gerardkenny

Final shot of the Baily Optic at the National Maritime Museum of Ireland.

Deep Sea Diving Suit

Ground floor interior

Steamship, 'Great Eastern'. This was the largest ship in the world when it was built in 1857.

The Baily Optic

Irish Sea Scouts - uniform display

The Baily Optic (reflection) - in use from 1902 to 1972 at Baily Lighthouse in Howth.

I believe this is a Royal Naval Reserve uniform

Torpedo boat

The Inisfallen

De-nazified German Destroyer Badge ('Zerstörerkriegsabzeichen'). Part of the display dealing with the MV Kerlogue, an Irish Emergency (WW2) era ship which was subjected to a sustained attack by Polish pilots of the RAF (despite being a clearly identified neutral) and also hit by a German mine. The MV Kerlogue and her crew went on to rescue men from both the Allied and German side during the war. The Wild Rose of Liverpool on 2nd April 1941 and most notably on 29 December 1943 the Kerlogue rescued 168 Kriegsmarine sailors of the German Destroyer Z27 & torpedo boats T25 and T26. Refusing German requests to put the men ashore in Brest and also refusing British requests to land the survivors at Land's End, the captain put the men ashore at Cobh and they were interned for the rest of the war in the Curragh, internment camp.

Series of oil paintings by Kenneth King, depicting Irish Emergency (WW2) era merchant shipping, many of which participated in rescues of stricken seafarers and also fell victim to British and German attacks & mines. Included in this series are the Schooner Cymric (sank February 1944 with the loss of 11 lives), the SS Meath (mined and sunk in the Irish Sea 16th August 1940), the SS Clonlara (sunk 22nd August 1941 North Atlantic, 11 lives lost), SS Kerry Head (sunk by bombs 22nd October 1940 with 12 lives lost) & the Irish Larch.

Part of the RMS Titanic display. The RMS Titanic sank 600 km south of Newfoundland in April 14th 1912 after having departed from Southampton, Cherbourg, Cobh

Sign from 1928 notifying visitors to the Carlisle Pier, Dún Laoghaire, (Adjacent to the East Pier & originally connected by Rail) of a charge of 3pence admission to the Pier to see off relatives. For generations the emigrants boat from Dún Laoghaire to hollyhead left from this East Pier.

'Design for the new proposed Asylum Harbour at Dun Leary 1817'. Tragedies such as the 'Rochdale' & 'Prince of Wales' in 1807 accelerated the plans for an asylum harbour in Dublin (now known as the East Pier), intended to protect ships from storms while they waited for high tide to access Dublin Port. On November 19th 1807 the 'Rochdale' & 'Prince of Wales' were transporting troops for the Napoleonic War, the next day both sank during heavy storms in Dublin harbour. The Irish men of the Militia on board the 'Prince of Wales' were allegedly locked below decks while the captain and crew escaped during the storm. Members of the North and South Mayo Militia joining the 97th Regiment of Foot and Cork Militia who joined the 18th Regiment of Foot. It's likely many would have been involved in the suppression of the 1798 United Irishmen Rebellion. It was said that a 12 foot plank could have saved many lives from the Rochdale as the ship went to ground immediately beside the Seapoint Martello Tower. There were no survivors from the 265 souls onboard the 'Rochdale', and only captain, crew and two soldiers from the 'Prince of Wales' were to survive. The passing of the 1801 act of Union which abolished the Irish Parliament was also a factor in precipitating the harbour design now that Irish M.P.'s would need to regularly travel to London. I read once that there was a greater volume of material used in this 'East Pier' than in the Pyramids (not sure if that is true or not). The 'West Pier' would be added years later.

'Gallantry at Sea Medal' original sculptor's design maquettes, In 1923 the first Free State Government commissioned a sculptor (Albert G.Power RHA) to create a design for a Silver medal to be awarded for saving life at sea.

