Club member Vincent Murphy has put together a most interesting presentation on Conor O’Brien (see details below) he will give this presentation on Thursday 9th of February, Vincent has also put together a booklet on the subject which he is in the process of having printed at the moment for purchase on the night.
Conor O’Brien, a grandson of Young Irelander William Smith O’Brien, designed his own 42’
yacht, Saoirse, in 1922 and had it built in Baltimore boatyard. Then on 20th June 1923 he set out on a voyage around the world. He chose the most difficult route, the clipper route, west to east and south of Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin (SW Australia) and Cape Horn, the first small craft to do this, Southern Ocean all the way.
After a rather eventful and ground breaking voyage, he returned to Dún Laoghaire exactly two years later, 20th June 1925. 10,000 turned out to welcome him home.
The presentation will cover his life in general, including his running guns for the Irish Volunteers in 1914 (both Conor and Erskine Childers were jointly involved, Childers in Asgard and Conor in his earlier yacht, Kelpie) and of course his circumnavigation.
