In the early hours of Friday, 23rd July, 1965, the Irish Sycamore was lying at the Public Commodity Wharf, New Orleans, discharging a cargo of steel products and lubricating oil from Japanese ports for her charterers, Retla Inc. of San Pedro, California, when fire broke out and quickly swept through the ship. Tragically, four crewmembers died in the inferno which was the worst peacetime disaster on an Irish Shipping vessel.

Pictured Right: Michael Walsh

Pictured Left: Patrick Cowhey

Capt. Ivan Tyrrell (Pictured Left) was Master of the vessel on that voyage with W. D. Garvey, Chief Officer and R. Pye, Chief Engineer. The vessel discharged at the port of Nakhodka, a modern port which had been established in 1952. In January, 1966, the Irish Rowan began a nine months' charter to Random Ltd. of Bermuda and loaded steel at Birkenhead and Antwerp for discharge at Halifax, Nova Scotia and New Orleans. Her Master on that charter was Capt. R. M. Woolfenden, Chief Engineer was George O'Brien and Chief Officer was Peter Kelly. The vessel sustained heavy weather damage on the outward passage and had to undergo extensive repairs at Halifax. In the same heavy seas several other vessels on the Atlantic crossing also suffered severe damage including a Cunard liner which had to be towed for the remainder of her passage to Falmouth.

Pictured Left: The third Irish Cedar built at Verolme United Shipyards, Heusden, Holland in 1962 and registered at the port of Cork.

The Irish Cedar charter to Vigo Steamship Company was extended in March, 1970, and the vessel made a voyage from St. Vicente, Chile and Callao in Peru where she loaded barytes for the Gulf of Mexico. She then loaded grain at Houston, Texas for Famagusta, Cypress where she arrived on 11th October, 1970. While at Famagusta, the Irish Minister for Defence, Mr. G. Cronin, and representatives of the Irish Army then serving with the United Nations in Cypress, were entertained on board the vessel. Capt. T. Hughes was relieved at Cypress by Capt. Michael O'Connell and the Chief Engineer was Michael G. Curley with Frank G. Raftery, the ship's Chief Officer.

Pictured Left: Capt. M. O'Connell

Whilst on charter to Transatlantic Gulf Lines of South Africa in November, 1973, the Irish Cedar visited the Russian port of Leningrad to discharge a part cargo of steel products loaded at Morrisville on the Delaware River. Capt. J. H. Onions was Master on that voyage with J. J. Reed, Chief Engineer and Philip Murphy, Chief Officer. On her next voyage from Antwerp to Puerto Matanzas, Venezuela with a cargo of steel, Capt. Peter Kelly had taken over as Master.


Pictured Right:Capt. J. H. Onions.

The Irish Cedar made her final voyage for the company from the South American port of Rio Grande de Sul, where she loaded a cargo of grain for the Italian ports of Genoa and Trieste and completed discharge in early December, 1975. Master of the ship on that voyage was Capt. Michael Carey, her Chief Engineer was D. Knott and Chief Officer was J. Darcy. The vessel was sold to Lezina Shipping Co. S.A. of Panama in January, 1976, and was renamed Paralos.

On 20th November, 1962, the third Irish Plane (Pictured below), a sister ship of the Irish Cedar, was launched at Verolme United Shipyards Ltd. in Heusden and was sponsored by Mrs. Robbins, wife of Irish Shipping Director, Mr. Frank Robbins. The Irish Plane was registered at the port of Cork and was delivered to the company on 18th April, 1963. On her maiden voyage she sailed for the Gulf of Mexico and loaded grain at Destrehan for Nagoya, Japan, where she arrived on 10th June, 1963. Her Master on that voyage was Capt. P. F. O Seaghdha; Pat Walker was Chief Engineer and her Chief Officer was Michael O'Dwyer. The vessel made two subsequent voyages between Japan and North American ports.

The Irish Plane made her first call to a home port when she arrived at Dublin with a full cargo of coal from Newport News, Virginia, for coal merchants, P. Donnelly & Sons Ltd. and M. Doherty & Co. Ltd. Capt. F. W. Kirk (Pictured Left) was Master of the ship and a reception was held on board to mark the occasion.

Guests included the Minister for Transport and Power, Mr. Erskine Childers, as well as representatives of the two coal companies. One particular incident which occurred on board on the 26th October, 1965, is well worthy of mention in tribute to the Master and Officers of the vessel on that occasion. The ship's Chief Engineer, Nicholas Whitfield, is still remembered for his major role in the dramatic events which began when it was discovered that the gear wheels were hopelessly damaged. The vessel, under the command of Capt. Kirk, was on passage from the Philippines to Baltimore, Md. with a cargo of bulk sugar and was about 3,000 miles west of Panama.

