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Displaying items by tag: lecture

#Lecture - "Mutiny & Murder on the Earl of Sandwich", a public lecture by Peter Brady marks the final lecture season organised by Baltimore Maritime Centre which is held in Dublin.

The illustrated talk is take place in Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club in the heart of the working port on Thursday 16th April at 8pm. Entry is €5 and is aid of the RNLI.

The lecture is a tale of piracy and will relive the fateful voyage of The Earl of Sandwich" which sailed from Tenerife November 1765 with a valuable cargo of wine, silk and other goods. Also told will be how the story is closely linked with Cork, Carlow, Kildare, Wexford, and numerous Dublin locations, including Ringsend and the Muglins off Dalkey.

In the 18th century, conditions of pay and work were poor; injury and ill health were a constant risk; and life expectancy was no more than 45 years.

Such was the life of a merchant seaman as the Earl of Sandwich departed London for the Canary Islands on 10 August 1765.

At Tenerife, the ship was laden with wine, silk and other goods, including a rich cargo of coin, which ultimately proved too much of a temptation for some.

Peter has been a sports diver in 1980 and with links in his interest of maritime history to his early dives on the wreck of the Tayleur at Lambay Island.

His research into the 'Earl of Sandwich' began with the stories he heard of how pirates were once hung on the Muglins. The information he has gathered adds new insights into the tale of the ship, its crew and its passengers.

The winter lectures series will resume in the same venue of Poolbeg but not until the Autumn. 

Published in Boating Fixtures

#Lecture: - Baltimore Maritime Centre's 2015 Winter Lecture Series presents 'Stay In the Boat: How Not to Lose the Run of Yourself Crossing the Atlantic'

The lecture to be presented by Theo Dorgan and held on Thursday 5 February starts at 20:00. The venue is the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club, Ringsend, Dublin.

All are welcome. Admission of €5 in aid of the RNLI.

Theo Dorgan is a poet, novelist, translator, editor and broadcaster. A late vocation sailor, he has also written two non-fiction books recounting Atlantic crossings.

In 'Sailing for Home', he tells how he and three others sailed the 70ft schooner, Spirit of Oysterhaven', from Antigua to Kinsale.

Some years later, in a similar-sized boat but with, understandably, a bigger crew, he made the crossing from Chile to South Africa, telling that story in 'Time On The Ocean', a voyage from Cape Horn to Cape Town.

Dorgan is a Shoreline supporter of the RNLI, and always glad to help with fundraising and with publicising their much-admired work.

He will read extracts from both of his sailing books, from his novel which is set at sea in the Mediterranean. Also to be read from his new collection of poems, 'Mine Bright Shiners', in which the sea features prominently.

Published in Boating Fixtures

#WSSlecture – The Cobh branch of the World Ship Society (WSS) continues its 2015 winter monthly meetings programme with the lecture: The Galway Hooker – History, Building and Sailing.

The lecture presented by Kevin Twomey.is next Tuesday 17 February (starting at 20.00) and takes place as usual in the Commodore Hotel, Cobh.

Further presentations are held (on the third Tuesday of each month) until this June.

Presentations are made during the winter months while in the summer period is spiced with visits to ships in the port.

Cobh's WSS branch is the only branch of the society in the Republic of Ireland and this year they celebrate 10 years having been established in 2005.

Over that time the branch have made tours to include visits to Poland, Sweden and the UK.

For further details about the WSS organisation founded in 1946, click HERE.

Published in Galway Hookers

#AsgardLecture - The History of Asgard, from Launch to Gun Running to Conservation is the title of a lecture by Pat Murphy which is to take place in the National Maritime Museum of Ireland, Dun Laoghaire.

The lecture is on Thursday November 20th (8pm). Tickets costing €10 will be made available at the door opening at 7.30pm.

Murphy will tell the life of this famous yacht in Irish history from her launch in 1905 to current conservation in Collin's Barracks Museum.

Asgard undertook a 23 day voyage that centred on the dangerous mission to collect guns and ammunition for the Irish Volunteers. The landing of the arms took place in Howth Harbour in July 1914 and this historical event is described in detail with unique photographs.

The lecture will also feature Conor O'Brien's Kelpie and the Kilcoole landing.

In this centenary year of the anniversary of the Howth gunning event, the lecture will also cover commemorative celebrations.

