| Coiste An Asgard's ASGARD II seen at Canning Dock on the evening of Friday June 13, 2003. It has been some time since the attractive Irish Sail Training brigantine has visited Merseyside. The vessel was designed and built for sail training purposes by the Tyrrell shipyard at Arklow, Co. Wicklow in 1980 and commissioned there on March 7th, 1981. ASGARD II takes its name from the ketch ASGARD which was designed and built by Colin Archer of Larvik in 1905. The ketch was presented at as wedding gift to Mary Childers, by her parents, on marriage to Erskine Childers. Erskine Childers was the author of the famous nautical spy novel "Riddle of the Sands" which has since been adapted into became a motion picture. "ASGARD" is an old Norse word which means "Home of the Gods". The original Asgard gained fame for its landing of German arms at Howth in 1914 for the Irish Volunteers. She subsequently passed into Irish Government ownership, becoming the state's first sail training vessel. The original Asgard is now preserved by the Irish Government and after a period of display at the Kilmainham Gaol museum is stored pending restoration to sailing condition. |
