The impressive Norwegian-flagged class A tallship, Statsraad Lehmkuhl, which paid a visit to Dublin Port last month as part of a one-year global voyage for the UN Ocean Decade campaign, is to be followed by other unrelated callers to the capital tomorrow, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Its Irish call was part of a 12-month ‘One Ocean Expedition' global voyage in 2025-2026, with the three-masted barque operated by the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation representing a floating ambassador for the UN Ocean Decade. Combining sail training, ocean science, education, and diplomacy to inspire action for a sustainable ocean. At this stage, the tallship was just days from completing the one-year expedition, having completed its epic voyage back at its homeport of Bergen on 18 April.
As Afloat reported earlier, anchored out in Dublin Bay is another trainee tall ship, Georg Stage, as well from a Nordic nation, as the Danish-flagged fully-rigged vessel is due to dock in port tomorrow, Tuesday morning. It has sailed from Scheveningen, in the Netherlands, and is to remain in port until Friday.
The class A tallship built in 1934 has been described by its operator as “the world’s oldest active training institution of its kind" and is to berth at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, from where the Bergen-registered Statsraad Lehmkuhl previously occupied this stretch of the south quays.
Before this is to occur, the much larger Portuguese flagged Santa Maria Manuela is set to make its presence in the early morning, notably with its graceful four-masted schooner profile. The tallship is 67 m in length, and each of the four masts of 36 m tower above the waterline.
When approaching the bay, a Dublin Port pilot boat will meet the tallship to transfer a pilot onboard to head to port, having since Thursday sailed from Brest, France.
Like the Danish caller, Santa Maria Manuela dates to the same decade, having been launched almost 89 years ago to the day, on 10 May 1937, at the CUF shipyard, Lisbon, originally as a codfish-lugger designed for the fishing grounds off Newfoundland and Greenland.
The lugger ship once housed 50 dories (small fishing boats) that sailed several miles away, carrying only a piece of cod and bread to eat during tough conditions. On their return to the lugger, they were loaded one on top of the other, with space still for gutting and cleaning the day's catch before it was salted and racked for the long journey from the chilly fishing waters back to Portugal.
This fishing role would last until the lugger was deemed obsolete in 1993 and when restoration began in 2007, but only with the steel hull. Its current role is far removed from the past, as it is used for sail training, with hands-on sailing holidays, for 44 guests in accommodation that received a complete renovation in 2022, where comfort below deck makes the ship one of the most modern and comfortable tall ships in the world while complementing the schooner’s unique heritage.
In addition to running environmental expeditions and offering team development programmes by owner, Grupo Jerónimo Martins. The schooner is a sister ship of the Portuguese Navy's class A Creoula, which was also launched on the same day and shipyard as Santa Maria Manuela.
However, this visit by the Santa Maria Manuela will be short, as the schooner is only to make a daylight stopover in Dublin at the North Quay Wall Extension. So its presence near the Tom Clarke (East-Link) bridge will be just several hours; as according to the port, it is scheduled to depart in the late afternoon.
