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Week One Week Two Week Three Week Four Week Five Week six Week Seven Voyage Pictures
Today will be the busiest day since we have arrived in Argentina so some of us rise before 7am for a session in the gym doing a series of “supersets” consisting of bench press, lateral raise, chin ups, pull downs and so on. Within the Naval Service the physical requirements for diving are such that you must maintain a higher than normal standard of physical fitness. Getting it out of the way early means that no matter how busy the day becomes you have your session complete and it also means you meet the day with the right frame of mind. At 0900 the Irish Ambassador to Argentina HE Martin O Fanin boards LE Eithne. He has flown up from Buenos Aires and will accompany me on the calls of protocol to the Commander of the Naval Base and also the calls of custom to the Mayor of Mar Del Plata and the Chairman of the City Council. These calls are quite formal and medals and swords are worn. It is normal for an exchange of gifts to take place as well as plaques. The Base commander is Captain Vincenzo and he greets us in his headquarters. He explains that it is a great honour to have a visit by Ireland’s Flagship and assures me that he will continue to make available whatever resources he can to ensure our visit to Mar Del Plata is a great success. Captain Vincenzo then accompanies the Ambassador and myself to visit the mayor. We arrive at the town hall in the centre of Mar Del Plata – it is bustling with activity – democracy in action. The mayor then bestows an unexpected honour on the Ambassador, Mr JJ O’Hara and myself declaring us “Guests of Honour” presenting us with a certificate in which the “Articles” of the honour are set out. We then complete our calls with a visit to the Chairman of the Local Government. I notice that our liaison officer continues to watch the time closely and just before 12 am with calls complete we are being driven at speed to a wreath laying ceremony at the statue of Admiral William Brown. We arrive at the square to find a crowd of several hundred people have gathered applauding as the cars pull up. The Argentine Naval Band strikes up and LE Eithne’s ships company come to attention. The Ambassador and myself are escorted to our position and the significance of our visit to Mar Del Plata is explained to the gathered citizens who continue to applaud. There is a sense of great joy and genuine appreciation with people old and young calling in Spanish and English – welcome to Argentina, welcome to our country. The Ambassador and I lay the wreath and take up our position for the conclusion of the ceremony as the band play St Patrick’s Day in the Morning. With the ceremony finished people come forward shaking hands and greeting us – “my name is Moore my family came here from Ireland in 1857”, “my name is Lennon my family came here in 1876”. Some people with no English just shake our hand – I feel like a politician after a successful election convention. It is now 1235 and we are behind schedule – back to the cars and we speed off to visit the Spanish research vessel Hesperides (A-33) which has stopped off in Mar Del Plata after a cruise in the Antarctica. A reception is held onboard the vessel and we exchange greetings and plaques. At 1325 we depart for LE Eithne where I am to host a lunch at 1330. At the lunch return calls will be taken from those I have already called on this morning. We have an Irish menu of starter with Clonakilty puddings on a bed of lettuce with a main course Irish spring lamb with brown bread. The chefs have done a great job but I realise I should have opted for something a little lighter. Lunch is finished by 1500 and the guests depart – an interview with Icanews English Language newspaper is postponed from 1600 to 1900. I have three free hours before our evening reception and I go for a run. The run gives provides the chance to plan the greeting for the evening reception – it also helps me unwind. The interview with Icanews goes well – I think! By 1915 guests are gathering on the quay wall. The Argentine Band has also taken up position. Sunset will be at 1934 and I sense that the Naval guests will not board until the ceremony is complete. At sunset we lower our national colours – first we pipe the still and then the carry on and as we do the Argentine band plays “Evening Colours”. Then the guests board. The guests are a mixture of political, judicial, military and Mar Del Plata citizens including a significant number of second and third generation Irish. The reception is an outstanding success with the music of the Argentine Naval Band providing the entertainment up to my address. In my address amongst other things I say that William Brown who’s courage and spirit helped define the Argentine Nation is our blood brother. We then introduce our new secret weapon LE Eithne’s band called “Hercules” after William Brown’s flagship– they steal the show. Before the evening ends Leading Seaman Mark Ansboro and his team including WO John Walsh, PO Chef Eddie Stauton, Chiel Electrician Tom Kelly, Senior Chief Robie Byrne, PO Paul McCarthy and Seaman Fergal McDonagh have our guests waltzing to the music of When Irish Eyes are Smiling. Our last event in Mar Del Plata has been a WOW – tomorrow we sail for Buenos Aires – more about that later.
