authoring 15 books. His accounts recount challenges, including a drunken crew in Brazil and a near shipwreck in the Indian Ocean.

Before his circumnavigation exploits, O’Brien participated in a maritime gun-running operation for the Irish Volunteers, landing rifles successfully in 1914. The legacy of O’Brien, a nationalist and Oxford-educated architect, continues to resonate.

Read much more in The Irish Times here and more on Conor O'Brien in Afloat's dedicated section here

Published in Conor O'Brien

Tagged under

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

You might also want to read...

About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour