MUSICIAN JIMMY Crowley has offered to play gigs in the United States to pay for the salvage of the State training ship Asgard II.
Crowley, who is one of the signatories to a new petition calling for the ship to be raised, says he made the approach recently to a senior Government Minister.
“I know that when people are losing their jobs it may not seem the most important issue, but the Asgard II has been an ambassador for Ireland and one that has provided training for thousands of our young people,” he told The Irish Times yesterday.
Crowley wrote the song My Love is a Tall Ship after a trip as a trainee on the vessel. He has allowed the petition organisers to use the song as an anthem.
The petition, initiated by Afloat magazine, has recorded over 4,000 hits in less than a week, Capt Michael McCarthy of Cork port and Johnny Smullen, shore manager of the Green Dragon, which is competing in the Volvo Ocean Race, are among over 200 contributors who have recorded comments.
Another signatory, Dr Ken McCulloch of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, refers to the recent publication of an international study on the benefits of sail training.
“As a national sail training vessel, Asgard II is important not just in Ireland but in the international sail training community. She should be raised and restored,” Dr McCulloch said in his contribution to the petition.
The ship, which sank on September 11th last about 22 kilometres west of Belle-Ile while en route to La Rochelle, has been surveyed for a second time in the past week.
Results of the footage are due to be examined by Coiste an Asgard, the ship’s management committee, before forwarding a recommendation to the Minister for Defence, Willie O’Dea.