Ilen sets sail on voyage to bring seafaring traditions to the modern age

Ireland’s only surviving sail cargo vessel the Ilen revived a tradition lost a century ago when it embarked on a symbolic series of sustainable wind-powered supply trips to islands on the south and west coasts on Sunday, August 23.

It harks back to bygone days of sea-trading along the coast of Ireland when there were no proper roads and no Covid-19 lockdowns.

A unique voyage has just cast off from the port of Baltimore, Co Cork which will link coastal businesses, enhance their trade and train aspiring young seafarers to boot.

The plan by those involved in this unprecedented venture is to one day expand such commerce from this country to France and beyond.

The Ilen Marine School, an educational company based in Limerick, is behind the project - using a historic sailing vessel to connect cargoes with rural coastal communities.

Many businesses along the Cork, Clare, Limerick, Kerry and Galway coasts have signed up to provide provisions to each other, mainly to enhance their commercial clout and hopefully to attract sales from visiting tourists with “artisan goods” such as rare spirits, honey, coffee, mineral water, home-cured bacon and cheeses.

The project is the brainchild of Gary MacMahon, an accomplished mariner, who helped to restore the ketch, The Ilen, which is being used on the voyage.

It was built in 1926 by students and staff at what was then the country's first vocational school - Baltimore Fishery School, Co Cork - which is why that port was chosen to take on the first cargo.

The following year she sailed to the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic, where she was used to transport goods around the various coastal communities.

The project is the brainchild of Gary MacMahon, an accomplished mariner, who helped to restore the ketch, The Ilen, which is being used on the voyage.

Rural Irish businesses clamoured to get on board the not-for-profit venture when they were approached by Gary, who took ownership of the vessel in 1997 and oversaw its restoration “from the ground up.” 

“We're creating awareness of the old trade routes. In the 19th century there was a big investment in a lot of harbours, a lot of which are still very much intact,” said Mr MacMahon, who is director of the Ilen Marine School.

The Ilen is Ireland's only surviving wooded sail cargo vessel and the two-week voyage left Baltimore over the weekend with a cargo of locally produced cheese, coffee and whiskey to pick up gin on Cape Clear Island.

A rotating crew of four will sail to Kilrush Creek Marina on Thursday and then on to Foynes Island on Saturday, home to its original designer, Conor O’Brien, who died there in 1952.

The Ilen will then travel up the Shannon estuary to Limerick on August 31 where locally craft-produced Ishka water, Limerick beer and whiskey will be loaded for the journey to Kilronan in the Aran Islands on September 2.

More supplies will be unloaded at Dingle on September 5 before the Ilen completes her journey to Cork Harbour on September 7 to deliver the remainder of its cargo.

The Ilen serves as a community floating classroom and cargo vessel. Last year she visited 23 ports and made a transatlantic crossing to Greenland as part of a relationship-building project to link youth in Limerick City with youth in Nuuk, West Greenland.