The cover shot shows the Dunbrody navigating the River Suir on route to the city of Waterford for the tall ships regatta 2005. And below, in the parade of sail out of Waterford. Followed by Prince William, passing the Indonesian “Dewaruci” at anchor
ABOUT THE SHIP
“In November 1996 the JFK Trust began construction of the Dunbrody. Plans for the replica were drafted by the naval architect Colin Mudie and a half-dozen experienced shipwrights, led by Michael Kennedy, were engaged to supervise the project. With the support of FAS (the Irish National Training and Employment Authority) a workforce of apprentice shipwrights and trainee carpenters was assembled. Over the course of the five-year construction project more than 150 local people would gain hands-on experience of traditional shipbuilding skills. The ship was finally ready to launch early on the morning of February 11th 2001”
The original Dunbrody 1845-1875
“Was built in Quebec. She was commissioned along with 7 sister ships by ‘William Graves & Son, a merchant family from New Ross. She was built by the shipwright Thomas Hamilton Oliver, an Irish emigrant from Co. Derry. The building of the ship took only six months and was supervised by her first master John Baldwin, who captained her from 1845 to March 1848.
Designed as a cargo vessel the Dunbrody transported timber from Canada, cotton from the southern states of the U.S.A. and guano from Peru. In 1845, the very year of her launch, famine struck Ireland. With the potato crop failing and food prices soaring, widespread starvation would soon force more than a million people to flee the country. So many people left that there were not enough passenger ships to carry them all. Entrepreneurial merchants, like the Graves took the opportunity to fit out their cargo vessels with bunks to meet the extra demand. Between 1845 and 1851 she carried thousands of emigrants to North America. Lax regulation allowed a ship this size to carry anywhere from 160 passengers to over 300. In 1847 she is recorded as carrying 313 passengers to Quebec. Many of her passengers were tenant farmers from the estates of Lord Fitzwilliam in Co. Wicklow, and Viscount de Vesci in Portlaoise”
Port of registration
New Ross
SPECIFICATIONS
Rig: 3 Masted Barque
LOA: 54m
Beam: 8m
Height: m
Depth: 3.5m
Sail Area: 940sqm
