Voyage on the Jeanie Johnston/DAY SIX:Yesterday we stepped fully into the shoes of the original Earls of the North when we rounded Lands End and headed for the first time under full sail along the route they took 400 years ago.
There are few sights more beautiful than a three-masted barque under full sail with a fair wind behind her and dolphins coming in on the bow to play alongside on the wash Jeanie Johnston is making.
Better still, captain of the vessel Michael Coleman gathered us all together and told us that we had more or less cracked the voyage and we had only 220 miles to go to the mouth of the Seine if the weather held. He predicted that we would make our destination by early tomorrow. Aidan ("I am not related") Haughey said he expected there would be real mainland European O'Neills and O'Donnells waiting on the quays to greet us and we would share a bowl or two.
Just in case you think this was all joy and brightness, the good news came along with the bulletin that there was no water on board for the time being to make tea and coffee, the last two remaining stimulants on board.
The cook told us he was running out of bread and our toast is being rationed. The showers are back working, with the proviso that we use them as little as possible and we are beginning to smell like a wolf pack.
In fairness though, the company lapped up the idea that we were getting in some real sailing at last and with lots of canvas now to tend, they are up and down the masts like monkeys.
The breakthrough in the voyage came after we rounded Land's End and took a course due east when we could benefit from the winds that had delayed our passage around Donegal, down the Irish Sea and into the Channel.
The O'Neills and O'Donnells crept along this coast in a vessel disguised as a fishing boat, hoping to avoid the Scilly Isles and Jersey and Guernsey, and indeed it is possible that it was here that a number of them were almost washed overboard by the bad weather.
The contemporary report mentions that "They were obliged to take down their sails by reason of the strength and the power of the waves and to leave the ship itself to drift over the sea as God would will."
Some of your text messages and e-mails have been very curious indeed. In reply to four of them I can say there are more women on this vessel than Kelly, who I mentioned yesterday.
Indeed, Jennie Nedham from Dún Laoghaire is the bos'un; her mate is Ciara Mulrooney from Strandhill in Sligo and Helen Graham from Manchester is a watch leader. These are powerful women indeed.
Declan Meenaghan, the second officer, is a Mayo man and Pat Lawlor is the chief engineer.
The final member of the crew is Luca Melzer, who hails from the Czech Republic.
And yes, the craic is mighty here between storms.
A great rivalry has grown up between the different watches and these will be named in due time as they were back 400 years ago when a full list was compiled by spies for digestion in Dublin Castle.