The St Patrick, the first and only Galway hooker to cross the Atlantic and to sail as far north as the Arctic circle, was smashed up on rocks off the Cork coast earlier this week. It had got caught in a storm.
No one was on board the vessel when its mooring chain broke in Glandore harbour in a south-easterly gale.
Its owner and skipper, Mr Paddy Barry, told The Irish Times yesterday that it was swept over onto rocks to the north-west of the harbour, directly under the local coast and cliff rescue station.
Weather conditions were so bad at the time that boats could not leave the fishing port of Union Hall.
However, efforts were made to get a line aboard the hooker before it was pounded into pieces by heavy seas.
Mr Barry had been taking the vessel to Connemara, where it spends every summer.
In 1912, the leader of the Easter Rising, Patrick Pearse, travelled on the vessel.
He took a trip from Rosmuc to the Aran islands during his efforts to form the Irish Volunteers.
The St Patrick was one of only five original Galway hookers left on the water and had been owned by Mr Barry for the past 29 years.
It was built in 1910 as a working vessel by the Casey brothers in Mweenish, Carna, Co Galway, and was rebuilt by Mr Colm Mulkerrins in 1988-89.
It was originally known as "Bad Conroy", as it transported supplies from Galway to the Conroy shop in Connemara.
Mr Barry bought it in Goleen in 1973 and in 1986 it was the first and only Galway hooker to sail to the US.
In 1987, he took it north to the Faroe islands, and to Spitsbergen in 1990. He sailed it to Greenland in 1993 and to the Baltic in 1996.
He was awarded the prestigious Blue Water Medal by the Cruising Club of America and the Tilman medal by the Royal Cruising Club of Britain for his Arctic voyages.
Both medal plaques survived the storm on Tuesday, as did Mr Barry's guitar.
"It was probably the most fragile item on board," he said yesterday.
He believes that the seven-foot-long oak tiller may also have survived and has appealed for its return, should anyone happen find it.
He and a crew panel of some dozen sailors and hillwalkers, including regular crewmate Mr Kevin Cronin, were heartbroken at the loss.
Mr Barry intends to return to Glandore at the weekend to tidy up the scene.
"There have been bits and pieces of it floating in and out on every tide, which is just as well, as I would hate to see a half wreck on the rocks."