Its 0655 and some of Eithne’s crew get an early run in along the sea front of Mar Del Plata. The town is already awake. Beach attendants are raking the sand and clearing away flotsam carried in on the overnight tide. Already some surfers are making for a beach area where particularly heavy surf crashes like thunder, audible all along the waterfront on the hill overlooking the sea. As we prepare to depart Mar Del Plata we recall the service we have delivered, the calls of protocol and custom, the wreath laying, the open ship, the formal lunch, the evening reception. In all over a 1000 people visited the ship in the course of our three-day visit and the Irish Diaspora in the region were given a focal point with which they could identify – the Sovereign Status of an Irish Warship flying the National Colours of Ireland. Our pilot boards at 0845 and the Argentine Navy has again paraded its band this time to salute our departure. Such is the interest in the visit of the Irish Navy to Argentina that six journalists have requested to embark for the passage from Mar Del Plata to Buenos Aires. They are given a free run of the ship. It is a beautiful sunny day. From my position tucked in between the three Drumond class frigates rafted to my front and the Spanish Research vessel Hesperides to my stern a fresh breeze blows me off the berth. Holding on to the stern line LE Eithne swings off the berth and with 30 degrees port rudder and ahead two on the starboard engine we swing into the basin area clearing the frigates and turning clear of a Santa Cruz Class and a Salta Class submarine. We salute the Argentine Honour Guard and before long we are heading northeast. With the pilot disembarked we make for ARA Robinson, our escort for the long passage up the river plate. ARA Robinson is called after another Irishman who gave valiant service with the Argentine Navy. The ship has had an unusual birth. While launched in February 1985, due to financial cutbacks she was not commissioned until August 2000. The class known as Espora is a Meko 140 design by Blohm + Voss and as well as a sophisticated gunnery, missile, torpedo, surveillance and countermeasure suiteS the class is also fitted with a flight deck. The Robinson carries the Aerospatial Allouette III similar to that of the Irish Air Corps. ARA Robison greets us in a similar manner to that which we received from ARA Guerrico. Robinson is very proud of her lineage. In company we both run north towards the pilot pick up point for the river plate. Along the track we are careful to avoid shoals, which so often Brown used to his advantage. Having mastered the waters of the River Plate Brown often went where others did not dare. As we approach Cabo San Antonio we close up our 20 mm Rheinmetal gunners and our Target Designation Sight (TDS) operators. Robinson has alerted us to be on the look out for some Aermacchi Light Attack aircraft that may be operating in the area. These could provide us with a perfect training opportunity. Our TDS operators scour the sky. Finally Seaman Niall Carney the Port TDS operator calls out “alarm aircraft bearing red 80 angle of elevation 20”. The gun controller directs the port 20mm canon on to the bearing with the order for exercise target bearing red 70, angle of elevation 20, the aircraft is tracking right, for exercise engage when guns bear. Seaman Jenny Blackwell calls out “rheinmetall target for exercise auto shot engaing”. After a brief lull another call comes from the Port TDS “alarm new target bearing red 120 angle of elevation 20” the gun controller satisfied that the first target has been successfully engaged directs the rheinmetall to the new target. Within seconds Seaman Blackwell cries “Rheinmetall target for exercise auto shot engaging”. Just as quick as they appeared the two aircraft disappear into the sun. Soon we are passing Banco Rouen to starboard (right as you look ahead) and further on we adjust to the west to avoid Banco Ingles. We are then treated to a most spectacular sunset the speed of which catches most of our cameras napping. For the next 15 minutes the sky is a hundred colours of red and purple. For the passage up to Mar Del Plata we will need to take two pilots the first we will pick up just 10 miles off the city of Montevideo and the second about 100 miles to the west. We are watching our estimated time of arrival carefully – we cannot afford to loose time and at the same time we don’t have the luxury of Brown to give us