It was good to know of the sail training ketch Ilen lying serenely in the Scotsman’s Bay-Sandycove anchorage south of Dun Laoghaire Harbour last night, like a proper sailing ship of ancient times taking a useful break to await a fair tide and a proper breeze while passage-making. But as it happens, in some ways, the 56ft ketch designed by Conor O’Brien of Limerick and built in Baltimore in West Cork in 1926 to be the inter-island service vessel for the Falkland Islands had some ideas ahead of her time.
During his six “resting” weeks in the Falklands after rounding Cape Horn in the 42ft Saoirse in December 1924, O’Brien had been briefed on the requirements for the hoped-for new inter-island ferry and transport vessel, and he particularly noted the smallness and confined nature of some of the coves and piers from which she would have to work.
So although Saoirse made her voyage round the world without an auxiliary engine, he asserted that the new vessel would require an auxiliary engine which would do much more than merely provide forward movement when the wind failed. On the contrary, it would have to be a real asset when manoeuvring and berthing in tight corners.
“Good morning Forty Foot, I’m Fifty-Six Foot…..” Ilen making her presence felt at Sandycove Photo: Afloat
At the time, when small sailing vessels were being fitted with auxiliary engines and the propellor shaft was in the centre line, the necessary aperture for the propeller would mostly – and sometimes entirely – be taken out of the rudder. The alternative was an offset prop, which made any close-quarters manoeuvring an even more dicey business. Either way, the valuable prop thrust which is such a manoeuvring virtue in modern craft was absent, particularly if the rudder was also – as was common - installed with the shaft markedly raked aft.
O’Brien looked at all this with an architect’s rather than a sailor’s eye. And thus, although Ilen was to take her general appearance from Saoirse, which in turn was based on an Arklow fishing boat of the 1860s that O’Brien had admired, underwater down aft she was arguably state of the art.
By taking Ilen’s propellor aperture entirely out of the deadwood in the hull, Conor O’Brien gave this hard-worked boat impressive manoeuvrability under the auxiliary engine. These photos were taken while preparing for the passage from Ireland out to the Falklands. Conor O’Brien’s Yachtmaster certificate failed to provide insurance for a commercial vessel, so Ilen sailed to the Falklands as a yacht of the Royal Irish YC. It is believed the temporary nameplate of 1926 is now in Ireland. Photo courtesy Gary Mac Mahon/Ilen.ie
For O’Brien gave her a large and almost vertical rudder, and he took the propeller aperture entirely out of the deadwood, so much so that the stern post was retained for added structural integrity. It’s an installation of practicality, beauty and effectiveness, and ensures that half the propellor thrust can be very usefully re-directed as wished.
And if you’re wondering why the ghostly appearance of Ilen off Sandycove in Dun Laoghaire has provoked such a line of thought, the answer is there’s been some cyber-discussion of late about an otherwise exquisite new long-keel modern classic which has such a large propeller aperture taken out of her raked rudder that the fitting of a bow-thruster became an essential for any close-quarters manoeuvring. They should have taken a look at Ilen before starting the project…