In addition to tickets payable at the door, bookings can be made in advance by email: [email protected] and by contacting the NMMI on (01) 2143 964

For more details about the Maritime Institute of Ireland's museum which has a gift shop and café, visit: www.mariner.ie

Published in Boating Fixtures

#Lecture - The Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association's (DBOGA) next lecture "Ireland, How Stand Our Island nation? is to be presented by Tom MacSweeney on Tuesday November 18th at the Poolbeg Yacht Boat Club & Marina, Dublin.

The talk which forms part of the winter lecture programme, starts at 8 pm but the organisers are encouraging those wishing to attend to assemble at 7.15 pm for a socialable drink in advance.

All are welcome to the Poolbeg clubhouse which overlooks the marina and faces the entrance to Alexandra Basin. From here all sorts of shipping activities of the commercial port can be viewed in closer detail.

To reach the clubhouse if travelling from the southside along the Merrion Road take the connecting Sean Moore Road that leads onto the South Bank at Pigeon House Road, Ringsend. Or if travelling from the northside cross the Liffey via the East-Link Toll Bridge.

For further information on the lectures programme and in general about the DBOGA, click HERE.

To contact the Poolbeg Yacht Boat Club & Marina (PYBC) Tel: (01) 668 9983

 

Published in Boating Fixtures

#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.

 

Published in Boating Fixtures

#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.

 

Published in Boating Fixtures

#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.

 

Published in Boating Fixtures

#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.

Published in Boating Fixtures

#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.

 

Published in Boating Fixtures
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The Irish Coast Guard

The Irish Coast Guard is Ireland's fourth 'Blue Light' service (along with An Garda Síochána, the Ambulance Service and the Fire Service). It provides a nationwide maritime emergency organisation as well as a variety of services to shipping and other government agencies.

The purpose of the Irish Coast Guard is to promote safety and security standards, and by doing so, prevent as far as possible, the loss of life at sea, and on inland waters, mountains and caves, and to provide effective emergency response services and to safeguard the quality of the marine environment.

The Irish Coast Guard has responsibility for Ireland's system of marine communications, surveillance and emergency management in Ireland's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and certain inland waterways.

It is responsible for the response to, and co-ordination of, maritime accidents which require search and rescue and counter-pollution and ship casualty operations. It also has responsibility for vessel traffic monitoring.

Operations in respect of maritime security, illegal drug trafficking, illegal migration and fisheries enforcement are co-ordinated by other bodies within the Irish Government.

On average, each year, the Irish Coast Guard is expected to:

  • handle 3,000 marine emergencies
  • assist 4,500 people and save about 200 lives
  • task Coast Guard helicopters on missions

The Coast Guard has been around in some form in Ireland since 1908.

Coast Guard helicopters

The Irish Coast Guard has contracted five medium-lift Sikorsky Search and Rescue helicopters deployed at bases in Dublin, Waterford, Shannon and Sligo.

The helicopters are designated wheels up from initial notification in 15 minutes during daylight hours and 45 minutes at night. One aircraft is fitted and its crew trained for under slung cargo operations up to 3000kgs and is available on short notice based at Waterford.

These aircraft respond to emergencies at sea, inland waterways, offshore islands and mountains of Ireland (32 counties).

They can also be used for assistance in flooding, major inland emergencies, intra-hospital transfers, pollution, and aerial surveillance during daylight hours, lifting and passenger operations and other operations as authorised by the Coast Guard within appropriate regulations.

Irish Coastguard FAQs

The Irish Coast Guard provides nationwide maritime emergency response, while also promoting safety and security standards. It aims to prevent the loss of life at sea, on inland waters, on mountains and in caves; and to safeguard the quality of the marine environment.

The main role of the Irish Coast Guard is to rescue people from danger at sea or on land, to organise immediate medical transport and to assist boats and ships within the country's jurisdiction. It has three marine rescue centres in Dublin, Malin Head, Co Donegal, and Valentia Island, Co Kerry. The Dublin National Maritime Operations centre provides marine search and rescue responses and coordinates the response to marine casualty incidents with the Irish exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Yes, effectively, it is the fourth "blue light" service. The Marine Rescue Sub-Centre (MRSC) Valentia is the contact point for the coastal area between Ballycotton, Co Cork and Clifden, Co Galway. At the same time, the MRSC Malin Head covers the area between Clifden and Lough Foyle. Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) Dublin covers Carlingford Lough, Co Louth to Ballycotton, Co Cork. Each MRCC/MRSC also broadcasts maritime safety information on VHF and MF radio, including navigational and gale warnings, shipping forecasts, local inshore forecasts, strong wind warnings and small craft warnings.

