Steady As She Goes

In this special extended episode of Steady As She Goes, we tell the story of The Long Watch — the quiet, dangerous, and often forgotten service carried out by Irish merchant seamen during the Second World War on the MV Kerlogue
We also launch our Seafaring Stories slot when we speak with Radio Officer Robert McFadden.
We have an On Watch report from Tommy Dover in Wicklow along with our Model of the Month and Maritime words of the Week.

This is Harbour Stories — short, standalone episodes from Steady As She Goes, telling the stories of the ships, people, and working vessels that kept Irish harbours moving.

In this episode, we’re telling the story of one such vessel: the tug Wexford — built in 1888, and for decades essential to the life and safety of Wexford Harbour. And today, her story can still be seen, through a beautiful painting of the tug at work on display at the Rosslare Harbour Maritime Heritage Centre.

When we think about maritime history, we often picture great liners, dramatic wrecks, or ships lost at sea. But just as often, it was a smaller vessel — working quietly day after day — that made everything else possible.

In this episode of Steady As She Goes, we turn our attention to the lifesaving tradition of Dublin Bay.

Sean is joined by maritime historian Cormac Lowth to explore the history of the lifeboats that have served the bay, with a particular focus on RNLI Dún Laoghaire Lifeboat Station. Together, they trace how lifeboat services developed in response to changing ships, weather, and coastal communities — and the human stories behind decades of rescue work.

From lives shaped by the sea to moments of endurance, service, and connection beyond Ireland’s shores, this episode continues our journey through the people, places, and working vessels that define Ireland’s relationship with the ocean.

In this episode of Steady As She Goes, we explore how Ireland’s maritime history survives not only in archives and harbours — but on the seabed itself.

Our main feature takes us beneath the waves with Ed Burke, wreck diver and maritime historian, as he tells the remarkable story of Le Impatient, a French vessel lost off Mizen Head in 1797. Drawing on years of research and first-hand diving experience, Ed reveals how shipwrecks preserve fragments of our shared European maritime past, long after the ships themselves have vanished from the surface.

The episode also pauses to remember Frank Hurley, the legendary photographer of the Shackleton expeditions, whose determination to save his glass plate negatives from the sinking Endurance ensured that one of the great survival stories of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration would endure.

We’re On Watch in Rosslare Harbour, where John Boyce offers insight into the everyday rhythms of one of Ireland’s most important working ports. In Maritime Words of the Week, we explore why speed at sea is measured in knots, tracing the term back to its nautical origins and its continued use in navigation today.

As always, the episode is rounded out with news from around the coast, reflecting the people, places, and stories that continue to shape Ireland’s maritime world.

In this episode of Steady As She Goes, we explore maritime history through art, memory, and place.

Our main feature, “A Picture Paints a Thousand Ships,” sees Sean joined by Brian Cleare, maritime artist and historian, to discuss how paintings, sketches, and visual records help preserve the stories of ships, harbours, and working life at sea — often capturing details lost to written history.

We also go On Watch with Michael Cusack in New Ross and Waterford, bringing local maritime perspectives from two historic river ports. The episode is rounded out with news from around the coast and a maritime word of the week.