One of the last surviving West Country ketches tallships out of a fleet of around 700, the Bessie Ellen was making passage through the Irish Sea yesterday from Falmouth bound for Liverpool, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Bessie Ellen is rigged with eight sails which cover 330 sq m and this would be the only source of power to transport her hold which had a cargo capacity for 150 tons. Her original owner was the North Devon home-skipper Captain John Chichester who named the ketch after two of his daughters. The crew would be limited to between four to six persons, a captain, mate, deckhands and cook.

By the Second World War most of these numerous working cargo sailing ships were being taken over by power-driven vessels. They were becoming increasingly redundant and laid-up rotting away in creeks, fortunately there was sufficient cargo for Bessie Ellen up to 1947.

She was purchased by Danish owners for where she carried a profitable trade in scrap metal, even so sail-power was not enough and she had an engine installed. Trade increased and she was too small to serve her owners Capt. Moller up to the 1970's. In 1983 there were plans to convert the vessel for charter but this fell-through.

Her current owner Nikki Alford brought the vessel in 2000 and over the next three years she was refitted to original rigging specifications and re-emerged in her new career as a sail training vessel. She runs day-long sailing cruises and longer sailing expeditions and educational programmes. Accommodation is for 20 persons in bunks and another 12 is set aside for guests.To read more about the ketch click HERE.

In recent years another West Country traditional sailing vessel the staysail-schooner Kathleen and May made an historic voyage to Dublin in 2008 with a commercial cargo of French wine. This would be the first cargo she conveyed since 1961, also the last year in which the last Arklow owned cargo-carrying schooner the De Wadden would trade, though she was fitted with an engine. The schooner is now preserved in Liverpool, click this LINK.

Katheleen and May made a second delivery to Dublin in 2009 again for Fair Wind Wine and the company (CTMV) also chartered the schooner Etoile de France in advance of St. Patrick's Day. The final CTMV wine cargoes were on board the Bessie Ellen and Notre Dame de Romengol during the last Dublin Docklands Maritime Festival held in 2010. The small French coastal cargo vessel or "gabare" built in 1945 at Camaret, near Brest is classified by the French government as an historic monument.

Also last year the oldest sailing tallship in Europe, the French barque Belem attended the inaugural Hoist the French Sail, French Week in Dublin. The 1896 built Belem was specially chartered in to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alliance Francaise in Dublin.

Several years ago Belem called to the capital to deliver wine but this was a trade-only publicity exercise prior to the CTMV wine cargoes. Apart from wine she is also associated with Sir Arthur Ernest Guinness of the family brewing dynasty, who owned her as a private 'yacht' under the name of Fantôme II. To read more about the fascinating history of this barque click HERE.

Two recent letters in The Irish Times serve as a "reminder of the high value of sailing to the social and economic health of Ireland".

Enda O Coineen - who helped bring the Volvo Ocean Race to Ireland - writes on Saturday last of the "shame" of becoming "quayside bystanders" that many felt welcoming the Norwegian tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl to Dublin when Ireland's youth ocean sail training scheme is being ended due to a 100% budget cut.

Echoing his sentiments, Peter Vine asks: "Is it not time to acknowledge that this maritime nation can benefit enormously by nurturing sailing and a love of the sea among our young people?"

Vine argues that efforts towards a "new viable Tallship for Ireland deserve individual, corporate and Government support". Do you agree? Have your say in the comments below.

Norwegian Tall Ship, S/S Statsraad Lehmkuhl, sailed into Dublin this afternoon, Thursday 18th August at 15.00 hours at Sir John Rogerson's Quay almost exactly one year in advance of an entire fleet of Tall Ships coming into Dublin port.

Dublin will become the final port of call for The Tall Ships Races 2012 presented by Szczecin and orgnaised by Sail Training International, a charity established to harness sail training to develop and educate young people, regardless of nationality, culture, religion, gender or social background.

