A Dungarvan diver who recently led a dive at the site of the Asgard II wreck, believes the artefacts retrieved from the famous ship should play a key role in next year’s Tall Ships Race.
Speaking on the second anniversary of the national sail training vessel’s ill-fated voyage, Eoin McGarry (right) said he would like to see the bell from the ship used to officially open the prestigious event.
“It’s early days yet, but I think it would be a nice memory to the Asgard and the people that worked on the ship to use the bell to officially open the Tall Ships,” he said.
During July, Mr McGarry and his team of divers rescued many items from the famous ship which sunk near the French island of Belle-Îlle-en-Mer off the coast of Brittany on September 11th 2008.
Despite a successful reclaiming process of items including the bell, a compass and the ship’s wheel, it was confirmed that the ship was in too bad a condition to be lifted from the sea.
“We wanted to carry out a survey to see how good or bad it was and to see if it could be salvaged,” said Mr McGarry. “But it had unfortunately been hit by a trawler and that had broken the mast.”
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Fantastic idea to remember what was one of our greatest ambassadors,Having sailed on Asgard 2 on seven or eight occaisons in the early 90’s the ringing of the bell of the asgard would be a great way of remembering the sail training ship that was,It might also higlight the need for a replacement vessel. I would also recomend a photographic exhibition with photographs submitted by former trainees.