Asgard II
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''Asgard II'' was the
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
national
sail training From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea (e.g., see Outward Bound), sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on and ...
vessel, until she sank in the Bay of Biscay in 2008. A brigantine, she was commissioned on 7 March 1981 and purpose-built as a sail training vessel by Jack Tyrrell in
Arklow Arklow (; ; , ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 re ...
, County Wicklow. She was named after the ''Asgard'', a yacht which smuggled weapons for the
Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...
in 1914.Department of Defence - About Us
. Department of Defence. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
The vessel was owned by the Irish state and operated by Coiste an Asgard (a founding member of
Sail Training International Sail Training International (STI) is an international sail training organisation, with members in 29 countries. Its main aim is to train sailing skills to young people. It is based in Hampshire in the United Kingdom and is a registered charity.UK ...
). For a period of time in the early eighties, the vessel was commissioned by
UCC The initialism UCC may stand for: Law * Uniform civil code of India, referring to proposed Civil code in the legal system of India, which would apply equally to all irrespective of their religion * Uniform Commercial Code, a 1952 uniform act to ...
for use in marine research. ''Asgard II'' had a traditional
figurehead In politics, a figurehead is a person who ''de jure'' (in name or by law) appears to hold an important and often supremely powerful title or office, yet ''de facto'' (in reality) exercises little to no actual power. This usually means that they ...
in the form of a carving of
Granuaile Grace O'Malley ( – c. 1603), also known as Gráinne O'Malley ( ga, Gráinne Ní Mháille, ), was the head of the Ó Máille dynasty in the west of Ireland, and the daughter of Eóghan Dubhdara Ó Máille. In Irish folklore she is commonly k ...
.About the ''Asgard''
Official ''Asgard II'' homepage. Retrieved 14 September 2008.


Sinking

''Asgard II'' sank in the Bay of Biscay on 11 September 2008, southwest of Belle-ÃŽle-en-Mer, at . The five crew and twenty trainees had earlier abandoned the vessel after she started taking on water. ''Asgard II'' was heading from Falmouth to
La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...
for some routine maintenance.The wreck of the ''Asgard II''
Indymedia Ireland. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
Adventure sailing ship ''Asgard II'' sank off the French coast
Times Online. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
Assistance was given by and and two
lifeboats Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen A ...
from
Belle Île Belle-Île, Belle-Île-en-Mer, or Belle Isle ( br, Ar Gerveur, ; br, label=Old Breton, Guedel) is a French island off the coast of Brittany in the ''département'' of Morbihan, and the largest of Brittany's islands. It is from the Quiberon peni ...
,
Morbihan Morbihan ( , ; br, Mor-Bihan ) is a department in the administrative region of Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastl ...
, France. Before the end of 2008, a plan to raise the ship was put to the Irish cabinet. It was hoped that the €3.8 million costs would be paid for by the insurers, with the vessel being raised in spring 2009, given favourable conditions. The vessel was in a relatively good condition on the sea bed with one of her hull planks damaged; it is unclear whether this damage was caused by impact with the sea bed, or was the cause of the sinking, possibly from a collision with a semi–submerged container. She rests under of water on a sandy seabed with no rocks, and she was "upright on the seabed and salvageable" in September. An early salvage was desirable before damage from winter storms and fishing nets. On 23 February 2009, the then Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, announced that the ''Asgard II'' would not be raised.
Jimmy Deenihan Jimmy Deenihan (born 11 September 1952) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister of State for the Diaspora from 2014 to 2016, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht from 2011 to 2014 and Minister of State at the D ...
, spokesperson for the opposition
Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
party expressed disappointment: In 2010, a private team of Irish divers recovered a number of artifacts from the wreck, such as the ship's bell and steering wheel.CEMS divers on Asguard team
- Latest News, CEMS Website


Investigation

The loss of ''Asgard'' was investigated by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board and its final report was released on 27 September 2010. The most likely cause of the accident, the investigation found, was that the ship collided with a submerged object. Although the maintenance and operation of ''Asgard II'' were found to be in excess of that required by the then-current regulations, a recommendation was made that the practice of classing sail training vessels as cargo ships rather than passenger ships should be reviewed.


See also

* '' Dunbrody'', another Irish square rigger * ''
Jeanie Johnston ''Jeanie Johnston'' is a replica of a three masted barque that was originally built in Quebec, Canada, in 1847 by the Scottish-born shipbuilder John Munn. The replica ''Jeanie Johnston'' performs a number of functions: an ocean-going sail train ...
'', another Irish square rigger


References


External links


Official homepage of ''Asgard II''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asgard Ii Brigantines Maritime incidents in 2008 Individual sailing vessels Sail training associations Tall ships of Ireland Shipwrecks in the Bay of Biscay Maritime history of Ireland 1981 ships History of the Bay of Biscay Lost sailing vessels