Pictured Right: Nicholas Whitfield.

When the problem was discovered, the Chief Engineer immediately stopped the main engine and, with the Master's approval, set about the near impossible task of removing the damaged gear wheels, each weighing about a ton and some four feet in diameter. The wheels were situated in the centre of the 8-cylinder engine and in a confined space allowing barely room for one man to work. When the wheels were eventually removed, it was necessary to make an improvised bush for the spare set of wheels on board. This was done when Nicholas Whitfield decided to use a a spare ballast pump bronze propeller to replace the missing bearing. This feat was achieved in over six days non-stop work and the ship was able to resume her voyage. The event became famous in the company and was referred to as the case of the " Whitfield Bearing ". The other Officers involved were Eamon Byrne, Second Engineer; Paddy Lalor, Electrical Engineer; John Nangle , Third Engineer; Sean Hennessy, Fourth Engineer; Arthur O'Mahony and John Prior, Junior Engineers; all of whom were ably assisted by Leo Hitchcock of the Deck Department.

Over the following six years the vessel was on a long-term charter to Vigo Steamship Company of New York and traded from North American ports to Japan, South America, European ports, North Africa and the Phillipines before the charter was taken over by her sister ship, the Irish Cedar. The Irish Plane took over the Gouldings Fertiliser charter bringing phosphates from Casablanca to Dublin and Cork in December, 1969, with Capt. J. A. Gleeson as Master. The vessel continued on the phosphates service for Gouldings until May, 1975, when that company's storage space was at full capacity and the ship was diverted to the international tramp market. In June, 1976, the third Irish Plane was sold to Sealanes Navigation Corporation of Greece and was renamed Salamis. A year later her name was changed to Canadian Farmer but reverted to her previous name, Salamis in 1980.

Although the contract for the building of the company's next ship was signed in 1965, the vessel, the third Irish Elm, was not launched at the Verolme Cork Dockyard until 28th , September, 1967. Her sponsor was Mrs. Maureen Lynch, wife of the Taoiseach, Mr. Jack Lynch. With a deadweight of 38,333 tons, the ship was the largest vessel of the forty-two owned by Irish Shipping Limited up to that time and was completed at the Verolme yard at Botlek in Holland. When the vessel sailed from Rushbrooke in December, 1967, it was to be the last time the Irish Elm would be seen at an Irish port.

Pictured above: the third Irish Elm built at Verolme Cork Dockyard in 1967

She was delivered to the company on 18th January, 1968, and sailed on 20th January with Capt. B. Reilly as Master of the ship on her maiden voyage from Rotterdam to Pepel in Sierra Leone where she loaded a full cargo of iron ore for discharge at Rotterdam. Her Chief Engineer on that voyage was Nicholas Whitfield and her Chief Officer was James Kelly. Engineer Superintendents Charles Devlin and Pat Walker also sailed on the vessel for her maiden voyage. She arrived back in Rotterdam on 13th February and sailed again two days later, having discharged her 34,000 tons of iron ore. On her second voyage, the Irish Elm loaded grain at New Orleans for discharge once again at Rotterdam. While the ship was at the Gulf port, her Master, Capt. Ben Reilly of Trim, Co. Meath, was made an Honorary Citizen of New Orleans and presented with a key to the city by the Mayor, Mr.Victor Schiro.

Pictured Left: Part of her cargo of cars waiting to be loaded on the Irish Elm at Amsterdam

The Irish Elm arrived back in Rotterdam on 25th March after making the Atlantic crossing in twelve days and twelve hours, the fastest time ever achieved by an Irish Shipping vessel, averaging 16.16 knots for the voyage. On completing discharge of her grain cargo, the vessel went into drydock at Hamburg to have car decks fitted and the ship was ready to sail with her first consignment of 2,820 cars under charter to Olaf Wallenius of Stockholm. The cars included Opel, Volvo, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche models for discharge at Houston, Texas, where she arrived on 18th July, 1968. The specially fitted car decks were on eight levels and were hoistable so that they could be stowed under the vessel's deckhead when not in use so as to allow grain or other bulk cargo to be loaded in the ship's holds. At that time the Irish Elm was the largest car-cum-bulk carrier in the world. The charter to Wallenius was for a five years' term. During her charter to the Swedish company, the vessel operated mainly from European ports carrying cars to U. S. Gulf ports and loading bulk cargoes at American ports for Japan and returning to Europe with Japanese cars.

