Cork's maritime heritage comes to the fore this week in the exhibition of maritime paintings at the Port of Cork offices on Customs House Quay, and the release of further details of what will be Ireland's largest rowing race ever, the Ocean to City event to take place on June 4th.
While the most obvious star of the show will be Olympic rower Gearóid Towey, in reality it is the River Lee and its estuary which will be celebrated, along with all the activity such an immense harbour (the second largest natural harbour in the world after Sydney, Australia) has generated through the centuries. Although shipping has tied up at the city wharves for untold generations, and although the Cork coat of arms declares its origin as a safe harbour for ships, somehow this traffic has been allowed to slip gradually from the civic consciousness.
Now a regatta-style race has been organised by Meitheal Mara, supported by Cork 2005, with more than 100 fixed-seat traditional rowing or paddling boats setting off in stages from harbour locations, all to end at the Shandon Boat Club at the Marina where the Port of Cork Authority has arranged for a French naval band to play at the quayside.
Regattas were part of Cork's cultural life within living memory; sculls and eights are still a regular feature of river life, although the marina itself, once the navigation wall and the bulwark against the tidal surges of the Lee, is dilapidated greatly.
Meitheal Mara has been working for several years now to revive the craft of boat-building in the city. Its currachs have been seen in training sessions in recent months, and this initiative has reawakened awareness of the central role the river has played in the history of Cork since long before its saintly foundation. Irish and European teams are among the 1,000 participants who, according to event organiser Brendan Hennessy, must have a certain level of fitness to manage the 15 nautical miles from Crosshaven to Cork, but who can also arrange a subs' bench in case of need.
Further information from tel: 021-4847673; e-mail info@oceantocity.com; or see www.oceantocity.com.
When the Cork Harbour Commissioners decided to move, in 1818, from the former customs house to a new premises at what is now called Customs House Quay, they left behind a fine building, which in time became the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery.
At the exhibition of maritime paintings of Cork from 1700 to 2000 at the Port of Cork headquarters, Crawford curator Peter Murray referred to its splendid boardroom and foyer; perhaps the port authority's plans to move away from the city centre would release another fine premises with cultural potential, he speculated.
Whatever about that possibility, it was confirmed that the authority's much-heralded move downstream would begin before 2009. The port's chief executive, Brendan Keating, remarked on the significant cultural relationship between the two organisations, exemplified by their collaboration for this engaging exhibition. Many fine pictures are revealed for the first time, some of them depicting perils, adventure, rescues and losses through turbulent times and treacherous seas.
Murray said that without Cork 2005 and the opportunities offered by the City of Culture designation, the exhibition would have been impossible.
Continuing at the Customs House Quay until July 29th, the exhibition draws on a previous exhibition held at the Crawford Gallery in 1984, which in turn was instigated by Richard Roberts of Passage West. He was perhaps the only person at last week's function with a family link to one of the painted ships of the 19th century, being a direct descendant of Capt Richard Roberts of The Sirius, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic from Europe to America in 1838 (and who was subsequently lost at sea).
In her formal speech Fiona Kearney, director of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery at UCC, praised the Harbour Commissioners and their successors, the Port of Cork Authority, for amassing the art collection which formed the basis of the exhibition. She said the joy of the exhibition was in being able to identify the Cork landscape in paintings up to 300 years old.
Accompanying the event is a lavishly illustrated book, Maritime Paintings of Cork 1700-2000, published by Gandon Editions, available at a discounted price of €30 for the duration of the exhibition.
