Millennium milestones
Capt. J. J. Hickey,
Inspector of Lights & Marine Superintendent
THE YEAR 2000 will be especially remembered in this Service, not for any arbitrary significance as the millennium year, but for the events and milestones achieved.
The first day of the new year saw us all on tenterhooks as we awaited the testing of our Y2K preparations. The aids to navigation, control, and communications equipment at Hook Head had been identified as a typical Commissioners of Irish Lights lighthouse, and on that basis it was selected for the purpose of testing our immunity or otherwise to the dreaded year 2000 bug.
I visited the station together with the Attendant on New Year's morning and having done a complete station check we concluded, as a lot of people had suspected all along, that the whole affair was much ado about nothing.
It is easy to say this now, but at the time all the expert advice indicated that any function or process which had within its control or mechanism any kind of micro-processor also contained a risk of a date problem at the year roll-over. Because of the vital role played by aids to navigation in general safety at sea, and the unacceptable consequence of any system failure, considerable effort was put into checking and verifying all Service components and processes, and into the preparation of contingency plans.
Whether or not our visit to the Hook was an anti-climax, the morning was far from wasted. The weather was fair, the sun shone, and it is always a pleasure to meet our Station Attendants. This is especially so in the case of Tucks Tweedy, Attendant of Hook Head Lighthouse, who keeps an excellent station and usually can be relied upon to add colour to a visit by way of a yarn.
New Ship Sea Trials
Early in January ILV Granuaile sailed from Harlingen in The Netherlands, to commence sea trials. The builder was obliged by contract to submit a detailed schedule of manoeuvres and exercises to prove the working of the ship, her machinery, and equipment. In the course of these trials a North Sea rendezvous was arranged with the Trinity House support vessel Mermaid.
Mermaid laid two buoys for the purpose of allowing Granuaile to complete buoy handing trials. This was a tense time when all our planning, calculations, and modelling for the primary work of the new ship were tested. In spite of less than ideal sea conditions and only a small but well experienced crew, ably lead by Chief Officer Harry McClenahan and Bosun Mickey Duffy, the entire operation went extremely well.
Acceptance and Commissioning
Sea trials were completed satisfactorily and the vessel was accepted at the end of January 2000 at Rotterdam. Thereafter some time was spent preparing the vessel for the delivery voyage home, and in crew training and systems familiarisation. In the course of the delivery voyage Granuaile carried out her first job when she re-lit the Needles Fairway Buoy, off Southampton, for Trinity House.
The ship arrived off Rosslare on 14 February and began an intensive working-up programme which was continued when her relief crew joined. At the commissioning of the vessel on 23 March 2000 the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Frank Fahey was generous with his recognition and praise for the role played by this Service in the interests of marine safety in Ireland.
Ship Operations
With the introduction of the new Granuaile came the implementation of the new Marine Service Agreement, and the new Ship Management System. These involved significant changes in onboard operational management and the distribution of work responsibilities.
The recognition by the Officers' and Ratings' Unions of the need to achieve an integrated agreement was indispensable. Their partnership and co-operation in working through all the different facets to be considered allowed the successful completion of discussions and the application of the new agreement in time for the entry of the new ship into service.
The contribution in this issue by Captain Dermot Gray covers the details of the ship operations very well. I will confine myself here to congratulating him, Captain Robert McCabe, and all the ship's complement for the positive attitude with which they have received the ship and applied the new technology and operating systems. The ship's performance, productivity, safety, and sickness record since her commissioning is a product of their commitment and marks them all out as real professionals.
Ship Visits
Since her arrival Granuaile has attracted broad interest and visits from representative groups-among others from the Chartered Institute of Transport, the Irish Institute of Marine Engineers, and the Irish Chamber of Shipping. Perhaps the most important people to visit were the Irish Lights family groups who took a short sea passage in Dublin Bay and observed buoy operations at first hand. This follows our recent tradition of holding Family Days on board which it is hoped will be continued in future years.
Captain Dermot Gray demonstrates the manoevering console on the bridge of ILV Granuaile to Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources Frank Fahey
(photo: Roger Digan photography)
Working Inspections 2000
The capabilities of the new ship, in particular her fast rigid inflatable boat (rib), and her enhanced helicopter operations capability allowed a considerable improvement in productivity in the course of the north-about Galway to Dublin inspection trip held from 2 to 13 June. In spite of the unsettled and sometimes downright unsuitable weather experienced, only a very few station inspections had to be passed over. When this occurs it is always disappointing for both the Commissioners and the Station Attendants alike.
I did suspect however that the unexpected rest provided by a cancelled inspection, within what was otherwise a quite hectic schedule, was welcomed by some, and not least by the other executive members on board who appeared to wilt a little towards the end.