advice. Captain De Fragata Frias of the Argentine Navy however has accompanied us from Mar Del Plata and his local knowledge coupled with the advice helps to keep us on time. Soon we have the pilot boat on radar. The lights of Montevideo stretch across the horizon. There are a number of stories about where it’s name originates. One story is that it is the hill “Monte” view “video”. Another suggests that it gets it’s name from hill “monte” six “VI” from “d’” east “e” west “o”. Those of us smart enough to remember check to see if our mobile phones work off the coast of Uruguay only to find that we have no operators. Lt Cdr Barry O’Halloran who had carried out a reconnaissance of the ports we were to visit had warned us in his brief of this anomaly. Soon the pilot is onboard and we are charging west with between 3 and 7 metres under our keel. It is a beautiful night with a million million stars in the sky and the river plate is flat calm. I remain on the bridge to monitor the passage. Robinson falls in astern, as we make over 16 knots in the narrow channel. Maybe it is a result of my movement between the radar and the plotter, like a hen laying eggs, but something makes the pilot call for a reduction in speed to 15knots. I continue to shuffle. Just to the north at seven miles on my beam a charted wreck catches my eye in position 34 58N 58 18W. It’s the watery grave of the German pocket Battleship Graf Spee scuttled rather than be sunk many years ago - but more about that next week when we visit Montevideo for now I have a port to close Buenos Aires – we need to be there by 9AM or else our programme will begin to unravel – will we make it - we will see!
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Throughout the night we navigated the various stages of the River Plate passage to Buenos Aires. The Canal General is the name given to the channel, which forms the main approach to the ports of La Plata and Buenos Aires. It is divided into four sections, the outer channel, Canal Punta Indio, Canal Intermedio and Paso Banco Chico. Sometimes we met a merchant ship in the narrow channel outward bound and we were ships passing in the night. Where were they going? Argentina’s main exports include food products, livestock, manufactured goods, fuel and lubricants, machinery and transport equipment. It has a population of over 37 million people of which over 95% speak Spanish and 83% are resident in urban areas. The Rio Parana pronounced Paranahh is the main river of the country. Rising in Brazil it forms the main frontier between Argentina and Paraguay and is navigable by ocean going vessels for nearly 250 nautical miles. One of the issues we will face when in Buenos Aires is how to get the one tonne generator that we have carried from Ireland up the River to the Admiral Brown School. I am called at 0600 by Lt Olan O’Keefe. Olan who previously served as a Merchant Naval Officer has experience of these waters and I was confident taking some sleep leaving him with the pilot. I turned in at 0130 leaving my Executive Officer and deputy in command, Lt Cdr Aedh McGinn on the bridge with the first pilot. A slight breeze from the south blows across the deck and there is a feeling of expectation as we enter the Canal Norte, which will bring us to our destination Port side to in Darsena Norte. As we enter the basin area the pilot steps back and leaves control of the ship to me. The pilot’s function is technically advisory. Ultimately he will have immense local knowledge of the waters and the hazards and at your peril you avoid his advice, but ultimately you have the responsibility for your ship. Tight manoeuvring requires both an understanding of the local conditions and your ship’s characteristics. If there is no particular influences on your ship then on balance the ship’s captain is probably the best to manoeuvre his own ship. As I navigate to the berth at the 3knot speed limit I give starboard thirty on the wheel and LE Eithne gently glides into her position to the music of the greeting party and an Argentine Naval Band. The wind is almost negligible and there is really no excuse for getting it wrong. Astern five on the outboard engine brings the stern swinging gently towards the wall and LE Eithne lines up perfectly parallel and two metres off the wall. I wish it were always like this. You never know however when what looks like an perfectly straightforward manoeuvre can go wrong and you end up in all sorts of bother. I