Replica Tall Ship Sails From Ireland
 Youths from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are collaborating on an exciting sailing to North America. The $5.5 million project involves the millennium voyage of the replica tall ship Jeanie Johnston from Tralee Bay to commemorate the mass immigration to the U.S. and Canada that accompanied the Great Famine of the 1840s. The original ship, a 200-passenger, triple-masted barque constructed of oak and pine, proudly never lost a passenger to disease or mishap.
Built in Canada in 1847, the Jeanie Johnston was manned by 17 crewmen from all over Ireland. In that tradition, the replica's crew will include volunteer youths from northern and southern Ireland to assist the professional sailors. Kids from Unionist and Nationalist backgrounds in Belfast and their peers from Dublin and Kerry also trained as shipbuilders while the vessel was under construction in County Kerry.
Visiting 20 U.S. and Canadian cities during its seven-month stay, the Jeanie Johnston will be at the OpSail 2000 Festival of Tall Ships in New York on July 4th; the Sail Boston 2000 Event later in July; and the AT&T Tall Ships Festival in Chicago over Labor Day weekend. At its berth in various cities, a pavilion will be set up focusing on the famine and the contributions of the Irish community in the New World.
"We especially want to give a hearty welcome to people who share Irish heritage," says Turlough McConnell, the executive director for North America. Sponsors in Ireland, Great Britain, Canada and the U.S support the FAS project.
A Research Centre in Blennerville that is associated with the Jeanie Johnston stores computerized records of 6 million Irish emigrants. The IrelandGenWeb Project assists those who wish to trace their ancestors in Kerry.
Tralee also will be the scene of the colorful Pan Celtic Festival April 25-30. The competition was established in 1971 as a celebration of song, dance, poetry and sport that is so special to the Celtics of Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, the Isle of Mann, Cornwall and Wales. A golf outing and pool contest are planned, and 60 teams are expected to compete for the camogie (field hockey) championship.
The lakes and mountain ranges of Kerry's Killarney have inspired many a poet. Golfers love the great greens. Golfingireland.com has details about the Arnold Palmer-designed Tralee Golf Links, whose par-five 11th hole looks out on the Dingle Peninsula. No less than 501 items relating to golf are listed by the Irish Tourist Board.
County Kerry pictures taken by hiker A. Wainwright, identified with click-on captions, make a trip to Ireland almost irresistible. Magical Places profiles the entire area, including the Ring of Kerry. Elsewhere in Erin, photographer Jack Ledger recalls his tour of the country's castles and countryside.
Fodor's provides an up-to-the-minute report on Dublin, which has evolved from the provincial city of James Joyce into a cosmopolitan European capital, especially in the Temple Bar area. For a Pictorial Springtime Tour of Dublin, proceed to the seated statue of the poet Patrick Kavanagh.
The Irish Tourist Board and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board are promoting an All Ireland Super Summer Special featured by O'Connor's Fairways Travel. The $744 per person deal includes round-trip airfare from New York to Belfast in Northern Ireland, where a rented car is waiting to be used during the 5-night trip. Accommodations, including a full breakfast, are at the normally expensive McCausland Hotel in Belfast and a Jurys Dolyle Hotel Group property in Dublin. Flights are via London, where a one-night stopover package is available for $110 per person. Add $75 per person for flight departures.
By Luanne Axt
Would you like to Comment on this article, or send it to a friend? You can do either one just below where you see:
Submit Comments on this Article: or
Mail this article to a friend?
If you would like to read more articles from this author begin by entering their last name in the "Site Search" box (located at top right of this screen), then press your "enter" key. Next, click on an article from those displayed.
|
|
