Cork salutes Emer with 30th celebration

CORK’S city fathers yesterday saluted the 30th birthday of their adopted naval vessel, which has clocked up enough miles to get it to the moon and back.

The crew of the Lé Emer were accorded a civic reception by the lord mayor of Cork, Cllr Donal Counihan, last night to mark the birthday of the oldest serving ship in the fleet. Mr Counihan also presented the crew with a Cork Crystal vase.

Among those attending was Eugene Ryan, commander of fleet operators, one of the first onboard the 65m-long ship when she went into service in 1978. He was a navigator then and has great memories of the vessel, which made the front page of the New York Times in 1984, following her capture of the IRA gun-running trawler Marita Anne.