During the trip the ship performed admirably, and succeeded in all her scheduled tasks including the attendance or replacing of seven buoys and the oiling of three stations.
Sale of Granuaile II
With the arrival of the new Granuaile the old ship, or G2 as she had become known, was placed on the market and eventually sold Gardline, a company specialising in oceanographic survey and based in Great Yarmouth. Since that time we have been informed that she has been successfully engaged in seabed surveys of the south and south-west approaches to Great Britain.
Many fond memories of Granuaile II will be treasured not least among those members of the Service who had the privelege of serving on board her. I know that I will be forgiven for noticing the understandable emotion in the voice of Tommy O'Driscoll when he was being interviewed for television on board the new ship on the day of her commissioning.
Tommy, who had served onboard both ships for their commissioning days and, indeed, served as well on the first Granuaile in our Service, must understandably have felt a sense of loss.
After thirty years of excellent service we wish Granuaile II and her new owners well in her new career.
New Inspector for Old
About the same time as the retirement of Granuaile II from service Captain Carl Laverty, Assistant Inspector, decided that the time had come to move on to his chosen new career. It will come as no surprise to those who know him to be told that rather than being content to smell the flowers in his garden, he can be seen frequently jogging along the East Pier or running up Killiney Hill, on a training regime to prepare, we hear, for the rigours of scrambling around far off craters in his new passion for vulcanology.
At his retirement presentation in the office I wished him a well deserved holiday in a warm climate but it was never my intention that he should go to such extremes.
Captain George Ball took up Carl's post for the initial working-up period of the new ship before resuming seagoing command in November. Captain Robbie McCabe then commenced shore duty as Assistant Inspector and has already immersed himself in the inspection of lighthouses and other Aids to Navigation, and local boats, as well as many other duties which are an everyday part of the administration and management of the Marine Department.
Helicopter Operations
Week in, week out Irish Helicopters Ltd's contract Bolkow helicopter flown by Captains Mick Hennessy and Mick Conneely transports personnel and materials to and from off-shore stations.
The helicopter contract is due for renewal in April 2001. With closer integrations of ship and helicopter support, more efficient off-shore operations are expected in the future.
Review
In the course of the year 2000 Marine Department Personnel were presented with many new experiences, challenges and opportunities, and we look forward to more of the same in coming years.
I believe that this has been a wonderful Millennium Year, and the best I can wish my marine and other colleagues, throughout the Service and beyond, is more of the same-Happy New Year to all.
Inspector of Lights & Marine Superintendent
THE YEAR 2000 will be especially remembered in this Service, not for any arbitrary significance as the millennium year, but for the events and milestones achieved.
The first day of the new year saw us all on tenterhooks as we awaited the testing of our Y2K preparations. The aids to navigation, control, and communications equipment at Hook Head had been identified as a typical Commissioners of Irish Lights lighthouse, and on that basis it was selected for the purpose of testing our immunity or otherwise to the dreaded year 2000 bug.
I visited the station together with the Attendant on New Year's morning and having done a complete station check we concluded, as a lot of people had suspected all along, that the whole affair was much ado about nothing.
It is easy to say this now, but at the time all the expert advice indicated that any function or process which had within its control or mechanism any kind of micro-processor also contained a risk of a date problem at the year roll-over. Because of the vital role played by aids to navigation in general safety at sea, and the unacceptable consequence of any system failure, considerable effort was put into checking and verifying all Service components and processes, and into the preparation of contingency plans.
Whether or not our visit to the Hook was an anti-climax, the morning was far from wasted. The weather was fair, the sun shone, and it is always a pleasure to meet our Station Attendants. This is especially so in the case of Tucks Tweedy, Attendant of Hook Head Lighthouse, who keeps an excellent station and usually can be relied upon to add colour to a visit by way of a yarn.
New Ship Sea Trials
Early in January ILV Granuaile sailed from Harlingen in The Netherlands, to commence sea trials. The builder was obliged by contract to submit a detailed schedule of manoeuvres and exercises to prove the working of the ship, her machinery, and equipment. In the course of these trials a North Sea rendezvous was arranged with the Trinity House support vessel Mermaid.
Mermaid laid two buoys for the purpose of allowing Granuaile to complete buoy handing trials. This was a tense time when all our planning, calculations, and modelling for the primary work of the new ship were tested. In spite of less than ideal sea conditions and only a small but well experienced crew, ably lead by Chief Officer Harry McClenahan and Bosun Mickey Duffy, the entire operation went extremely well.
Acceptance and Commissioning
Sea trials were completed satisfactorily and the vessel was accepted at the end of January 2000 at Rotterdam. Thereafter some time was spent preparing the vessel for the delivery voyage home, and in crew training and systems familiarisation. In the course of the delivery voyage Granuaile carried out her first job when she re-lit the Needles Fairway Buoy, off Southampton, for Trinity House.