ring off both main engines as the order “Ship in position – double up fore and aft” goes out over the air. I look at my watch it is 8:58 AM we are two minutes early – our program is on schedule. The greeting party includes the Captain in charge of the Division to which ARA Robinson belongs. Also waiting for the ship is our agent. We meet for a quick coffee. I review the programme with the ship’s officers and go to change – medals and sword for my call with Vice Admiral Rotolla, Deputy Chief of the Argentine Navy. I put on my second favourite pair of cufflinks. Admiral Rotolla gave them to me in 2004 when I met him in Foxford on the 3rd March, the occasion of the 147th Anniversary of Admiral Brown’s death. “Timesnap” who are doing the documentary of our visit accompanies me. As we arrive at the Naval HQ an honour guard and bugler salute. Admiral Rotolla hasn’t changed a bit – he explains how happy he is to be able to receive my call. We talk about Admiral Brown and our work with Crumlin Children’s Hospital. We talk about our upcoming visits to Hospital de Ninos Ricardo Gutierrez and Garahan hospital. We discuss the broader social responsibilities of an institutional organisation like the navy and suddenly we are singing off the same hymn sheet. If a Naval vessel can be twinned with a hospital like Crumlin and give the sick children some occasional respite from the boredom of hospital wards then why not. If sailors on their time off can visit those who can’t leave their wards and offer a distraction and a variation then why not. In the final analysis we are public servants paid for by the tax payer – it is our job not just to look at conventional service provision but also to look at value added services. I return to LE Eithne and prepare to receive my guests for Lunch. I was lucky to get a ticket for U2 but when I return I find an invitation for dinner with the Chief of the Argentine Navy – my Chief of Navy Commodore Lynch will also be there. Bonno or Admiral Godoy – service first, besides there are at least 50 takers onboard for a U2 ticket. Lunch is very pleasant with Vice Admiral Rotolla making his return call. HE Ambassador Martin O’Fainin is also in attendance and Mr Frank Fealy Deputy Chairman of the board of Management of Our Ladies Children’s Hospital Crumlin. Also from the Argentinean Navy side are Captain Felix Plaza and the officer who is rapidly becoming my friend Captain Juan Frias. Captain Frias has been my mentor in the River Plate and throughout our visit in Mar Del Plata, he has travelled to Buenos Aires to ensure all has gone smoothly discreetly advising on protocol and other matters – I will miss him when he returns to Mar Del Plata after lunch. We continue the theme of the broader responsibilities for public and social service provision by institutions such as the Navy. Mr Fealy explains that the links being forged by Crumlin with both Hospital de Ninos Guiterrez and Garahan Hospital are directly as a result of the visit by LE Eithne to Argentina. After lunch Admiral Rotolla explains he has a surprise we walk from the ship to a Navy building where standing at almost seven feet is the bronze statue of Admiral William Brown which I am to carry on the ship back to Dublin. This statue will be mounted on Sir John Rogerson’s quay – a mayoman brought home by a mayoman.
After a good run I get cracking again on this diary, which after this instalment will have to take a back seat for a few days as my programme is really getting busy. Dinner with Admiral Godoy is relaxed, sociable and I would say intimate. Those from Ireland are the blood brothers of the Argentine Navy’s hero and we share a common objective in promoting the name of Admiral William Brown. I cannot ignore my phone after it rings the third time in my pocket and finally I rudely whisper an answer in case it is an emergency on the ship. It is Cdr Hugh Tully who attended the Great Places To Work awards ceremony and he confirms that a video message we had prepared for the ceremony had more than made up for the absence of our crew. For it was now official – out of over 4000 companies in Ireland that had been invited to be independently assessed, LE Eithne had made it to the “Top 50” list of Great places to Work in Ireland. It is a reflection of the positive and progressive manner in which the Irish Defence Forces are moving forward and off course ultimately it reflects positively on the crew of what is “The Best Little Flagship in the World”.
