#SeafoodWineEvent – A mouthwatering seafood cookery demonstration and wine-tasting event extraordinaire takes place at the National Maritime Museum, Dun Laoghaire next week.

The evening event on Thursday 24 April between 7.30-10pm will see Peter Caviston demonstrate the skills to prepare monk fish, crab and other choice fish dishes. Also lending a hand will be Robert Mitchell who will demonstrate the wines that will best complement the food.

For tastings and learning more plus all the craic!... tickets are €10 and proceeds are in support of the National Maritime Museum.

Book early to avoid dissapointment as are there are only a limited number of tickets available!

Booking can be made by email: [email protected] and by contacting the NMMI Tel: (01) 214 3964. For further information in general about the museum and gift shop, opening times and other events visit: www.mariner.ie

#HowthGunRunning – A lecture entiltled 'Local Aspects of the Howth Gun Running' will be presented by Diarmuid Ó Cathasaigh on Tuesday 22 April at 8pm.

The lecture will no doubt draw great interest and as the topic surrounds a period in our history a century ago when munitions were secretly landed from the Asgard for the Irish Volunteers in 1914.

All are welcome to the lecture held in the Howth Angling Centre, West Pier, Howth Harbour and which is organised by the Howth Peninsula Historical Society, non-members entrance fee of €5.

#FirstBoyneSwim - The inaugural Boyne Swim will take place on 14 June at 12.30pm and as previously reported on Afloat.ie is to be part of the Irish Maritime Festival held in Drogheda.

The swimming event is being organised by Drogheda Triathlon Club with Aura as the main sponsor.

Starting at Mell, west of Drogheda town centre, the 2.7km long course takes the swimmers through Drogheda Port and finishing South East of the famous (Dublin-Belfast Railway Line) viaduct bridge which spans over commercial shipping activity below.

Drogheda Triathlon Club's main aim is to have the Boyne Swim as an annual event on the National Open Water Calendar alongside the well-established Liffey, Lee & Dun Laoghaire Harbour Swims.

The club are hoping to attract the top open water swimmers in the country to the Boyne Swim with many already registered from all four corners of the country.

This event is open to wetsuit and non-wetsuit swimmers and has both senior and junior prize categories. Drogheda Port Company are sponsoring the trophies for this event. For further nformation and online registration visit www.droghedatri.ie

The Irish Maritime Festival (13,14 and 15 June) is being hosted by Drogheda Borough Council, Drogheda Port and supported by Drogheda Chamber of Commerce.

Among an expected line-up of tallships, the West Country trading ketch, Bessie Ellen, is to arrive on the Boyne from Oban, Scotland. The crew will experience traditional sailing skills, a sense of adventure and camaraderie of the 110 year lady of the sea.

#Lecture – The Maritime Institute of Ireland presents a fundraising lecture "Coastguard 1822-2014: Hands Round the Country" in the National Maritime Museum, Haigh Terrace, Dun Laoghaire at 7.30pm on Thursday 10th April.

The main emphasis of the talke will be on how the Coastguard has contributed to famine relief, rescue work, its people and notable incidents over almost 200 years. There are some surprising stories, backed up with pictures.

Joe Ryan has a MSc in Emergency Management (Hons) and has worked at MRCC Dublin in operations for almost 20 years and co-ordinated during incidents e.g. FV Carrickatine, R111 (Dauphine at Tramore), Currach at Bellderg cave and many more.

Lecture tickets cost €10 and are to help promote Maritime Heritage. For bookings contact Joe Ryan at email: [email protected] or the museum's email: [email protected] or directly contacting the Maritime Museum Tel: (01) 214 3964 which is open 11am - 5pm daily.

#Lecture- "Dublin Bay, the Cradle of Yacht Racing-Rewriting the Story of our Sport", a public lecture by Hal Sisk, yachting historian is to be held next Thursday 3 April (8pm) at the Poolbeg Boat and Yacht Club, Ringsend in Dublin 4.

This is the final lecture of the Members of Glenua & Friends 2013-14 series held in the Ringsend venue from where there is a lecture entrance fee of €5 in aid of RNLI. For further details contact: 087 2129614.

The current series was very well attended and the organisers wish to thank you for your valuable support in that regard. Lectures will return in October and no doubt bringing more fascinating topics in the cosy surroundings of the Poolbeg clubhouse and bar.

Returning to the final lecture of this season, the topic of the amateur sport of sailing, as we know it, first emerged, not in Holland, not in Cowes, and not even in Cork, but right here in Dublin Bay!

Earlier "yachting" episodes used entirely professional crews, and the yacht owners and friends were little more than passengers. But from the 1850s in Dublin Bay the sport developed with active leisure sailors actually learning to sail and race their yachts themselves, as we all do today. And for two decades, 1855 to 1875, Dubliners led the world in shaping the sport, including setting the original rules, and also introducing such innovations as offshore and singlehanded racing.

