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Displaying items by tag: Irish ship wreck

Dundalk is where a team of divers from the Isle of Man visited the Co. Louth port town so to bring the bell of the steam ship flagship, S.S. Dundalk back to a grateful town.

As EnergyFM reports, divers of Discover Diving based in Port, St. Mary, on the Manx south coast, were guests of honour of Dundalk’s Louth County Museum.

Artefacts of the Glasgow built flagship of the Dundalk and Newry Steam Packet Company were retrieved from the wreck. They consist the bell and its wrought-iron hanger, a porthole and a washbasin which were handed over to the county museum.

As Afloat previously reported, S.S. Dundalk during WWI was attacked on 14th October, 1918 by a German submarine during a return trip from Liverpool’s Collinwood Dock to Dundalk. The cargo ship's main trade was cattle, produce and also the carriage of passengers. 

The torpedo attack led to the sinking of the 234ft long merchant ship and claimed 21 people. Only 12 survived, some of which were brought to Douglas from the incident that took place just weeks before the end of World War 1 and of the crew, they mostly were local to the Dundalk area.

On the 100th anniversary of the sinking, a committee of descendants of the crew, travelled to the Isle of Man to unveil a memorial clock on the Castletown River waterfront. The clock is in memory to those who tragically lost their lives.

For more,Energy FM reports more on the return of the ship's bell.

Also in the centenary year, Afloat reported of a ceremony held on board the Isle of Man Steam Packet's Mannanan which saw the fast ferry take a special detour to the wreck site some 60 miles offshore.

On the 92nd anniversary, the Dundalk Sub Aqua Club divers carried out a commemorative dive to the wreck site. The divers laid a plaque of remembrance which Dundalk town council had sponsored.

Published in Historic Boats

Irish Sailing Classes and Association – There’s no shortage of one-design classes from which to choose and each gives its enthusiasts great competition, fun and camaraderie, writes Graham Smith in this review of the classes. 

One-design racing is where it all starts. It is, after all, where all the top sailors earned their stripes, battling away for line honours without a thought for a handicapper’s calculator wiping away a hard-fought victory!

Indeed, you could count on less than one hand the number of top Irish sailors who didn’t cut their teeth in a one-design dinghy! Just think of Cudmore, Barrington, Watson, Wilkins, Hennessy and Dix to name a few and you realise that they honed their skills in everything from Enterprises to Lasers and a lot in between.

At present count, there are a little over 30 one-design classes in Ireland, split almost evenly between dinghies and keelboats, a statistic which might raise a few eyebrows. They range from the long-established Mermaids, IDRA14s and Dragons to the newer additions like Fevas, Topaz and RS Elite. They all fill a particular need and give their owners and crews considerable enjoyment.

Many have attracted their World or European Championships to Irish waters over the years and while 2009 is notable for a lack of such events here, the following year will see the Etchells Worlds at Howth and perhaps a few other international regattas too.

In addition to the review, we asked each class to complete a questionnaire giving details of their fleet numbers, whether they were on a growth pattern or holding their own, so we could highlight those ‘on the up’ and those remaining static in terms of numbers. The older traditional designs, as you might imagine, fall into the latter category, although that’s not a negative!

CLASS REVIEW  The State of the Classes – League Table (as at February 2009)

S = Static; U = Up/growing

275     Optimist   U

200+   Laser   S

189     Mermaid   S

160     Flying Fifteen   S

130     RS Feva   U

115     Shannon One Design    U

100+   Mirror   S

100+   Topper   U

99       Topaz   U

94       Laser SB3   U

87       GP14   U

85       Squib   S

70       Fireball   S

70       Ruffian   S

60       J24   S

60       Shipman   S

52       Dragon   S

50       RS400/200   S

50       420    U

43       Multihulls    U

42       Dragon    S

40       Water Wags    U

40       Wayfarer    S

34       IDRA14    U

33       Puppeteer    U

28       Etchells    S

27       E-Boat    U

26       Glen    S

25       Enterprise    S

18       Sigma 33    S

18       Howth 17    U

13       RS Elite    U