Sponsors and Friends of Inishowen Maritime Museum
Inishowen Maritime Museum, located at the Old Coastguard Station in Greencastle, has been at the heart of the community, preserving and showcasing Inishowen’s rich maritime heritage for the past 30 years. The museum has achieved great success over the years and has held many exhibitions and events to promote the importance of the Inishowen sea faring community. The museum is continuing its progress by being part of the Museums Standards Programme of Ireland with the Heritage Council and with its close partnership with Failte Ireland.
Since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic the museum has received no operational support from the council or from any other government body. The prolonged periods of closure forced upon us by the pandemic and the rising energy costs due to the war in Ukraine have meant that we have had to make serious cutbacks in order to keep our doors open. To this end, we are hoping to establish Sponsors and Friends of the museum to help ensure our future.
We are asking that you would consider being a sponsor or friend of the museum on an annual basis. Being a sponsor or friend will entitle you to free access to the museum, museum run events and additional benefits listed below.
Sponsor – €500 Annual Fee | Friend – €100 Annual Fee |
Free access to the museum and
museum run events all year |
Free access to the museum and
museum run events all year |
Free entry for up to 10 guests per year | Free entry for up to 5 guests per year |
Listing as sponsor on website and at museum | Listing as friend on website and at museum |
Your support is vital for the future of the museum. We are now a registered charity so tax benefits may accrue to donors.
If you are happy become a sponsor or friend, we would be grateful for your contribution. The easiest way to make the payment is by setting up a standing order to be paid recurring on the 1st of May via online banking direct to our account stating your name as the reference:
ACC – Inishowen Maritime Heritage CLG
IBAN – IE09BOFI 904771 89425514
BIC – BOFIIE2DXXX
The payment can also be made by calling to the museum and paying by card or cash.
We look forward to having you on board!
Regards,
The Board and Staff
A night not to be missed of amazing music by string quintet group Donegal Camerata, who will be playing at the Inishowen Maritime Museum on the 3rd of November at 19:30pm. Tickets are €15 and can be bought by clicking the following link, Eventbrite.ie or down in the museum
We are proud to showcase a number of films from Greencastle’s past, which includes the Foyle Warrior and Northern Celt arriving in Greencastle for their official Launch, Sea Angling in Greencastle in the 1950’s, Opening of Inishowen Maritime Memorial by President Mary Robinson, 6th of June 1997, The Blessing of The Boats in Greencastle 2001 and much more. To watch these films please visit our YouTube page Inishowen Maritime Museum or click on this link YouTube.com/@inishowenmaritimemuseum . We would Like to thank Hugh McHenry for donating these films to the Maritime Museum
A concert not to be missed at the Inishowen Maritime Museum in Greencastle Donegal. The amazing Folk singers Jimmy Crowley & Eve Telford will be playing on the 29th of September at 19:30pm. Tickets can be bought in the Maritime Museum or online at www.eventbrite.ie/Jimmy-Crowley-&-Eve-Telford
We are proud to announce that Inishowen Maritime Museum will be holding “Music at the Maritime”, a series of music concerts being played by a number of different bands/groups. Tickets are being sold for €15 each on www.eventbrite.ie , just search for the the names and follow the instructions.
Here is the line up for the concert.
Sick & Indigent Song Club – 18th August
Niamh Parsons & Graham Dunne – 1st September
Jimmy Crowley & Eve Telford – 29th September
Donegal Camerata – 3rd November
Here is the eventbrite link for the first concert by Sick & Indigent Song Club, the links for the other concerts will be posted the closer we get to them. https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/music-at-the-maritime-the-sick-and-indigent-song-club-concert-tickets-678738594407?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
For more information please email us at greencastlemaritime@outlook.com
Our 2024 Inishowen Maritime Museum Calendar is now on sale for €8, you can buy it here at the Museum or a number of local shops. If you live further afield no need to worry as you can order our brand new 2024 calendar and have it delivered across the world in time for the new year. All you must do is email us your address at greencastlemaritime@outlook.com and type Calendar in the subject header, we would then email you back with confirmation and a payment link. The price of the calendar is €8 plus the price what is cost to send, below is the cost of postage to each country.
Ireland/N.Ireland €3.95
Great Britain €6.00
Europe €6.50
Australia €10.00
USA €9.00
Canada €9.00
If your country has not been listed do not worry, just mention your country when first emailing us and we will get back to you with a price.
