New era for Famine ship Jeanie Johnston

WHAT was confidently described as a new era for the troubled famine replica ship, the Jeanie Johnston, began yesterday when she arrived in Dublin, having undergone a final fitting in Cork.

Berthing at the North Wall Quay, close to the Financial Services Centre, the three-masted barque was under the command of Master Tom McCarthy, who captained the Asgard II from 1987 to 1995 and the Lord Nelson and Tenacious in the last two years.

The 16m ship came into Dublin Port on engine power and will not be commissioned for sails until she has completed sea trails in Dublin Bay between January 7 and January 14.

“Everything is going according to plan and this is the beginning of a new era for the Jeanie Johnston. The ship should be sailing to America in mid-February,’ said Denis Reen, chief executive to the project. The ship will be open to the Dublin public and for corporate entertainment until early next month.

On successfully undergoing sea trials, she is scheduled to go to Belfast under full sail on January 14, symbolising the North/South links of the project which included young people from Northern Ireland in the shipbuilding team.

After spending three days in Belfast, she will make a four-day voyage back down the east coast to Waterford where she is due to spend nine days.The tall ship will then return to Fenit, Co Kerry, to make final arrangements for the long-awaited transatlantic voyage, which has been cancelled twice before.

She will spent most of next year in the US, stopping off at several ports along the east coast and Canada and promoting Ireland as a tourist destination. Visits to the Irish ports are seen a means of a familiarising the public with the ship. Due to set out from Fenit on February 16, the Jeanie will sail to the US via Tenerife and Barbados and is due at an as yet unnamed American city around St Patrick’s Day.

A new board of directors was appointed to oversee the financially-troubled project. The board is chaired by Kerry Group managing director Hugh Friel and is overseeing a €600,000 rescue project in which Kerry County Council/Tralee Town Council and Shannon Development are involved.