What is believed to be the largest ship ever to sail Ireland's inland waterways was launched in Athlone recently to the excitement of the boating fraternity. Not only is the MV Goldsmith 105 ft long, but it was built in Athlone by proud owner Michael Barrett.
Mr Barrett, who was born in Kerry, near Listowel, seems to have achieved a number of "firsts" with the launch of the ship which will ply a tourist trade up and down the Shannon and its magnificent lakes. As the final touches were being put to the vessel last week he explained how he came to build it.
"I am a marine engineer and I have worked on ships all over the world. For the last 20 years, myself and my wife, Kathy, have been involved in running pleasure cruises on the Rhine", he says.
"We owned and operated our own boats out of Cologne in Germany and we then moved to Portugal. We decided to come home and try our hand at doing something similar on the Shannon."
However, when he found that he could not buy a boat that could carry groups of up to 200 people, he decided to build his own.
"I trained in Verolme shipyards in Cork and I designed a vessel which I thought would be suitable for Shannon conditions, bearing in mind that all rivers are different."
He sought the advice of boat people on the Shannon on the difficulties he was likely to encounter and ended up with what he believes is "hundreds of years of distilled wisdom" for his design.
What emerged was the MV Goldsmith: 105 ft in length with a beam of 19.5 ft. It is driven by two 225 Perkin engines and a bow thrust engine of 125 horsepower to help steer the vessel with great precision.
"I advertised for shipbuilders in the local papers but could find no one, so members of my family who worked with me in Verolme came up and helped me build her."
The hull was assembled on the harbour at Glasson, Co Westmeath, where Mr and Mrs Barrett run the Lakeside Hotel and Marina which they purchased recently and are refurbishing.
Some days ago the 100-tonne vessel was lifted by crane into Lough Ree, where it is being fitted out for its maiden voyage in a few weeks' time.
Mr Barrett refuses to say how much the vessel cost him, but says Bord Failte refused to give any grants or aid towards its construction.
He does praise Westmeath Development Association for providing funding for market research to see if there would be a commercial niche for the vessel.
"We carried out that research and we are happy there is a market. Already two people have booked their wedding receptions on the Goldsmith, which will have full catering and bar facilities," he says.
The ship has been designed to pass through all the locks on the Shannon and is capable of negotiating the lower locks at Ardnacrusha in Limerick.
However, the intention is to sail the vessel on the river between Carrick-on-Shannon and Killaloe. It has a maximum speed of 13 knots but will cruise at 10.
"She is a wide ship so there will be no problems for passengers if the weather is rough and there are open decks on top of the vessel so people can enjoy the weather when it's fine."