Arrival Date | Ship Name | Company | Last Port of Call | Next Port of Call |
12/05/2023 | Seabourn Ovation | Seabourn Cruise Line | Douglas | Portree |
25/05/2023 | Sylvia Earle | AE Expeditions | Castletown Bearhaven | Baile Mor, Iona |
18/06/2023 | Azamara Pursuit | Azamara Cruises | Belfast | Killybegs |
28/06/2023 | Riviera | Oceania Cruises | Killybegs | Belfast |
24/07/2023 | Silver Shadow | Silversea Cruises | Holyhead | Oban |
03/08/2023 | Seven Seas Splendor | Regent Seven Seas Cruises | Stornoway | Dun Laoghaire |
04/08/2023 | Renaissance | Compagnie Française de Croisières | Eskifjörður | Le Havre |
05/08/2023 | Silver Shadow | Silversea Cruises | Belfast | Killybegs |
11/08/2023 | Europa | Hapag-Lloyd Cruises | Killybegs | Oban |
27/08/2023 | Crystal Serenity | Crystal Cruises | Douglas | Reykjavik |
28/08/2023 | Renaissance | Compagnie Française de Croisières | Isle of Skye | Douglas |
31/08/2023 | Explora 1 | Explora Journeys | Isle of Skye | Liverpool |
02/09/2023 | Azamara Journey | Azamara Cruises | Belfast | Killybegs |
04/10/2023 | World Explorer | Operated under charter by Nicko Cruises (subsidiary) and Quark Expeditions (Travelopia-owned polar cruise company founded in 1991) | No Info at this time | No Info at this time |
We are happy to showcase our new Inishowen Maritime Museum Promo video, which was created thanks to the ARISE Project with the help of the IDP.
The following article was written by Betty Armstrong for Afloat.ie, to read the article on their website please click the following LINK
The Portaferry and Strangford Trust (PAST) is a charity, based in Portaferry at the mouth of Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, which aims to promote an awareness of the rich maritime heritage and natural environment of the Lough and the sea in general.
The Trust recently hosted a talk by Orlagh Thompson titled ‘Three years building boats in the Basque country. Orlagh was an enthusiastic speaker. She is in her third and final year learning traditional boatbuilding at Albaola, the Basque Maritime Heritage Association in Pasaia in the Basque Autonomous Community of northern Spain. It is a fishing community and commercial port.
Currachs
Orlagh rowed currachs with the Causeway Coast Maritime Heritage Group on the North Coast. In 2003, she took part in a circumnavigation of Ireland in the 12-metre currach, Colmcille, which was accompanied by the traditional Basque fishing vessel Amerikataktik. A past student of languages at University College Cork, she has been involved in other rowing voyages.
Albaola
Orlagh started at Albaola in 2021. It consists of a maritime museum, a traditional boatbuilding school and a project to build a replica of the 16th-century whaling ship, the San Juan. Its boatbuilding philosophy is based on ‘thought and action’ and requires self-motivation. The course is free, lasts three years and is based on a 5-day week. The students are from a variety of countries, and many friendships are made. The week begins on Tuesdays with a walkaround to receive an update on all the projects.
Patatxe
Orlagh has been involved in a number of builds with the first being an Ala – a flat-bottomed river boat. She helped build the mast and oars for a Patatxe, an 18th century, 15-metre-long boat with 20 rowers. She described the process of lofting – the conversion of a lines plan to a full size one so that full-size components can be cut. Her task was to cut the rabbets at the stem posts, and the hull is a mixture of clinker and carvel construction. The wood is bought by the Albaola shipyard from local forests.
Txalupas
After this, she moved on to Txalupas – these are eight metres in length, were carried in whaling ships and used to catch whales. The plan is to make five of them to be carried aboard the replica San Juan, a three-masted, 27-metre, 300-ton vessel that sank in Red Bay in Labrador, Canada in 1565 in fairly shallow water. It took archaeologists thirty years to excavate and study the wreck. The parts were restored to their resting place when the process was complete. The beech keel for the replica was laid in 2014 and the remainder of the vessel will use 200 oak trees.
Foyle Punt
The Foyle Punt is a familiar sight on Lough Foyle in the northwest of Northern Ireland. The boats built at Albaola are usually from the Basque region but Orlagh has persuaded them to allow her to build this Irish boat in her remaining time there. To research the Foyle Punt, she visited to McDonald’s boatyard in Greencastle Co. Donegal. They have built Foyle Punts and Drontheims, the latter being replicas of Norwegian yawls carried as deck cargo on ships importing timber to the North coast of Ireland in the mid-18th century. They were copied and built as fishing craft in Co Donegal. Orlagh also visited the Inishowen Maritime Museum. Her dream is to then build a Drontheim for which she has line plans drawn by Harry Madill.
James Elliot from the Trust was delighted with the interest in Orlagh’s talk. “I think it may have been the best attended we’ve ever had. Orlagh was enthusiastic and really grabbed everyone’s attention and imagination. We look forward to hearing about progress with the Foyle punt”.