The day starts with a beautiful sunrise over the River Plate. At 0800 both ARA Robinson and LE Eithne hoist their national colours. Both ships are also dressed overall meaning that all the signalling flags are hoisted up along two dressing lines from aft and forward to the masthead. No flag can be superior to the National colours so another tricolour is hoisted at the masthead. Today Commodore Frank Lynch Flag Officer Commanding Naval Service will be honoured by the Argentine Government with the award of the “Order of May”. We arrive at the Naval Staff Headquarters building and an honour guard is there to greet guests. The lift brings us to the fourteenth floor. The building known as the “Whitehouse” is huge and contains all the various staffs of a typical headquarters. At the ceremony all the Naval Staff together with members of the Admiral Brown Institution are gathered, a myriad of Admirals stand to attention behind the Head of the Argentine Navy Admiral Godoy as Commodore Lynch walks in. The contrast is striking a Navy with dozens of Admirals honouring the head of a Navy with no Admiral. Speeches are delivered and the award is made. In line everyone including the Admirals gather to congratulate Commodore Lynch and his wife Jannette. Refreshments are served and my phone rings – the visit to the Hospital de Ninos Ricardo Gutierrez is brought forward by one hour. We rush back to the ship to collect the presents. Children’s presents donated by the parishioners of Dublin, The Higher Education Authority, the Royal St George Yacht Club, people of Foxford/Mayo/Galway region, citizens from Cavan and numerous other donations some given discreetly some anonymously. LE Eithne’s crew arrive at the hospital. We are greeted by the hospitals medical manager. Already there, are, Mr Frank Feely Deputy Chairman of the Board of Management of Our Ladies Children’s Hospital Crumlin, Ms Brenda Ryan Hospital Manager Crumlin and Ms Derri Little from Radiotherapy unit of Cork University Hospital. It is explained to us by the hospital staff that visits like ours are off tremendous value in the treatment process. As we distribute the gifts faces light up and language barriers become insignificant. Children are international and unfortunately illness is also. We never cease to be deeply touched by the unconditional courage of sick children – they are true warriors. Some suffering with serious cancer smile and wave. Many have lost their hair the penalty for taking severe medicines aimed at their cancers. Amy Healy strikes up a friendship with a beautiful 14 year old girl whose bandana and skin pallor tell their own story – she will be released tomorrow for awhile at least to her next treatment – Amy invites her and her family onboard on Sunday. Before long fifty or sixty children later our toys are gone and we wave goodbye. We set a date for a visit to the ship on Saturday by outpatients and we offer to organise the transport. We return to LE Eithne as the generator the ship has carried from Ireland to South America today is transferred to a small Argentine Naval Craft, called the Cuidad De Zarate (Q61) to be transported to an isolated community on an island on the Parana River. Electricians from the ships crew will also travel with the Generator up river, to help install the equipment. The electricians making the journey will also carry with them toys for the children in the area. My next engagement is already started a reunion by the surviving members of the Brown family. JJ O’Hara is in full flight – powerpoints plans and loads of ideas. I present a print of Philip Grey’s painting of our ship. Before long it is time for the next engagement.
I go to my cabin shower and change uniform. We are due for the Ambassador’s reception at 1900. My wife is arriving so I put on my favourite cuff links and swing by her hotel. We haven’t much time and head for the car to take us to the reception. It breaks down. We call for a taxi it is rush hour not a hope in the world – we go out on the street and walk to a main cross roads – Fabian our liaison officer does everything he can - eventually we get a car. The reception is not long started and there are over three hundred guests. Again I am struck by the friendliness and genuine warmth of the Argentine people. I could live in this country for ever.
