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Displaying items by tag: Liner tender

In the UK plans to save a "unique" D-Day historic vessel moored in Southampton have been unveiled - ending years of anxiety over its future, having as Afloat reported also spent a career tending to trans-Atlantic liner passengers in Galway Bay.

According to the DailyEcho, the tug tender Calshot has been bought by a maritime restoration company, which is drawing up proposals to restore the vessel over the next three years.

Tomorrow Calshot (was towed on 25th May) from Southampton docks to James Wharf at Ocean Quay at Belvidere Road.

(Afloat adds another former Aran Islands ferry, Naomh Éanna (see story) still remains languishing in a poor state in one of Dublin's Grand Canal Docks Basin's notable Georgian built dry-docks).

The Calshot was launched in 1929 and helped manoeuvre the world’s greatest ocean liners as they either entered or left the port.

In 1944 she was one of more than 7,000 vessels which took part in the D-Day landings.

She transported sections of the famous Mulberry harbour across the English Channel to France and also served as a “non-assault HQ ship”.

But the Southampton-built vessel was declared unseaworthy by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in 2017.

For years she was owned by the Tug Tender Calshot Trust (TTCT), which warned she was slowly deteriorating and should be moved ashore in a bid to preserve her for the nation.

For much more on this historic vessel, click on the story here

Published in Historic Boats

#TITANIC- In the centenary year of commemorating the R.M.S. Titanic, the pier from where her last passengers boarded at Cobh (Queenstown) is in danger of collapsing unless funding is made available to carry out immediate preservation reports The Irish Times.

The 19th century pier constructed of timber is one of the most tangible links between the town and the liner which anchored offshore and where passengers boarded by tenders.

In addition many emigrants also trundled the pier's planks to depart Irish shores for the final time on ocean-going journeys to the four corners of the world in an effort to start new lives.

To read more about the story click HERE.

Published in Titanic

Lambs Week Regatta on Galway Bay

With a theme of accessibility, Lambs Week was devised to celebrate the unique sailing grounds of the West of Ireland. 

It comprises five days of sailing around Galway Bay and the Aran Islands.

Big boats, small boats, fast boats and slow boats are all welcome.

The fleet, which totalled 46 for the first edition in 2021, takes in three beautiful harbours of Ros aMhil, Cil Ronain and Cloch naRon, each keen to offer a warm welcome to the competing sailors. 

Organisers Galway Bay Sailing Club match similarly rated boats to see who can get the best out of the conditions for a 'Sail in Company'.  A Pursuit Challenge around the islands for both competitive and non-competitive boats is also held.