#INLAND WATERWAYS - As Derek Evans writes in The Irish Times, the recent discovery of the first Guinness merchant vessel - sunk a century ago by a German torpedo in the Irish Sea - rekindled memories of the brewery's boats on the Liffey in the 1950s.

He writes: "Living close to Stoneybatter, I often took time to stand on Queen Street Bridge as the barges, filled with Guinness barrels, slowly made their way from James’s Gate to Sir John Rogerson’s Quay.

"I remember clearly the skipper standing beside the open wheelhouse in his navy blue polo-neck jumper, captain’s hat and pipe... The skipper always had a smile and a wave before he would disappear for a few moments under the white cloud."

He also recalls the hoisting of the barrells at Butt Bridge onto the Guinness cargo vessels - like the WM Barkley, the Lady Grania or Gwendolen Guinness - for transport to Liverpool.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the wreck of the WM Barkley was captured in high-resolution images taken from the national research vessel RV Celtic Voyager off the coast of Dublin.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.