In September, 1973, after the Wallenius charter ended, another five years' time charter was secured for the vessel with the Japanese firm of Yamashito-Shinnihon Steamship Company. This was the first long-term charter concluded between Irish Shipping Limited and Japanese charterers. In June, 1976, The Irish Elm became the first company ship to transit the Suez Canal since the waterway was reopened to world shipping in 1975 when she sailed from Hamburg with empty containers for Kobe, Japan, where she arrived on 20th July. On her final voyage for Yamashito-Shinnihon, the Irish Elm loaded a cargo of fertiliser at Houston, Texas for discharge at the Danish port of Fredericia, where she arrived on 23rd February, 1979. She was redelivered to the company on 23rd February and was drydocked at Rotterdam before being handed over to her new owners. The vessel had been sold to Paphos Corporation Ltd. of Monrovia and was renamed Pelopidas. Master of the ship on her final voyage for Irish Shipping Limited was Capt. W. D. Garvey (Pictured Right), her Chief Engineer was P. O'Halloran and James Whyte was her Chief Officer. In 1981 the vessel was sold to China Ocean Shipping Company and renamed Min Yun Hai.

The first ship to be built for the company not to be given the name of a tree was the Irish Star (Pictured below), which was originally being built for Star Bulk Carriers of Bergin and the contract with Cammell Laird, Birkenhead was taken over by Irish Shipping Limited in May, 1968. The 29,000 tons deadweight bulk carrier was designed to cater for the specific needs of the Norwegian company which had agreed to charter the ship for an initial term of eight years. The design provided for five clear rectangular holds with no obstructions or projections so as to facilitate the loading of containers, newsprint, woodpulp and packaged lumber as well as bulk cargoes. Two Munck Gantries travelling on tracks over all the hatches and capable of lifting loads of 25 tons were provided to expedite loading and discharging. The £2.5 million purchase price was financed through U.K. shipbuilding credit facilities which enabled the company to fund, from its own resources, the building of a sister ship at Verolme Cork Dockyard and which would be similarly chartered to Star Bulk Carriers.

The Irish Star was launched at Birkenhead on 17th April, 1969, and was sponsored by Mrs. Greer, wife of the company's Chairman, Mr. Perry Greer. From Birkenhead, the vessel went to Langesund, Norway, where she had her Munck Gantries fitted and then sailed for Leith, Scotland where she was delivered to the company on 2nd July, 1970. She then began her time charter when sailing for the United States to load coal for Japan, with Capt. J. H. Onions as Master on her maiden voyage. Her Chief Engineer was Pat Walker and her Chief Officer was Michael Doyle. During her first year with her Norwegian charterers, the Irish Star traded to major ports in South America, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe carrying bulk cargoes of woodpulp, coal, iron ore, grain and lumber.

On her final voyage for the company in July, 1978, the ship loaded forest products at Eureka, in California, and Vancouver and Squamish in British Columbia for La Pallice, France and Antwerp where she completed discharge on 4th August, 1978. Master of the vessel on her final voyage for the company was Capt. B. Reilly, Chief Engineer was P. Caffrey and her Chief Officer was J. Moynihan. She then went into drydock at Rotterdam before being handed over to the Star Shipping Group of Oslo who purchased the Irish Star at the end of her eight years' charter. She was renamed Star Delphian and her name was changed again in 1980 to Star Singapore.

The Irish Stardust, sister ship of the Irish Star, was built at Verolme Cork Dockyard and was launched there on 18th December, 1969, with Mrs. Griffin, wife of Irish Shipping Director, Mr. Noel Griffin, as sponsor.The vessel was similar in design and capacity to her sister ship and was also registered at Dublin. She was delivered to the company at Rotterdam on 26th May, 1970, and sailed in ballast on her maiden voyage from Rotterdam to Norfolk, Virginia where she loaded a cargo of coal for Antwerp.

Pictured above: the Irish Stardust.

Capt. James Caird was Master of the vessel on her maiden voyage and her Chief Engineer was Michael Dillon. Her Chief Officer was John Mitchell (Pictured right). On her second voyage , the Irish Stardust sailed for Vitoria, Brazil where she loaded iron ore for Poland before going to Langesund, Norway to have her Munck Gantries fitted. During the first two years of her charter, the vessel traded mainly from British Columbia to Japan bringing iron ore and timber products. She also made a voyage from St. John, New Brunswick, to Dampier, Western Australia with a consignment of railway wagons. The vessel continued on her charter until July, 1976, when she was sold to the Star Shipping Group and was delivered to her new owners after drydocking at Rotterdam in August, 1976. She was renamed Star Amalfi and her name was changed to Star Dorian in 1978 and to Star Philippines in 1980.

Neither the Irish Star nor Irish Stardust called at any Irish port during their charters to the Norwegian Group.