Cllr. Maria Parodi, Dublin City's Deputy Lord Mayor, who will officially welcome Captain Marcus A. Seidl and his crew to Dublin tomorrow, Friday 19th August said "I am delighted to welcome S/S Statsraad Lehmkuhl and its crew to Dublin. The first Norwegian vessels to sail into Dublin did so many centuries ago and certainly made an impact. We hope the crew will enjoy their short time in Dublin and we hope to welcome them all back here with The Tall Ships Races next August".

Norwegan Tall Ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl sails into Dublin Bay. Photo: Andres Poveda Photography

Members of the public hoping to get an insight in to life on board a Tall Ship can visit S/S Statsraad Lehmkuhl on Friday 19th August from 12:00 – 16:30 and on Saturday the 20th August from 10:00 – 12:00.

The three masted barque S/S Statsraad Lehmkuhl is one of the world's largest and most beautiful sailing ships. Having served in two World Wars, S/S Statsraad Lehmkuhl, is now in active use as a sail training vessel.

Preparations are under way to ensure a warm welcome is extended to Tall Ships participating in the Tall Ships Race 2012.

From the 23rd to the 26th of August 2012, Dublin will host four days of festival events.

Statsraad Lehmkuhl, a 3-masted steel barque, was built in 1914 as a training ship for the German Merchant Marine. During most of World War I Statsraad Lehmkuhl was used as a stationary training ship in Germany, and after the war was seized as a war prize by England.

The Norwegian government purchased the ship from England in 1921 and she was put into service as a sail training vessel until 1967 ex­cept for the period 1940 - 1945, when the Germans confiscated the ship during World War II.

Now owned and operated by a charitable founda­tion, Statsraad Lehmkuhl has been rented to schools, clubs, compa­nies and other organizations who have used the ship for sail training cruises and shorter trips.

The foundation has facilitated and financed a massive restoration and maintainance program to ensure the preservation of Statsraad Lehmkuhl by active use. She is the oldest and largest square rigged ship in Norway today.
Statsraad Lehmkuhl has a gross tonnage of 1.516 tons and has a sail area of 2.026 square me­ters distributed between 22 sails. The ship has a diesel engine for propulsion that develops 1125 HP, which gives the ship a speed of up to 11 knots.

Under sail, the ship has gained a speed of more than 18 knots.

At nearly 100 years old, Norway's oldest tallship, the sail training three-masted steel barque Statsraad Lehmkuhl is to call to Dublin Port next week, writes Jehan Ashmore.

STV Statsraad Lehmkuhl is scheduled to arrive in Dublin Bay on Thursday afternoon where she will enter through the port's East-Link lift toll-bridge and berth at Sir John Rogerson's Quay. She departed Bergen last Thursday and is currently heading for Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.

She was originally christened Grossherzog Fridrich August when completed at the J.C. Tecklenborgwerft yard in Bremerhaven as a sail training ship for the German merchant navy.

In 1923 she changed hands and began a career with the Norwegian Shipowners Association on the initiative of the state Kritoffer Lehmkuhl. The vessel was renamed in his honour due to Lehmkuhl's dedication to the cause of cadetship programmes and his contribution in creating an independent Norwegian government in 1905.

She was transferred to the Bergen Schoolship Association in 1924. After many years serving the association the vessel was donated in 1978 to the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation, an organisation also based in the country's second largest city.

The Celtic Mist sailed to its new berth at Kilrush in Co Clare on Saturday to begin its new life as a marine research vessel.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the 52-foot yacht was gifted by the Haughey family to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) to assist in its conservation work.

It also recently completed a leg of the Tall Ships Races from Waterford to Greenock in western Scotland - the only Irish entry to compete in the race this year.

According to Irish Weather Online, the yacht will be used for research and surveying of whales, dolphins and other marine wildlife in Ireland, as well as training people to carry out marine surveys by acoustic monitoring.

