the entry in my Discharge book from AsgardII
I read on the internet that the Irish Sail Training Vessel Asgard II sunk on the 11th of September 2008, in the Bay of Biscay. I was deeply saddened to learn of this event, not only because I had done a stint as a trainee on her 17 years ago this November coming, but I have also many dear friends who are closely associated with Asgard II. There are plenty of people who are experts about sailing and tall ships, I am not. I just had one of those lifetime experiences back in 1991 sailing a real tall ship.
I joined her with a gang of trainees in Dublin, and we were to do a trip across to the Isle of Man then on to Wales and back to Dublin. There was plenty of wind so getting under sail wasn’t an issue. One of the first things we had to do after being allocated our bunks and muster stations was to go “up and over” meaning climbing up the rigging to the top of the mast and down the other side. It wasn’t so hard, the ship was alongside and still, I climbed up the first set of ratlines, then you had to reach backwards and climb up the second set, and finally the same for the third set to get to the top of the mast, then climb over and down the other side. I think everyone made it. A few grey faces but no casualties or cases of vertigo. Then we learned the orders for “sheets and tacks”. After a few hours of getting lessons and being divided into port and starboard watches, we sailed from Dublin.
The weather was shite, and before long half the trainees were vomiting over the side, one guy was being washed over with sea and just puking all the time as we rolled and pitched in the Irish sea with the stink of sweat, diesel and boiled cabbage coming from below. The skipper didn’t seem too worried and we had nearly all the sails out. We got to Port St. Mary in the Isle of Man and moored, the weather got worse and we had to put out extra moorings, we still managed to pull a couple of fairleads from their mountings. After a rough night alingside we had a fairly pleasant morning, and we sailed to Douglas, on the way the Bosun wanted 2 volunteers to “go aloft” and strike a sail, I was quick off the mark and he pulled me aside and dug his hard fingers into my shoulder and said “If you think you can’t make it, climb down, no one will think less of you” So I started climbing, about half way up I felt my legs turning to lead and my head started spinning and I thought “fuck this” and was about to climb down when I saw one of the girls climbing up fast as you like blonde curly hair blowing in the wind and right behind me, I would have had to climb over her to get down, valour got the better of discretion and I bit my tongue hard between my back teeth until I could taste blood, and up I went like a monkey, there was no way I was going to look a gobshite in front of the assembled ranks on the decks below even though the ship was rolling and I could see blue water below me half the time. Later back on deck when the adrenaline had faded the bosun gave me a nod, and said “you were thinking about backing?” I nodded he smiled and said “that’s why I sent up blondie!”
On the way back from Wales we had some of the worst weather that had been experienced on the Irish Sea in decades, we were rolling and pitching and the seas were huge piling up behind as we cork screwed across the sea. I wasn’t so scared because I was soaked and puking in between getting salty waves across my face, so I just wanted to die. Finally we got to Dublin. In the end I didn’t want to get off.
17 years ago. The memory is still as fresh as if it was yesterday, the experience of a lifetime. Unforgettable.
Asgard II what a loss.
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