Captain’s Journal LE EITHNE – Friday 03 March Today it seems that God is keen to make sure that we all understand who controls the weather. Since our arrival the shore side adjacent to our berth has been a hive of activity as preparations are made for today’s parade. Seating has been positioned, a 100 metre timber screen has been erected. Pavements and parking areas have been cleaned and weeded. Despite man’s best plans God has other plans and as we go to Recolletta cemetery – where Admiral Brown’s remains are laid at rest, the heavens have opened and the rain soaks everyone. As my car pulls up the Argentinean honour guard are already in situ. A priest is also in attendance and as I write this I feel a little embarrassed, as I didn’t even get a chance to properly greet him. There are two wreaths to be laid at the grave of Admiral Brown but to attempt to do so would be simply stupid. The rain falls with such intensity that there is not a hope of the ceremony proceeding as planned. As the Ambassador and I move to suggest a pragmatic alternative the Argentinean Commander in charge of the ceremony outlines the way forward. A ceremony will be held in the small cemetery church and the wreath will be laid when God decides. We rush back to the ship our uniforms soaked. At 1100 we again muster for the main ceremony of our visit which will be attended by the Argentinean Minister for Defence. The ceremony has been moved in doors. I count eighteen Admirals. In addition military attaches and service representatives from the Air Force and Army are in attendance. At the ceremony one of the bronze statues of Admiral Brown which we will carry back to Ireland on the ship is formally unveiled. It is impressive. A site has been identified on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in Dublin where the statue of this great Mayo Man will proudly stand allowing the citizens of our country to view him. Plans have also been agreed to name a street in the area in his name. As the ceremony progresses Admiral Godoy makes a strong speech in which he articulates the importance of the military in supporting democracy. On completion Commodore Lynch Flag Officer Commanding the Irish Naval Service is called forward and presented with a replica of Admiral Brown’s sword in beautiful glass covered wooden case. I am then called forward and presented with a replica of Admiral Brown’s flag, which he hoisted on the Hercules to distinguish himself from his enemy. It is the cross of St Andrew. The ceremony then draws to a close with the Argentinean Naval Band playing the Argentine and Irish National Anthems. It is a very proud moment for our Navy, our Defence Forces and our Country. The attention to detail by our hosts is as remarkable as it is humbling. Personally I feel there is so much we need to do at home to bring the name of Admiral Brown to the forefront. With the ceremony finished we return to the ship. Our technicians are working on getting a link set up with the Mayor OF Derry Councillor Lynn Fleming. LE Eithne was the first Irish Naval Ship ever to visit the city of Derry in Spring of 2005, since that time the ship has visited on three occasions making strong links with the citizens of that City. In a ceremony to remember those lost at sea LE Eithne’s ships company proudly marched through the Diamond and Foyle Side in Derry to the applause of both sides of the community. Today we carry a presentation for the Argentine Special Olympics team which Derry citizens hosted when Ireland held the games in 2004. It is an emotional link across the Atlantics as the President of the Argentine Special Olympics Organisation speaks to the Mayor of Derry. The Argentine Athletes Proudly show there medals and recall the great warmth that the families of Derry gave to them when they were hosted.
A number of other meetings occupy my remaining hours – I had hoped to see my wife before the main reception but there is no time. By 1800 the rain has stopped – I say thank you God. The expectation is that we are going to have more than 400 guests for the reception and we do. By 1935 five minutes after the reception start there are already 300 people onboard. The ship’s company are remarkable. I feel we are like a “Stradivarius” violin every ounce of energy is going into service provision – making sure guests are happy now, planning for the next event, regrouping after the last event. There is no room for error everyone wants a piece of our ship and they expect to be treated with special attention. We do our best. By 8pm there are at least 460 guests onboard – but we are coping. The reception goes on longer than expected and at 1130pm I finally get time to go ashore with my wife for a meal. Friday 3rd of March was always going to be the centre of gravity for our visit to Argentina. I look back on the days events starting in Recolleta, the Naval Parade, the Special Olympics visit, the main reception – it has been a successful day but we are not finished yet ..what will tomorrow have in store for us.
Captain’s Journal LE EITHNE – Saturday 04 March It is a beautiful day our first major event is a visit by sick children from Garahan Hospital. Our crew worked through the night cleaning up after the reception washing glasses, polishing alleyways, storing tables and chairs. All the invisible work that has to be done before and after an event. The bus pulls up and I meet the principal of the group. We have prepared a big party for the children. Unfortunately because of the variety of treatment that the children are undergoing we are unable to give them the chicken and chips we have prepared. Plan B swings into place and a party of ice cream and canned minerals is organised. Children are international and so are illnesses and as we show our guests around the ship and let them steer the wheel, sit in the captains chair, drive our “Jaguar” boats swing our 20mm cannon we bond with these little warriors. They carry their illnesses with such dignity – unconditional courage. I have always found that children can really teach you a lesson in terms of coming to grips with life’s knocks – they don’t complain, they don’t manipulate looking for sympathy, they get on with life taking what ever medicine they are given.
