Confusions about the interpretation of the words "conservation" and "restoration" continue to dominate and divide opinion on many heritage issues. Vital differences between the processes have not been grasped by the public nor indeed by some professionals and politicians.
While conservation essentially means to consolidate in the original form, restoration increasingly results in rebuilding, new additions, basic construction and often pastiche. The fate of the historic boat Asgard is now suspended between two radically opposing arguments: to conserve her as an historic artefact in a museum or to radically restore her, in order to meet the requirements of a modern sailing boat as well as marine safety standards. Central to this controversy is the seriousness of Minister Sile de Valera's action in issuing, against statutory and independent advice from the National Museum, the Heritage Council and other experts, a "licence to alter", which in effect, will result in the "destruction of a legally protected object" of international maritime significance, according to John Kearon, head of shipkeeping at Liverpool Maritime Museum.
The future of the 51-foot, Colin Archer-designed ketch, built in 1905 for Erskine Childers, used in the Howth gun running episode in 1914, and owned since 1960 by the Department of Defence, has often been debated since her retirement as a training vessel in 1974. For more than 20 years, the yacht was displayed at Kilmainham Gaol and viewed by up to 100,000 visitors each year.
Plans to restore her to sailing condition have been proposed by a group of private individuals: Asgard Restoration Project Ltd. Serious objections have been voiced against such proposals by various organisations such as the Heritage Council, the National Museum of Ireland, An Taisce, the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, the Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works in Ireland, Comhair Iascaire Eireann, the Howth Heritage Association, the Irish Professional Conservation and Restorers Association, Dublin Civic Trust, the Save the Asgard Campaign and Archaeologists and Artists Against Restoration.
While Asgard Restoration Project Ltd (ARP), formed in reaction against the conservation proposals, feel the boat should be returned to the water as "a living national monument as distinct from a sterile, land-based monument suffering from lack of use as a sailing vessel", those anxious to conserve the vessel as a museum object of archaeological importance fear any plan to restore her to the water would result in a virtual rebuilding and the loss of her historic integrity. This would require the removal of an enormous amount of the original material as, despite having undergone two major re-fits over the years, Agard has retained far more of her original material than was previously thought.
In 1993, the Office of Public Works commissioned Kearon to examine the yacht with the intention of conserving her in a museum context.
Kearon (54) is a master shipwright and wooden ship and boat conservator who trained with the late John Tyrell, the builder of Asgard II, in Arklow. "It appears ARP Ltd are proposing to restore Asgard in the context of a private yacht. This would put her outside the control of marine department surveyors and would drastically limit her use to a named crew only. As private yachts can't take paying passengers, it could be construed that anyone who even gave funding for the restoration may not in law be able to sail on her. This could include the minister for defence." Kearon is addressing a European Conference of maritime museums next month. His paper is titled "Preservation versus Use". Not surprisingly, the Asgard story will feature.
All coatings of interior and exterior paint on the boat were stripped in order to determine and validate the extent of the original material. "At least 90 per cent of the material is original. All of the existing deck and framing is original, as is 80 per cent of the hull planking. The backbone structure of the vessel: the stem, the keels (metal and wooden), the stern-post and the transom are all original." Kearon, who first examined Asgard in 1987, in an early attempt to conserve her, presented a detailed programme of conservation work to be carried out. This would ensure the vessel would be "visually and structurally" as she was when first launched, with all her existing original material saved.
Asgard was purchased by the State in 1960. She underwent a further re-fit and then returned to an official welcome in Ireland the following year, having been in Britain since 1914. Another re-fit, completed in early 1969, prepared her for service as a sail training vessel. When Kearon examined her in 1993, her central weakness lay in the use of iron fittings throughout her structure while her planking had been refastened on three separate occasions by steel nails. All have rusted, degrading the surrounding wood. Neglected during the 1980s, she was shabby if basically sound, aside from rust damage from being under cover. There was no rot.
"Asgard is a well-built yacht, but she was not built to Lloyd's A-1 classification, hence the iron fittings."
By 1997, conservation was ready to begin. Tenders had been returned by five Irish boat yards. David Andrews, then Minister for Defence, had guaranteed the estimated £185,000 required. At that point, however, ARP Ltd objected on the grounds that it wanted the ketch returned to the water, and conservation stopped. Andrews rejected the group's proposal of restoring the vessel and returning it to the sea. "My view," he said, in October 1997, "is that restoration of the vessel could produce a yacht which would be a replica, rather than an authentic preservation of this historically valuable artefact."
He continued: "Following full consideration, it was decided that the most appropriate course of action would be to have the vessel conserved and placed on public exhibition in a historical museum setting." At that time, Andrews confirmed he had advised the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Sile de Valera, that he supported conservation. After Andrews succeeded Ray Burke at Foreign Affairs, Michael Smith was appointed Minister for Defence and was soon lobbied by ARP Ltd.
"Asgard is in this current limbo because of that objection [by the ARP]," says Kearon.