LV Petrel
LV Petrel

LV Petrel

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Though now the headquarters for a cruising club on Ballydorn Bay, at Strangford Lough, the LV Petrel was commissioned by the Commissioners of Irish Lights in 1913, and built by the Dublin Drydocks Company.

LV Petrel
LV Petrel

This Lightship spent most of its previous working life at Blackwater Bank on the River Blackwater, Wexford. It was then sold in 1968 to Hammond Lane foundries in Dublin, before being saved to use as the cruise club HQ. The boat is registered as a national historic ship in the UK.

LV Petrel
LV Petrel

According to Wikipedia, there was a previous Lightship called Petrel. It was built in Bristol in 1854 and was sold off in 1867. Haven’t found any more information.

It also seems that all of the Lightships were named after birds, including the Albatross (1925), the Tern (1912) and the Fulmar (1904). The Kittiwake (1959) is moored permanently next to the Point Depot in Dublin, and Skua (1960) is in Arklow harbour.

Another Lightship was built in 1920 in the Dublin Drydock Company. Named the Penguin, the vessel served first on the Daunt Rock Station, around Long Rock, and Cork Head. It was sold in 1966 and converted into a youth adventure training vessel called Hallowe’en. In 1982 the boat was renamed Arctic Penguin and planned to become a 20 passenger small cruise ship.

SS Arctic Penguin
SS Arctic Penguin – from Paul Wood on Flickr

In 1988 she sank and was salvaged and ended up in Renfrew. In 1995 the Penguin became part of the Maritime Heritage Centre at Inveraray. In 2015 The Viscount Christopher Wright of Warmingham, Cheshire, bought the vessel with plans for a full restoration and to sail her around the coast of Great Britain. In March 2017 the SS Arctic Penguin left for a million euro refurbishment at Barrow-in-Furness.

References:

Ballydorn:  https://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/492/ballydorn

SS Arctic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulicus/36391649942

Farewell to Arctic Penguin – http://www.dunoon-observer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11043&Itemid=19

Lightvessels in Ireland – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightvessels_in_Ireland

Historic Dublin Built Former Irish Lightship Turned Schooner to Be Restored – https://afloat.ie/sail/tall-ships/item/37415-historic-irish-built-former-lightship-turned-schooner-to-be-restored

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