The Irish Coast Guard handles about 3,000 marine emergencies annually, and assists 4,500 people - saving an estimated 200 lives, according to the Department of Transport. In 2016, Irish Coast Guard helicopters completed 1,000 missions in a single year for the first time.

Yes, Irish Coast Guard helicopters evacuate medical patients from offshore islands to hospital on average about 100 times a year. In September 2017, the Department of Health announced that search and rescue pilots who work 24-hour duties would not be expected to perform any inter-hospital patient transfers. The Air Corps flies the Emergency Aeromedical Service, established in 2012 and using an AW139 twin-engine helicopter. Known by its call sign "Air Corps 112", it airlifted its 3,000th patient in autumn 2020.

The Irish Coast Guard works closely with the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency, which is responsible for the Northern Irish coast.

The Irish Coast Guard is a State-funded service, with both paid management personnel and volunteers, and is under the auspices of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. It is allocated approximately 74 million euro annually in funding, some 85 per cent of which pays for a helicopter contract that costs 60 million euro annually. The overall funding figure is "variable", an Oireachtas committee was told in 2019. Other significant expenditure items include volunteer training exercises, equipment, maintenance, renewal, and information technology.

The Irish Coast Guard has four search and rescue helicopter bases at Dublin, Waterford, Shannon and Sligo, run on a contract worth 50 million euro annually with an additional 10 million euro in costs by CHC Ireland. It provides five medium-lift Sikorsky S-92 helicopters and trained crew. The 44 Irish Coast Guard coastal units with 1,000 volunteers are classed as onshore search units, with 23 of the 44 units having rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) and 17 units having cliff rescue capability. The Irish Coast Guard has 60 buildings in total around the coast, and units have search vehicles fitted with blue lights, all-terrain vehicles or quads, first aid equipment, generators and area lighting, search equipment, marine radios, pyrotechnics and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Community Rescue Boats Ireland also provide lifeboats and crews to assist in search and rescue. The Irish Coast Guard works closely with the Garda Siochána, National Ambulance Service, Naval Service and Air Corps, Civil Defence, while fishing vessels, ships and other craft at sea offer assistance in search operations.

The helicopters are designated as airborne from initial notification in 15 minutes during daylight hours, and 45 minutes at night. The aircraft respond to emergencies at sea, on inland waterways, offshore islands and mountains and cover the 32 counties. They can also assist in flooding, major inland emergencies, intra-hospital transfers, pollution, and can transport offshore firefighters and ambulance teams. The Irish Coast Guard volunteers units are expected to achieve a 90 per cent response time of departing from the station house in ten minutes from notification during daylight and 20 minutes at night. They are also expected to achieve a 90 per cent response time to the scene of the incident in less than 60 minutes from notification by day and 75 minutes at night, subject to geographical limitations.

Units are managed by an officer-in-charge (three stripes on the uniform) and a deputy officer in charge (two stripes). Each team is trained in search skills, first aid, setting up helicopter landing sites and a range of maritime skills, while certain units are also trained in cliff rescue.

Volunteers receive an allowance for time spent on exercises and call-outs. What is the difference between the Irish Coast Guard and the RNLI? The RNLI is a registered charity which has been saving lives at sea since 1824, and runs a 24/7 volunteer lifeboat service around the British and Irish coasts. It is a declared asset of the British Maritime and Coast Guard Agency and the Irish Coast Guard. Community Rescue Boats Ireland is a community rescue network of volunteers under the auspices of Water Safety Ireland.

No, it does not charge for rescue and nor do the RNLI or Community Rescue Boats Ireland.

The marine rescue centres maintain 19 VHF voice and DSC radio sites around the Irish coastline and a digital paging system. There are two VHF repeater test sites, four MF radio sites and two NAVTEX transmitter sites. Does Ireland have a national search and rescue plan? The first national search and rescue plan was published in July, 2019. It establishes the national framework for the overall development, deployment and improvement of search and rescue services within the Irish Search and Rescue Region and to meet domestic and international commitments. The purpose of the national search and rescue plan is to promote a planned and nationally coordinated search and rescue response to persons in distress at sea, in the air or on land.

Yes, the Irish Coast Guard is responsible for responding to spills of oil and other hazardous substances with the Irish pollution responsibility zone, along with providing an effective response to marine casualties and monitoring or intervening in marine salvage operations. It provides and maintains a 24-hour marine pollution notification at the three marine rescue centres. It coordinates exercises and tests of national and local pollution response plans.