Death Card to a drowning victim from the RMS Leinster, Augustus F.Doyle. The greatest sea tragedy in Irish history unfolded in 1918 when 12 miles from Dún Laoghaire Harbour the RMS Leinster was sank by U-boat U-132 leading to 501 deaths out of the 685 passengers and crew. The ship was transporting Irishmen in the British Army back to the battlefields of WWI. The anchor of the RMS Leinster forms a public memorial a short distance from the museum.

Commemorative postage stamp of the sinking of the RMS Leinster in 1918

RMS Leinster artifacts and model

Display item from National Maritime Museum of Ireland, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin

'A record of the Services Rendered by the Dún Laoghaire Lifeboats'

Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) Station of the Royal National Life Boat Institute'

A sample of the memorial plaques left over from the Mariners Church :

WW1 Memorial, showing an assortment of regiments in which Irishmen served, at the Mariner's Church (Built 1836)

For any visitors to Dublin this is a recently re-opened museum that is worth a visit (Dun Laoghaire stop on the DART Line). It is not on the scale of the Hamburg Maritime Museum but is very interesting in my opinion. Here are some photographs taken at the 'National Maritime Museum of Ireland', which is located in the Old Mariners Church (1837), Dún Laoghaire, Dublin.

Included are some pictures of the KV Merlogue exhibition, the Baily Optic, the Neutral Ireland maritime oil paintings (by Kenneth King) and some of the Irish Naval History displays. This museum re-opened in June 2012 after a 6 year refurbishment.

The Baily Optic - in use from 1902 to 1972 at Baily Lighthouse in Howth.

Hi Gerald - thanks for posting on this topic. I'd love to see any photos of his uniform if you have any ?

Those are very interesting pictures.

Great reference thread.

Hi Danny, glad you liked them. I got access to those areas through the 1916-1921 Club. There was a tour organised of the areas of the Jail normally not open to the public (mainly due to health and safety rules as some of the parts we visited were not as well rennovated, missing floorboards & that sort of thing).

One of the guides was Liz Gillis who wrote this fine book :

http://www.mercierpress.ie/Fall_of_Dublin/586/

as part of the Mercier Civil War Series. She showed us a 'hole in the wall' (more like an outline where there once had been a wall now bricked over) where it's believed an escape had been planned to an advanced stage.

The other guide was Mícheál Ó Doibhilín who has written about Anne Devlin (I have not yet read his books on this subject). We also got to see Anne Devlin's cell and it was gruesome. It's hard to describe, basically the entrance is about thigh high, you have to duck down to enter and when you are inside it is totally dark - no windows - just the 4 walls with a sloped floor so that fluids run off. Anne Devlin was Robert Emmetts housekeeper, arrested and tortured along with her entire family in order that she would give the names of the 1803 Rising supporters (including wealthy Irish protestants the British wanted to get their hands on). She refused (despite also an offer of £500 which was a fortune at that time). She had an absolutely horrific time of it there from all accounts & suffice to say her health never recovered.

PS the Armoured car mentioned in pic # 2 of Post 16 relates to this story :

Tributes on the death of Col.Patrick McCrea, McCrea took part in the Michael Collins' organised rescue attempt of Captured I.R.A. Leader Sean MacEoin. Six IRA Volunteers, led by Paddy O'Daly, captured a British armoured car and, wearing British army uniforms, gained access to Mountjoy Jail. However, Mac Eoin was not in the part of the jail they believed, and after some shooting, the rescue party retreated.

$1 !!!!!!!

I must be going to the wrong boot sales, never came across anything like that for a $1. :)

The nun responsible ;

If anyone would like to view this prior booking is required:

http://irlande-tourisme.fr/in/ireland-things-to-see-and-do/listings/product/?fid=FI_48931

The rest of the pictures are here, (taken with a camera phone but ok for the web viewing).

http://www.militaria-archive.com/museums/oratory/index.html

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