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Displaying items by tag: Second World War

#DIVING - WorldIrish have done it again with another great video find - this time following a team of divers off Donegal as they explore the wreck of the RMS/HMS Carinthia.

On 6 June 1940, during the Second World War, the transatlantic steam-powered cruise liner turned armed merchant ship was sunk by a German U-boat off Tory Island.

The video above shows some of the sights seen by Michael McVeigh and his diving team, including the ship's bow, the anchor telegraph and its wartime addition 6" gun.

Published in Diving
#COASTAL NOTES - A new book detailing the "colourful history" of Helen's Bay and Crawfordsburn in north Down has been launched, the News Letter reports.
Twixt Bay & Burn features a number of rare photographs among interesting and little-known facts about the coastal area from the 17th century to today.
Also documented in its pages are the memories of over 50 residents going back to the 1920s, highlighting the area's contributions to the Second World War effort.
Robin Masefield, who compiled and edited the book, described it as a "labour of love".
The News Letter has much more on the story HERE.

#COASTAL NOTES - A new book detailing the "colourful history" of Helen's Bay and Crawfordsburn in north Down has been launched, the News Letter reports.

Twixt Bay & Burn features a number of rare photographs among interesting and little-known facts about the coastal area from the 17th century to today.

Also documented in its pages are the memories of over 50 residents going back to the 1920s, highlighting the area's contributions to the Second World War effort.

Robin Masefield, who compiled and edited the book, described it as a "labour of love".

The News Letter has much more on the story HERE.

Published in Coastal Notes
The US Coast Guard's training barque Eagle returned to her home port of New London, Connecticut last week after a summer-long voyage to Europe.
Last May the ship and its crew paid a visit to Waterford ahead of this year's Tall Shps Races, where it met a contingent of Connecticut residents, before sailing on towards Hanover, Germany where she was first constructed 75 years ago.
Other ports of call included London, Reykjavik, Halifax in Nova Scotia and a final stop in New York City.
"The cadets had an incredible chance to sail the Atlantic as it was meant to be sailed," Captain Eric Jones told Connecticut's The Day.
The captain noted that it was also a voyage of remembrance, referencing the history of the ship - which the US received in reparations after the Second World War - and the laying of a wreath to memorialise the Coast Guard cutter Alexander Hamilton, torpedoed by a German U-boat off the Icelandic coast in January 1942.
The Day has much more on the story HERE.

The US Coast Guard's training barque Eagle returned to her home port of New London, Connecticut last week after a summer-long voyage to Europe.

Last May the ship and its crew paid a visit to Waterford ahead of this year's Tall Ships Races, where it met a contingent of Connecticut residents, before sailing on towards Hanover, Germany where she was first constructed 75 years ago.

Other ports of call included London, Reykjavik, Halifax in Nova Scotia and a final stop in New York City.

"The cadets had an incredible chance to sail the Atlantic as it was meant to be sailed," Captain Eric Jones told Connecticut's The Day.

The captain noted that it was also a voyage of remembrance, referencing the history of the ship - which the US received in reparations after the Second World War - and the laying of a wreath to memorialise the Coast Guard cutter Alexander Hamilton, torpedoed by a German U-boat off the Icelandic coast in January 1942.

The Day has much more on the story HERE.

Published in Tall Ships
Spring cleaners at Sixmilewater River in Co Antrim got the surprise of their lives last weekend when a Second World War mortar shell was discovered in the riverbed.
Volunteers for Big Spring Clean Week had already picked it up from the water, thinking it at first to be a piece of metal piping, before they realised what they really had on their hands.
The Belfast Telegraph reports that the shocking find sparked a security alert for most of the day. The nearby Dublin Road was closed while army bomb disposal experts removed the device for examination.
The bomb was described a being 20 inches long, "torpedo-shaped" and "pale green".
It joined a list of random items including a bicycle, three scooters, golf clubs and a taxi sign that were retrieved from a single 100m stretch of the river near the Antrim Forum.

Inland Waterways Spring cleaners at Sixmilewater River in Co Antrim got the surprise of their lives last weekend when a Second World War mortar shell was discovered in the riverbed.

Volunteers for Big Spring Clean Week had already picked it up from the water, thinking it at first to be a piece of metal piping, before they realised what they really had on their hands.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that the shocking find sparked a security alert for most of the day. The nearby Dublin Road was closed while army bomb disposal experts removed the device for examination.

The bomb was described a being 20 inches long, "torpedo-shaped" and "pale green".

It joined a list of random items including a bicycle, three scooters, golf clubs and a taxi sign that were retrieved from a single 100m stretch of the river near the Antrim Forum.

Published in Inland Waterways

The GP14 is a popular sailing dinghy, with well over 14,000 boats built.

The class is active in the UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and parts of north-eastern USA, and the GP14 can be used for both racing and cruising. 

Designed by Jack Holt in 1949, with the assistance of the Dovey Yacht Club in Aberdyfi. The idea behind the design was to build a General Purpose (GP) 14-foot dinghy which could be sailed or rowed, capable of also being powered effectively by a small outboard motor, able to be towed behind a small family car and able to be launched and recovered reasonably easily, and stable enough to be able to lie to moorings or anchor when required. Racing soon followed, initially with some degree of opposition from Yachting World, who had commissioned the design, and the boat soon turned out to be an outstanding racing design also.

The boat was initially designed with a main and small jib as a comfortable family dinghy. In a design philosophy that is both practical and highly redolent of social attitudes of the day the intention was that she should accommodate a family comprising parents plus two children, and specifically that the jib should be modest enough for "Mum" or older children to handle, while she should perform well enough to give "Dad" some excitement when not taking the family out. While this rig is still available, and can be useful when using the boat to teach sailing, or for family sailing, and has some popularity for cruising, the boat is more commonly seen with the full modern rig of a mainsail, genoa and spinnaker. Australian boats also routinely use trapezes.

GP14 Ireland Event Dates 2023

  • O'Tiarnaigh (Apr 22-23) Blessington Sailing Club
  • Ulsters (May 20-21) East Antrim Boat Club
  • Munsters (Jun 17-18) Tralee Bay Sailing Club
  • Leinsters (Jul 7-9) Dun Laoghaire Regatta
  • SOYC (Aug 19-20) Rush Sailing Club
  • Nationals (Sep 1-3) Sutton Dinghy Club
  • Hot Toddy (Sep 30-Oct 1) Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club

 

At A Glance – GP14 Dinghy Specifications

Crew 2
Draft 1,200 mm (47 in)
Hull weight 132.9 kg
LOA 4.27 m (14 ft)
Beam 1.54 m
Spinnaker area 8.4 m2
Upwind sail area 12.85 m2

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