With many illustrations from the paintings and photographs of the period, yachting historian Hal Sisk will show how much of a challenge it was to be the pioneers, and in what kind of yachts they sailed.
Hal's restorations of the classic yachts Vagrant and Peggy Bawn are exemplary in authenticity, and he has entertained audiences in five continents with his enthusiastic presentations.

#Lecture - "An Irish Corvette at War – HMS Oxlip to Le Maeve" is to be presented by John Treacy and will be held tomorrow (Thursday) at 8pm at the  Stella Maris Seafarer's Club, 3 Beresford Place, Dublin.

The LE Maev served the Irish State for almost a quarter of a century, during some of the darkest periods of Irish naval policy. Suffering from a chronic lack of economic resources, flagging political support and a comical social perception, the Maev and her sisters struggled to provide the maritime security envisaged after the Emergency. To read more on this lecture topic click link.

All are welcome to attend the evening lecture organised by the Maritime Institute of Ireland which is held at the city-centre venue where a bar and refreshments are available. A voluntary contribution is payable to the door to the M.I.I. which runs the National Maritime Museum (NMMI) in Dun Laoghaire.

The lecture organisers would be pleased for anyone to kindly forward details about the lecture programme, held on the third Thursday of each month.

Public transport: The nearest DART stations are Connolly Station and at Tara Street in addition to the LUAS (Red) line stop at Busáras. Car parking is located in the Irish Life Mall (ILAC) on Lower Abbey Street.

#ShackletonsCabin – Shackleton's Cabin from the Quest where he died on 5 January 1921 is the topic of a talk this Saturday, 8 March at 4pm in the Royal St. George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The speaker and owner of Shackleton's Cabin is Mr. Ulf Bakke, who is a grandson of the shipyard owner that acquired the Quest on its return from Antarctica in 1921 when it was converted into a Sealer. The cabin was removed and has been safely maintained ever since in Norway.

All are welcome to the talk in the yacht club venue. Admission fee of €10.

Nearby you can also relive the life story of the Irish born polar explorer at the Shackleton Endurance Exhibition and gift shop located in the ferryport terminal.

The terminal will see the return of Stena Line's HSS fast-craft operated seasonal-service to Holyhead starting on 9 April.

#MarineArt - An exhibition of paintings from the collection of National Maritime Museum of Ireland in Dun Laoghaire will be launched by Ian Whyte of Whyte's Fine Art Auctioneers.

The launch is at 7.00 pm on Wednesday 12 March and where light refreshments will be served in the former Mariners Church on Haigh Terrace, close to the Royal Marine Hotel.

Opportunities to see the collection will continue until the end of June and during normal museum opening hours (11am-5pm daily). There is an admission fee of €5, Family €12 and for  Children under 12 €3.

Alternatively you can consider becoming a member of the Maritime Institute of Ireland which was founded in 1941 and in which would later establish the maritime museum.  The membership entitles you to visit the museum free of charge.

The museum is (mostly) wheelchair accessible and there is a Museum Cafe serving hot snacks. For further information including how to become a volunteer contact: (01) 280 0969 or visit: www.mariner.ie

#Lecture – "Beef, Butter and Pork-Cork Shipping Trade During the American War of Independence 1775-83" is to be presented by Joe Varley, maritime historian next week, Thursday 6 March at 20:00 in Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club, Ringsend, Dublin.

All are welcome to the 2013/2014 lecture series organised by the Members of Glenua & Friends which is held in the intimate venue located close to the busy heart of Dublin Port. Entry fee of €5 is in aid of the RNLI. For further detail contact: 087 2129614

To lecture is about the mid-18th Century Cork merchants who became very wealthy by exporting heavily-salted beef, pork and butter. The main markets were in Spain, Portugal and in the West Indies.

However, the American war also created a military demand for these exports. This demand had an immediate and long-term effect on business and shipping in the port of Cork. These changed circumstances form the theme for this illustrated presentation.

Joe Varley has a reputation for being an engaging and entertaining lecturer that springs from his seagoing experience as a radio officer, his time as a sailing instructor with Glenans and his long-serving membership of the Maritime Institute of Ireland.

In 2012-2013, he completed an M.A. in Naval history at the University of Exeter. The research for this lecture was taken from academic work presented at that time.

#Lecture – "Cork During the American War of Independence: 1775-1783" is the title of the lecture presented by Joe Varley and held in Stella Maris Seafarers Club, 3 Beresford Place, Dublin this Thursday 20 February (8pm).

The illustrated lecture focuses on the huge increase in trade brought about by Cork Merchants supplying the British military with essential supplies during the war.

All are welcome to attend the evening lecture organised by the Maritime Institute of Ireland which is held at the city-centre venue where a bar and refreshments are available. A voluntary contribution is payable to the door to the M.I.I. which runs the National Maritime Museum (NMMI) in Dun Laoghaire.

The lecture organisers would be pleased for anyone to kindly forward details about the lecture programme, held on the third Thursday of each month.

Public transport: The nearest DART stations are Connolly Station and at Tara Street in addition to the LUAS (Red) line stop at Busáras. Car parking is located in the Irish Life Mall (ILAC) on Lower Abbey Street.