The Ilen

Ilen’s Sister Ship SAOIRSE

Today, the Round the World Race has accustomed us to the harsh realities of the great oceans south of the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, where the mighty westerlies blow unimpeded right round the world. When Conor O'Brien made his pioneering the ‘Roaring Forties’ and the ‘Screaming Fifties’ were little known. They were the region of only the toughest professional sailors, challenging the might of the Southern Ocean in relatively large ships. They sailed across an empty storm-tossed waste known only to the wandering albatross. Thus it was an act of heroism for an amateur skipper and his crew to take on such waters in a little ship in the days before radio communication, spending days, weeks and months sailing in complete isolation in a totally sail-driven vessel. For the dream-ship which Conor O'Brien created with master shipwright Tom Moynihan and his team at Baltimore in 1922 was just 42 foot in overall hull length. While her accommodation below was modern in its layout, reflecting her owner's architectural skills, her outward appearance was if anything old-fashioned, as O'Brien wished to deploy trusted technology for his great voyage. The little ship was called Saoirse – 'Freedom' – in honour of the new Irish state. She was, in fact, one of the very first Irish-registered vessels.

When she set out on her great voyage from Dún Laoghaire on 20 June 1923, O'Brien would only admit that he was sailing as far as New Zealand in order to join a mountaineering expedition. But when he re-anchored in Dún Laoghaire exactly two years later, Saoirse had been right round the world south of the great capes, often at impressive speeds, making O'Brien the first amateur skipper to achieve this remarkable feat. His account of the voyage, Across Three Oceans, is a classic of seafaring literature.

Until his wife Kitty's untimely death in 1936, Conor O'Brien remained in contented ownership of Saoirse, but by 1940, the little ship had gone to an English owner, Eric Ruck who had many happy years with her – including visits to Irish waters – until age and declining health forced him to sell her in 1974. In that year, Saoirse voyaged to Iceland before being sold again, and the new owner sailed her across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. It was there that she ended her days. A hurricane in Jamaica in 1979 destroyed the heroine of the Southern Ocean while she lay helplessly at anchor. It was a sad end for the dream-ship of Conor O’Brien.