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Displaying items by tag: late Oct

Dredging work is about to begin at the Port of Waterford with a maintenance dredging campaign to be carried out by a Dutch company.

Baggerbedrijf De Boer B.V.'s trailing suction hopper dredger Amazone is next week to conduct activities in the vicinity of Belview, Cheekpoint and further down in the estuary at the Duncannon Bar.

The campaign's main objective is the removal of accumulated sediment from the channels, turning areas and berths at (Belview) the main terminal at the Port of Waterford. This work will mostly involve work at the Cheekpoint lower bar and also at the Duncannon Bar.

The removed material will then be disposed by the 2771m3 hopper capacity dredger at an approved site beyond the estuary at a location south west of Hook Head.

It is expected that the campaign will take approximately 28 days and be followed by a bed levelling works by the Fastnet Sound which Afloat adds is a 21m MulitCat operated by a local firm Fastnet Shipping.

The marine plant and services company is based on the River Suir at Bilberry which is just westward of Waterford city's Rice lift-bridge. 

Published in Dredging

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

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