Irish Weather Online also has images of the Celtic Mist arriving at its new home HERE.

The Irish Independent today recounts the tumultuous history of the Celtic Mist - the yacht once owned by the late former Taoiseach Charles Haughey that recently took part in the Tall Ships Races has now begun a new life as a research vessel with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).

"But as the boat continues to ride the waves off the west coast of Ireland it will forever be associated with the shenanigans of 'Champagne Charlie'," writes John Costello.

Though controversial for many - from its purchase in 1987 and its subsequent lavish outfitting to the extravagance of the lobster and vintage wine that were always available on board - there are also fond memories, particularly in Dingle, where Haughey helped to transform the harbour. 

And who can forget the time when Loyalist terrorists threatened to blow up the yacht in a bid to avenge the death of Lord Mountbatten?

The Irish Independent has more on the Celtic Mist's storied past HERE.

In one of the busiest racing weekends of the Irish sailing calendar a vintage Quarter tonner sailed by six friends lifted the top prize in Dun Laoghaire. We report on Supernova's success. In a weekend of extremes for the biennial 'big one' we have reports, photos and video from Day one, two, three and overall. Plus how one VDLR competitor skipped the ferry and sailed over, from Wales in a dinghy. We have the DBSC likely first series winners too. On Friday, John Twomey and his crew qualified in Weymouth for next year's Paralympic Games. Yesterday in Croatia Sophie Murphy took a race win at the ISAF Youth Worlds for Ireland. From a lead at the halfway stage Peter McCann ended up eighth at the Oppy worlds in Portugal.We have less serious Optimist action from Crosshaven too.

In offshore news, the Transatlantic Race 2011 Nears a Finish, and RORC yachts that headed West did best in the St Malo from Cowes race. Ireland's entry in the Tall Ships race, Celtic Mist, is safely in Scotland. WIORA starts this week in Clifden, thirty boats are expected.

Two top Cork performers are in Cowes for this week's Quarter Ton Cup.

In other boating news, rower Siobhan McCrohan won bronze at the World Rowing Champs in Lucerne, Kiteboarding debuted in Dun Laoghaire. There were Medals for Irish Kayakers at Athens Special Olympics.

And finally after a Elaine 'Shooter' Alexander is set for hero's welcome this week as she becomes the first woman from Northern Ireland to circumnavigate the island of Ireland.

All on our home page this morning, thanks for your interest in Irish Sailing and Boating.

There's been a range of videos coming into Afloat.ie following the Tall Ships visit to Waterford on the 30th June 201.

Below is a short observational documentary shot on The Tall Ships Race. The piece was shot on a Canon 550d camera with a soundtrack from Irish singer/songwriter Cathy Davey "Sing For Your Supper".

Parade of Sail from Waterford, Ireland for the start of the 2011 Tall Ships Race. Place: Passage East, early morning, 3 July, 2011. Photography by Mik Herman.

And some footage of shoreside festivities by Fionn

 

The tall ship that ran aground off Scotland yesterday has been refloated.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the 100-foot-long Irene of Bridgwater, with 10 people on board, became stuck in Lamlash Bay on its way to port at Greenock - one of five ports on the route of the 2011 Tall Ships Races.

A spokesperson for Clyde Coastguard told STV that the ship was refloated at 3.45am this morning.

"There were no injuries and no damage," she added.

Tomorrow sees the official opening ceremony of Ireland's first visitor centre dedicated to the history of emigration.

The National Centre for Emigration History in New Ross, Co Wexford, which incorporates the Irish America Hall of Fame, will be opened by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadar, joined by famous Irish-American Michael Flatley. 

Located on the quay side of the River Barrow next to the popular tall ship Dunbrody, which commemorates the Great Famine, the €2.6 million interative centre features a state-of-the-art exhibition on the story of Irish emigration, plus a genealogical resource for visitors hoping to trace their Irish heritage.