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Displaying items by tag: Merchant Seamen exhibition

The County Museum in Dundalk is running an exhibition, until the end of September, entitled: 'Faces from the Past. Merchant Seamen from Dundalk in the early twentieth century'. The exhibition is based on photographic records identified by David Snook, research officer of the Maritime Institute of Ireland.

The photographic collection feature over 350 identity cards of Dundalk men who served in the merchant navy between 1918-1921. The cards include personal details, foreign voyages and most importantly, a passport style photo of each seaman.

The exhibition also provides an insight into the history and nature of maritime activity in Dundalk, noting the contributions of several families in the area, as well as highlighting the fate of the SS Dundalk sunk by a U-boat in October 1918.

An accompanying 24-page booklet has also been produced. For further information and copies of the booklet are available from the County Museum or may be downloaded from the website www.dundalkmuseum.ie Admission to the exhibition is free.

Published in Ports & Shipping

About Quarter Tonners

The Quarter Ton Class is a sailing class of the International Offshore Rule racing the Quarter Ton Cup between 1967 and 1996 and from 2005 until today.

The class is sailed by smaller keelboats of similar size and is likely the world's most-produced keelboat class.

The Ton, Half, Quarter, etc. 'classes' were each given a 'length' and yacht designers had almost free rein to work the hull shapes and measurements to achieve the best speed for that nominal length.

The Ton Rules produced cranky and tender boats without actual downwind speed. Measurement points created weird, almost square hull shapes with longish overhangs.

They were challenging to sail optimally and lost value very quickly as any new wrinkle (e.g. 'bustles') to take advantage of the rule made older boats very quickly uncompetitive.

Although its heyday was 30 years ago, the boat class continues to make its presence felt by holding its own in terms of popularity against some fern race fleets.