With the tour finished we go to the Junior Ratings Mess for the party – we have all warmed to each other – language and cultural barriers are out the window – Chief John (Bull) Hogan has everyone organised, Jenny Blackwell and Amy Healy are brilliant, Commop Brown and Seaman Mc Carty do their dance – face paints are out and Leading Seaman Callopy ricochets from table to table translating. Before they leave we move to the hangar where we have the gifts ready and to the music of Brian Kennedy singing “You Lift me Up” we distribute them. For a moment I don’t know can I stay with them – the delight in their faces says it all but the tragedy of life hits me. Despite their joy I can only think how unfair it all is – children suffering from cancer, a boy with a large neck tumour, a little girl with a large scar from brain surgery, another girl who must carry a colostomy bag. Why has God done this? By the time they leave, laughing and waving, with their bus tooting its horn I still can’t understand – I decide to go for a run.
Another beautiful day in Buenos Aires. We have full page reports about Eithnes visit in two of Argentina’s major papers. Both speak very positively of our visit. I decide to ask James Harding to type one out so I include it in today’s journal. Today is our day of “Irishness”, as if we need to be more Irish than we have been to date. Irish musicians, Irish dancers, Irish singers and everything Irish are set to descend on the ship at 4pm. But first we have over 600 citizens from Buenos Aires who want to walk our decks. Families, individuals, enthusiasts, children, all keen for an insight to Ireland’s naval flag ship. By 3.30 with most of the open ship visitors off, we are ready to receive our guests for the Irish evening and they come in their droves with their bodhrans, fiddles, guitars, accordions and huge talent. Before long, the ship is like any fleadh ceoil with Irish dancing and Irish music. It’s difficult to manage the numbers because one of the main papers got our opening hours wrong and advertised us as open to the public from 4pm overlapping with our Irish evening. Unable to distinguish between our guests and the citizens of Buenos Aires we let them all on and as I write this now, I am certain there are many non Irish visitors sitting at home regaling the great party they stumbled across. As ever, it goes on longer than planned and at 7.45 almost four hours after starting, I take the mic and be the party pooper – all good things must come to an end! As ever we have to clean up and prepare for our next events. It’s clear to me the crew are tired and while they want to give their best, their eyes tell me they need a battery recharge before it all starts again. I am very grateful for all your positive contributions to the journal and tomorrow I will include just a sample for you to peruse. Right now I too need to charge my batteries and maybe see my wife! I will leave you with the Extract from the Buenos Aires Herald - Ireland’s flagship Eithne visits What a month for Ireland in Argentina! In the same week that Irish super-group U2 were wowing them all at the River Plate stadium, the Irish flagship L.E. Eithne arrived at Darsena Norte (on St. David’s, not St. Patrick’s day last Wednesday) and will be here until this Wednesday. All this with St. Patrick’s Day (complete with ministerial visit) too in the same month. Not all of us are lucky enough to have one on ones with Bono like president Nestor Kirchner but the Herald was delighted to be a guest aboard the L.E. Eithne as an ‘’embedded journalist’’ when it sailed from Mar Del Plata to Darsena Norte here between 9:15am and 8:50am on Wednesday. Ireland might seem to be sending out mixed messages by having a warship and bono here in the same week but the contrast is more apparent than real. I hope the Eithne’s crew can pardon this indiscretion if the Herald reveals that the operations room was too cluttered with teddies destined for sick children in Buenos Aires and Montevideo for the radio controlled gunnery to be brought immediately into action in the ludicrously unlikely event of combat. Bono would surely have approved. The Eithne works with our lady’s hospital for sick children (often terminally ill with cancer) in Dublin. Yesterday 40 sick children in Garraham and Gutierez children’s hospitals were given the teddy bears and other toys while forty more children in Montevideo will be in line in Montevideo will be in line in the coming week. The flagships skipper, Commander Mark Mellet DSM, finds all this charity work ‘’good for ships morale’’ and well within the naval brief of ‘’diplomatic support’’, even if not strictly seamanship. This trip represents a huge effort for an eight ship navy more used to coastal patrols, Mellett told the Herald – an eight week voyage (seven weeks outside