The first Irish Coast Guard volunteer to die on duty was Caitriona Lucas, a highly trained member of the Doolin Coast Guard unit, while assisting in a search for a missing man by the Kilkee unit in September 2016. Six months later, four Irish Coast Guard helicopter crew – Dara Fitzpatrick, Mark Duffy, Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith -died when their Sikorsky S-92 struck Blackrock island off the Mayo coast on March 14, 2017. The Dublin-based Rescue 116 crew were providing "top cover" or communications for a medical emergency off the west coast and had been approaching Blacksod to refuel. Up until the five fatalities, the Irish Coast Guard recorded that more than a million "man hours" had been spent on more than 30,000 rescue missions since 1991.

Several investigations were initiated into each incident. The Marine Casualty Investigation Board was critical of the Irish Coast Guard in its final report into the death of Caitriona Lucas, while a separate Health and Safety Authority investigation has been completed, but not published. The Air Accident Investigation Unit final report into the Rescue 116 helicopter crash has not yet been published.

The Irish Coast Guard in its present form dates back to 1991, when the Irish Marine Emergency Service was formed after a campaign initiated by Dr Joan McGinley to improve air/sea rescue services on the west Irish coast. Before Irish independence, the British Admiralty was responsible for a Coast Guard (formerly the Water Guard or Preventative Boat Service) dating back to 1809. The West Coast Search and Rescue Action Committee was initiated with a public meeting in Killybegs, Co Donegal, in 1988 and the group was so effective that a Government report was commissioned, which recommended setting up a new division of the Department of the Marine to run the Marine Rescue Co-Ordination Centre (MRCC), then based at Shannon, along with the existing coast radio service, and coast and cliff rescue. A medium-range helicopter base was established at Shannon within two years. Initially, the base was served by the Air Corps.

The first director of what was then IMES was Capt Liam Kirwan, who had spent 20 years at sea and latterly worked with the Marine Survey Office. Capt Kirwan transformed a poorly funded voluntary coast and cliff rescue service into a trained network of cliff and sea rescue units – largely voluntary, but with paid management. The MRCC was relocated from Shannon to an IMES headquarters at the then Department of the Marine (now Department of Transport) in Leeson Lane, Dublin. The coast radio stations at Valentia, Co Kerry, and Malin Head, Co Donegal, became marine rescue-sub-centres.

The current director is Chris Reynolds, who has been in place since August 2007 and was formerly with the Naval Service. He has been seconded to the head of mission with the EUCAP Somalia - which has a mandate to enhance Somalia's maritime civilian law enforcement capacity – since January 2019.

  • Achill, Co. Mayo
  • Ardmore, Co. Waterford
  • Arklow, Co. Wicklow
  • Ballybunion, Co. Kerry
  • Ballycotton, Co. Cork
  • Ballyglass, Co. Mayo
  • Bonmahon, Co. Waterford
  • Bunbeg, Co. Donegal
  • Carnsore, Co. Wexford
  • Castlefreake, Co. Cork
  • Castletownbere, Co. Cork
  • Cleggan, Co. Galway
  • Clogherhead, Co. Louth
  • Costelloe Bay, Co. Galway
  • Courtown, Co. Wexford
  • Crosshaven, Co. Cork
  • Curracloe, Co. Wexford
  • Dingle, Co. Kerry
  • Doolin, Co. Clare
  • Drogheda, Co. Louth
  • Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
  • Dunmore East, Co. Waterford
  • Fethard, Co. Wexford
  • Glandore, Co. Cork
  • Glenderry, Co. Kerry
  • Goleen, Co. Cork
  • Greencastle, Co. Donegal
  • Greenore, Co. Louth
  • Greystones, Co. Wicklow
  • Guileen, Co. Cork
  • Howth, Co. Dublin
  • Kilkee, Co. Clare
  • Killala, Co. Mayo
  • Killybegs, Co. Donegal
  • Kilmore Quay, Co. Wexford
  • Knightstown, Co. Kerry
  • Mulroy, Co. Donegal
  • North Aran, Co. Galway
  • Old Head Of Kinsale, Co. Cork
  • Oysterhaven, Co. Cork
  • Rosslare, Co. Wexford
  • Seven Heads, Co. Cork
  • Skerries, Co. Dublin Summercove, Co. Cork
  • Toe Head, Co. Cork
  • Tory Island, Co. Donegal
  • Tramore, Co. Waterford
  • Waterville, Co. Kerry
  • Westport, Co. Mayo
  • Wicklow
  • Youghal, Co. Cork

Sources: Department of Transport © Afloat 2020