Displaying items by tag: Van Morrison

8th February 2016

Fans Want Belfast Span Named For Van The Man

#Belfast - Fans of the recently knighted Sir Van Morrison are mounting a campaign to have a new river bridge in East Belfast named in his honour, as the Belfast Telegraph reports.

The musician grew up close to where a series of new bridge crossings are planned as part of a greenway development in Orangefield along the Connswater, Knock and Loop waterways.

And the first of these, a bridge between Victoria Park and the adjacent Harbour Estate, was already named by popular vote as the Sam Thompson Bridge after the late playwright.

That's prompted fans of 'Van the Man' to call on officials behind the Connswater Greenway scheme to honour the Belfast legend's contributions to music the world over with a bridge in his name, or named after one of his famous songs such as 'Astral Weeks' and 'Moondance'.

The Belfast Telegraph has more on the story HERE.

Published in Belfast Lough

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour