Irish Shipbuilding Skills are sufficient for the Construction of a new Sail Training Vessel

According to several experts in traditional ship and boat building, a possible replacement for the sail training vessel Asgard II (archive photo left), which sank off the coast of France on September 11th (see my entry of that day), could be built in Ireland with existing Irish skills and craftsmanship.

Michael Kennedy and Bill Crampton, the two shipwrights who led the construction of the replica famine ship Dunbrody - a three-masted barque now moored as a museum vessel in New Ross, Co. Wexford - have told the Irish Times that their entire team is "still alive and well" and "available for such a project", should it become necessary.

A suitable premises for building a new vessel may also be available in the south-east of Ireland - most likely the place in New Ross where the Dunbrody was built - to ensure that it would be ready in time for the next Irish hosting of the International Tall Ships' Race, in 2011 here in Waterford.

Ireland's Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea, who is also chairman of Coiste an Asgard, had expressed concern about the availability of skills in Ireland to build a replacement, if such a decision was taken.
O'Dea was commenting after the sinking of the 27-year-old brigantine in the Bay of Biscay, but before an inspection of the vessel had taken place.

Now Coiste an Asgard is hoping to raise and repair the sunken vessel, which has meanwhile been inspected and found widely intact, sitting upright on the seabed, with only minor visible damage to the hull. (see my entry of October 3rd)
Insurers are assessing the situation, and an investigation into the cause of the sinking is still being conducted by Irish and French maritime authorities.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Defence said that it was "still too early to say whether any attempt would be made to salvage the Asgard II", lying in 80 metres of water, or rather build a replacement.

The beautiful green-painted brigantine, designed and built in 1980-81 by Jack Tyrrell of Arklow, Co. Wicklow, was insured for € 3.8 million. The Dunbrody construction team said this could provide "vital seed capital" to build a new training ship for the Irish State.

Up to 65 people worked on the construction of the Dunbrody in New Ross, Co. Wexford, which was launched by former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in February 2001. The project was initiated by Seán Reidy of the John F. Kennedy Trust, and based on the design of an emigrant ship built in Quebec/Canada for a New Ross merchant family in 1845.

Over the ten years it took to build the replica Dunbrody (in the foreground below), extensive skill training took place at the wharf, and the national training authority FÁS was heavily involved in it as well. The building of the Dunbrody cost a total of € 6 million, including FÁS labour, whereas the Kerry-built replica famine ship Jeanie Johnston (in the background below) ran well over budget and cost eventually € 15.8 million.

Michael Kennedy said that - in addition to his own team - several craftsmen involved in the construction of the Jeanie Johnston also had sufficient skills to work on a new vessel, and he hoped that the maritime sector would co-operate on such an initiative if it was approved by the Irish government.

"We've had a sail training ship since the foundation of the State, starting with the original Asgard," he explained, "and it would be a terrible pity if we did not have one in future."

Bill Crampton added that proposals to hire the Jeanie Johnston to continue the sail training programme "might meet a short-term need, but it would not be a suitable successor to the Asgard II".

I completely agree with both statements, as I have already expressed in previous articles here. And I would even suggest that building a new (second) sail training vessel for the State should be considered, even if the Asgard II can be salvaged and put back into service.
In the 1980s, when she was constructed, the interest in sail training was very limited in Ireland. The Asgard II was purpose-built as a brigantine to fulfil the Irish need and demand of the time. But now her limited capacity of only 20 trainee places is almost too small for the meanwhile increased interest in sailing and sail training here.

Especially in recent years - due to the great success of the annual Tall Ships' Race and other major sailing regattas and events for tall ships - the idea of sailing and using tall ships for training and team building exercises for young people has become very popular.
Being an island nation with a long and considerable seafaring tradition, Ireland could well afford and sustain two sail training vessels.

The element of costs will of course be a major argument in the current times of recession and global financial crisis. But I would not worry about that. If organised properly, the money for a new vessel could be raised through public subscription. There are many wealthy people in Ireland and around the world, and many of them are sailing enthusiasts.

I would be prepared, willing and more than happy to organise the fund-raising activity for a new Irish sail training vessel and have in fact already made some contacts with other people in the sailing community about it. The reactions I received are all very positive, so now it is up to the government and Coiste an Asgard to make a decision.

The Emerald Islander

Asgard II Crew returns home as Inquiries open

The crew of the Irish brigantine and sail training vessel Asgard II (archive photo above) which was lost at sea off the coast of Brittany on Thursday morning (for details see my entry from September 11th), has returned home to Ireland yesterday evening.

Captain Colm Newport, five regular crew members and twenty trainees who had to abandon ship in pitch-darkness after a sudden ingress of water had turned their vessel into a floating hulk, arrived save and sound at Dublin airport.

After being rescued by the French Coast Guard, they had spent a day on Belle-Île-en-Mer, an island off the southern coast of Brittany, close to the Quiberon peninsula and Quiberon Bay.

Despite the shock and sadness over the loss of the nation's only proper sail training vessel, the good news is that no human life was lost and no-one suffered injuries. Some of the trainees still looked a bit shaken when they landed in Dublin last night, but that will pass. They all behaved in a professional and disciplined way, even under extreme and traumatic circumstances, and that shows that their training has been successful after all.

Meanwhile the Irish Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) and its French equivalent, the Bureau d'enquêtes sur les événements de mer, have begun their separate inquiries into the circumstances of the sinking of the Asgard II.

As the brigantine is now in waters about 90 metres deep, it is doubtful if an attempt to raise and salvage her can be made or would be sensible. A detailed survey in respect to that and to the vessel's current condition has yet to be conducted and might take a while.

However, the general opinion in Irish maritime and sailing circles is that building a new vessel as replacement for the Asgard II might be the better and more likely option. Unfortunately the loss comes just at the beginning of an economic recession in Ireland, and one has to wonder if Finance Minister Brian Lenihan (who is not the seafaring type) will find enough money in the treasury for such a project.

But all is not lost, even if the Irish government should decide that it has no money for another sail training vessel. We could employ a procedure which has been used with great success in the past, and especially throughout the 19th century (when most people had a lot less money than they have today). I am thinking of Public Subscription, a joint effort of many individuals, putting together as much money as they can afford to give, in order to create a large project. Carlow cathedral, Wellington's obelisk in Phoenix Park in Dublin, and the municipal Clock Tower here on the Quay in Waterford are three examples of works created entirely by using that system.

I am neither a politician, nor rich, so I have neither the power nor the money to start a possible public subscription campaign. But I have pitched the idea already to a cabinet minister and a TD (member of parliament) yesterday, in the hope that it will sink in and influence the government in a positive way.

In less than three years Ireland and Waterford will host the start of the annual International Tall Ships' Race again. It would be very desireable to have a proper national sail training vessel in service again by then.
I still remember how the Asgard II (accompanied by the other two Irish tall ships Dunbrody and Jeannie Johnston) led the Parade of Sails out of our port and down the river Suir in 2005. It was the first and only time that all three Irish tall ships were appearing together.

Speculations that for the time being the Dunbrody and Jeannie Johnston might temporarily be drafted in as sail training vessels might have some substance, but it is doubtful if that would be a good idea and a workable solution. Both barques are replicas of 19th century originals and the main purpose they have is to be a floating museum. The Dunbrody does not even have a full certificate for the high seas, which the Jeannie Johnston was granted after a major struggle with the Irish bureaucracy. Both vessels also operate an extensive programme of corporate entertainment and that provides a significant part of their budget. So it is more than unlikely that they could really function as proper sail training vessels like the Asgard II did.

Having put my idea forward into the political channels, I hope it will be taken up, so that the gap created in the sail training community by the loss of Asgard II will be filled as soon as possible.

The Emerald Islander