The ship arrived off Rosslare on 14 February and began an intensive working-up programme which was continued when her relief crew joined. At the commissioning of the vessel on 23 March 2000 the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Frank Fahey was generous with his recognition and praise for the role played by this Service in the interests of marine safety in Ireland.
Ship Operations
With the introduction of the new Granuaile came the implementation of the new Marine Service Agreement, and the new Ship Management System. These involved significant changes in onboard operational management and the distribution of work responsibilities.
The recognition by the Officers' and Ratings' Unions of the need to achieve an integrated agreement was indispensable. Their partnership and co-operation in working through all the different facets to be considered allowed the successful completion of discussions and the application of the new agreement in time for the entry of the new ship into service.
The contribution in this issue by Captain Dermot Gray covers the details of the ship operations very well. I will confine myself here to congratulating him, Captain Robert McCabe, and all the ship's complement for the positive attitude with which they have received the ship and applied the new technology and operating systems. The ship's performance, productivity, safety, and sickness record since her commissioning is a product of their commitment and marks them all out as real professionals.
Ship Visits
Since her arrival Granuaile has attracted broad interest and visits from representative groups-among others from the Chartered Institute of Transport, the Irish Institute of Marine Engineers, and the Irish Chamber of Shipping. Perhaps the most important people to visit were the Irish Lights family groups who took a short sea passage in Dublin Bay and observed buoy operations at first hand. This follows our recent tradition of holding Family Days on board which it is hoped will be continued in future years.
Captain Dermot Gray demonstrates the manoevering console on the bridge of ILV Granuaile to Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources Frank Fahey
(photo: Roger Digan photography)
Working Inspections 2000
The capabilities of the new ship, in particular her fast rigid inflatable boat (rib), and her enhanced helicopter operations capability allowed a considerable improvement in productivity in the course of the north-about Galway to Dublin inspection trip held from 2 to 13 June. In spite of the unsettled and sometimes downright unsuitable weather experienced, only a very few station inspections had to be passed over. When this occurs it is always disappointing for both the Commissioners and the Station Attendants alike.
I did suspect however that the unexpected rest provided by a cancelled inspection, within what was otherwise a quite hectic schedule, was welcomed by some, and not least by the other executive members on board who appeared to wilt a little towards the end.
During the trip the ship performed admirably, and succeeded in all her scheduled tasks including the attendance or replacing of seven buoys and the oiling of three stations.
Sale of Granuaile II
With the arrival of the new Granuaile the old ship, or G2 as she had become known, was placed on the market and eventually sold Gardline, a company specialising in oceanographic survey and based in Great Yarmouth. Since that time we have been informed that she has been successfully engaged in seabed surveys of the south and south-west approaches to Great Britain.
Many fond memories of Granuaile II will be treasured not least among those members of the Service who had the privelege of serving on board her. I know that I will be forgiven for noticing the understandable emotion in the voice of Tommy O'Driscoll when he was being interviewed for television on board the new ship on the day of her commissioning.
Tommy, who had served onboard both ships for their commissioning days and, indeed, served as well on the first Granuaile in our Service, must understandably have felt a sense of loss.
After thirty years of excellent service we wish Granuaile II and her new owners well in her new career.
New Inspector for Old
About the same time as the retirement of Granuaile II from service Captain Carl Laverty, Assistant Inspector, decided that the time had come to move on to his chosen new career. It will come as no surprise to those who know him to be told that rather than being content to smell the flowers in his garden, he can be seen frequently jogging along the East Pier or running up Killiney Hill, on a training regime to prepare, we hear, for the rigours of scrambling around far off craters in his new passion for vulcanology.
At his retirement presentation in the office I wished him a well deserved holiday in a warm climate but it was never my intention that he should go to such extremes.
Captain George Ball took up Carl's post for the initial working-up period of the new ship before resuming seagoing command in November. Captain Robbie McCabe then commenced shore duty as Assistant Inspector and has already immersed himself in the inspection of lighthouses and other Aids to Navigation, and local boats, as well as many other duties which are an everyday part of the administration and management of the Marine Department.
Helicopter Operations
Week in, week out Irish Helicopters Ltd's contract Bolkow helicopter flown by Captains Mick Hennessy and Mick Conneely transports personnel and materials to and from off-shore stations.
The helicopter contract is due for renewal in April 2001. With closer integrations of ship and helicopter support, more efficient off-shore operations are expected in the future.
Review
In the course of the year 2000 Marine Department Personnel were presented with many new experiences, challenges and opportunities, and we look forward to more of the same in coming years.
I believe that this has been a wonderful Millennium Year, and the best I can wish my marine and other colleagues, throughout the Service and beyond, is more of the same-Happy New Year to all.