(Image: Gareth Wray – website: garethwray.com; the rusting shipwreck of MV Plassy)
Eagle-eyed observers might find the rusting hulk of the MV Plassy to be familiar. In fact, fans of TV show Father Ted will definitely be acquainted with the shipwreck. The classic sitcom about life on a remote Irish island featured the wreck of the MV Plassy in its opening credits. The abandoned vessel is, of course, very real, and lies on the shore of the equally real island of Inisheer in County Galway.
The Plassy was one of a handful of steam trawlers owned by the Limerick Steamship Company, and most of its work was ferrying goods between the European mainland, Liverpool, and various Irish port cities. Built in 1941 as the HMT Juliet, the insulated boat was most commonly used for shipping fruit and fish. In that role she became a regular visitor to ports from South Africa to Italy.
(Image: Sacha Jackson)
But MV Plassy was bound for somewhere much closer to home – Galway – when she ran aground on Finnis Rock during a brutal storm in March 1960. Fortunately, her 11-man crew was evacuated from the stricken trawler thanks to the Inisheer Rocket Crew, locals trained in maritime rescue who used a breeches buoy (which had been on the tiny island since 1901 but never used) to haul the survivors to safety.
There were no casualties as the trawler MV Plassy foundered. Today, Finnis Rock is lit by a buoy to warn fishing vessels to keep their distance.
(Image: G. Mannaerts)
In true Irish fashion, a celebration was held on the 50th anniversary of the rescue. It attended by Mick Tobin, a deckhand and the last surviving member of MV Plassy’s crew, and the National Maritime Museum of Ireland noted that “a great weekend was had by all.”
Related: MV Captayannis: The River Clyde’s Wrecked Sugar Boat
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