Irish coastal waters) sailing 6000 miles away from home and crossing the equator for the first time in the navy’s history. The voyage serves several purposes but should also be seen in the context of the build-up to the 150th year anniversary of Admiral Guillermo Brown’s death next year – Mellett (a Mayo born only 13 miles from Brown’s own birth place of Foxford) hugely admires the founder of the argentine navy. Almost needles to say the world’s leading Brown fan, the irrepressible John Joseph O’Hara (known universally as JJ), is deeply involved in this voyage – a supermarket owner from Foxford, he has developed an Almirante brand of Mendoza wine for his own and other Irish retail outlets. The Argentine training vessel Libertad will be in Ireland for the 150th anniversary next year when a statue of Brown will be unveiled in the Irish Prime Ministers presence on an upmarket stretch of the Liffey in Dublin. Setting out from the Navy’s base of Haulbowline Island in Cork harbour, the Eithne’s first port of call was Tenerife. Shortly afterwards the flagship had its most exciting adventure when it encountered a navigational hazard in the form of a 50ton container (according to mark Mellett, some 10,000 go adrift every year) after riddling the container with machine gun fire, divers were sent to finish off the sinking, only to be surrounded by hammerhead sharks! Mellett (approaching 30 years of a naval career which began with the royal navy in Dartmouth – his first command was in 1991) pointed out that such on-the-job training in gunnery, diving and navigation is part of the value of such a long voyage. After taking aboard seven journalists in Mar del Plata and staging a highly successful reception on board on Monday night, the Eithne began its 23-hour voyage to Mar del Plata at a top speed of 16-17 knots. The escort vessel ARA Robinson could not keep up the pace and fell behind near the mouth of the river plate. War games included three Argentine Air Force flyovers of both the Eithne and the Robinson on Tuesday afternoon –the aircraft well in time. Accommodation aboard in a four-berth cabin was not the Ritz, while the gangways and stairwells could be tricky but mess fare including Irish stew was excellent – the salmon even came with capers. No wonder the vessel has earned an award (to be collected later this year) as one of the top 50 “great places to work” in an Irish Independent survey of 40,000 companies. After Montevideo, the Eithne will sail to the Brazilian ports of Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza before returning home. Only Buenos Aires has been privileged with a full week in port – four days have been earmarked for all other ports of call. Besides the Eithne the Irish navy consists of five offshore patrol vessels: the Emer, Aoife, Aisling, Roisin and Niamh (the newest and largest) and the coastal vessels the Orla and Ciara (all female names in Gaelic even if they do not always sound like it. The supreme naval commander is Commodore Frank Lynch. The Irish navy has almost as many tasks as vessels: fisheries surveillance, environmental protection, anti-terrorist operations, anti-drug activities (Mellett once caught a cannabis-laden ketch red handed while commanding the Orla), search and rescue missions at sea and also its “diplomatic support work”, such as its activities here. By the same token the Irish navy’s 1,144 Personnel (“seamen would be a misnomer since there are several women among the Eithne crew”) have to be multi-skilled- equally trained in fisheries surveillance, navigation and gunnery. Although many of the crew are technicians, traditional seamanship is still a required part of training. ……… The Eithne’s complement is listed as 65 but there were 76 crewmembers from all over Ireland (not including the invited journalists), most of them young. How did the navy recruit youth in a newly prosperous Ireland without press-ganging, the Herald asked Mellett? The ship lacked the financial inducements and the creation of wealth to share offered by business employment, the Commander admitted, but there was a spirit of teamwork and friendship instead of competition – newcomers were consulted as to there choice of job. Mellett rested most of his answer on the Eithne being one of the fifty best places to work in Ireland. The Eithne’s vital statistics informs us that she has an age of 22 (built in Verome dockyards), a displacement of 1800 tonnes, dimensions of 81x12x4.3 metres, a speed of 16 knots a range of 7000 nautical miles and a complement of 65 people. None of these figures can even start to convey the unique thrill of ocean travel or the exceptional warmth of the crew. The Irish community here (up to half a million souls) can indeed be proud of this humble little flagship.
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