Arklow Maritime Museum

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Arklow Maritime Museum
New Arklow Maritime Museum.jpg
Arklow Maritime Museum Exterior.jpg
Museum exterior
Ireland adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Ireland
Established1976
LocationBridgewater Shopping Centre,
North Quay,
Arklow,
Ireland
Coordinates 52°47′55″N6°08′58″W / 52.7985°N 6.1494°W / 52.7985; -6.1494 Coordinates: 52°47′55″N6°08′58″W / 52.7985°N 6.1494°W / 52.7985; -6.1494
Type Maritime museum
Public transit access Arklow railway station
Bus Éireann Route 2
Website Arklow Maritime Heritage

The Arklow Maritime Museum opened in 1976 in the old technical school on Saint Marys Road in Arklow, County Wicklow. [1] Its original purpose was to celebrate the town's rich seafaring heritage, described by the late maritime historian John de Courcy Ireland in a letter to the museum as "Ireland's Most Maritime Town". In 2009, the museum moved to its current location at the Bridgewater Shopping Centre.

Contents

History

Establishment

As of the early 20th century, many families in Arklow had some connection with the sea, whether it was fishing, coasting or deep-sea sailing. [2] While many houses had souvenirs or artefacts relating to these activities, by the 1970s, such items were being discarded. Aware that this would see Arklow's maritime heritage disappear, a group of people got together to save what they could for future generations. A one-off exhibition was held in the Marlborough Hall on St Mary's Road around 1970 or 1971. [3]

On 17 and 18 March 1973, a second Maritime Exhibition was held. This time the venue was St. Kevin's Christian Brothers' School on Coolgreaney Road. The entire upper floor space was filled with a display even larger than the first exhibition. The organising committee also compiled a newsletter containing articles about:

Also included was a letter from Don Patterson of the Institute of Irish Studies in Queen's University, Belfast. Committee secretary had written to Arthur Reynolds, editor of the newspaper Irish Skipper, asking him to mention the exhibition which Reynolds did in the March issue. Don Patterson was quick to send what information he had that he felt would help the committee establish a permanent museum, with the Arklow Schooner DE WADDEN as its centre-point. Obtaining the DE WADDEN would have proven to be impossible for a variety of reasons, the finance involved being too large.[ citation needed ]

At the same time, public meetings were held and soon offers of items on loan or permanent donation were being made to the committee. After securing a permanent structure to house the exhibits it had collected in the form of a prefabricated shelter donated by the ESB, Arklow Maritime Museum officially opened on 20 February 1976.

Collection

Arklow Maritime Museum has now collected over two thousand exhibits. Some of its most popular items include:

Irish ships built in Arklow

The following is a list of ships built in Arklow, or have a major Arklow connection, that have a display and/or a further source of information in the Arklow Maritime Museum:

Related Research Articles

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RMS <i>Lusitania</i> British ocean liner sunk by German submarine U-20 in World War I

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Arklow Town in Leinster, Ireland

Arklow is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 rebellion. Its proximity to Dublin led to it becoming a commuter town with a population of 13,163 as of the 2016 census.

Penlee lifeboat disaster Disaster at sea off Cornwall

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RNLB <i>Mary Stanford</i> (ON 733)

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<i>Cymric</i> (schooner)

Cymric was a British and Irish schooner, built in 1893. She joined the South American trade in the fleet of Arklow, Ireland, in 1906. She served as a British Q-ship during the First World War; she failed to sink any German U-boats, but did sink a British submarine in error.

<i>James Postlethwaite</i>

James Postlethwaite was a schooner, launched in 1881. She operated out of Arklow after 1909. She was in Hamburg on the day that Britain entered the First World War with its declaration of war against Germany. Her crew was imprisoned and she was impounded and used as a barge to carry munitions.

<i>Mary B Mitchell</i> (schooner)

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Sinking of the RMS <i>Lusitania</i> World War I Maritime Disaster

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RNLB <i>Duncan</i>

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Henry Ramey Upcher

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RNLB <i>Alfred Corry</i> (ON 353)

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Yarmouth Lifeboat Station

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Alondra was an English steamer owned by Yeoward Bros. Ltd. out of Liverpool. She sank on 29 December 1916, in the North Atlantic after running aground at Kedge Rock in Baltimore, County Cork, Ireland. Seventeen men of the crew lost their lives while the remaining 23 were rescued.

Eastbourne Lifeboat Station

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Clovelly Lifeboat Station

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Whitby Lifeboat Station Lifeboat station in North Yorkshire, England

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References

  1. ↑ "Preserving Arklow's rich maritime history – Independent.ie" . Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  2. ↑ "National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911". census.nationalarchives.ie. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  3. ↑ Congested Districts Board For Ireland (1894). Congested Districts Board For Ireland : second report. University of Southampton. HMSO.
  4. ↑ England, Historic. "MERCHANT SEAMENS MEMORIAL, Non Civil Parish – 1031597- Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  5. ↑ Hoehling, Adolph A.; Hoehling, Mary (4 August 1996). The Last Voyage of the Lusitania. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   9781568330785 . Retrieved 4 August 2017– via Google Books.
  6. ↑ "Arklow's explosive history: Kynoch, 1895–1918". 19 February 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "Arklow Lifeboat Station". rnli.org. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  8. ↑ "Asgard II sinks off French coast". 11 September 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  9. ↑ "Gipsy Moth III". Classic Yacht Info. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
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