Jeanie being built at Blennerville
Built at Blennerville
Jeanie at Fenit pier
Fitting at Fenit Pier
Jeanie's sea trials
Jeanie's Sea Trials
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The Jeanie Johnston Chronicle

Jeanie is opened
to the public for tours

16th July, 2001
 Jeanie Johnston


Captain Forwood welcomes the visitors
Captain Forwood welcoming visitors onboard the Jeanie Johnston.
Click to send picture above as a postcard		     On a blustery but mostly dry, July day, the Jeanie Johnston greeted her first members of the general public on Saturday 14th July. She was opened to visitors from 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, and for this first weekend the guided tour by project staff was free of charge. I joined the queue at the gangplank, where we were greeted by Captain Forwood who gave a brief outline of Jeanie's history and the conditions onboard during the original voyages, contrasting them with today's facilities. He told us that Jeanie will be a true sailing ship whilst at sea, only using her engines to manoever in and out of port.
We were taken around the upper deck and below along the tween deck. Our tour guide, Alice, stopped frequently along the way to explain Jeanie's features. The tween deck has been made up to show all three of its modes, during sailing, during corporate functions and in museum mode. The pictures show some of the life-size models of earlier passengers, sleeping 4 persons to a single bunk, part of the museum mode display. Many of the shipbuilders, crew and project staff were on hand to readily answer visitor's questions.The group with whom I toured all expressed admiration for the carpenters' workmanship and attention to detail which they could really appreciate at close quarters. "With all this detailed work, now I can see why she has taken a long time to complete" was a typical comment.The tween deck in museum mode
Click to send the picture above as a postcard
selling Jeanie souvenirs on deck
     On deck, project staff were selling Jeanie souvenirs, such as tee-shirts, booklets and jewellery, and seemed to be doing a good trade. Dr. Henry Lyons kept a watch on the proceedings from the dock side and expressed his satisfaction with the turn-out of enthusiastic visitors on the day, whilst yachts from the local Fenit Sailing Club sailed the Bay near the pier, adding to the day's colour and interest.
Captain Forwood informed the visitors that Jeanie should be out on sea trials in Tralee Bay in early 2002, prior to an Irish tour. This will include visits to Cork, Cobh and other major ports, and then she should finally head out across the Atlantic for the US and Canada. at the helm of the Jeanie Johnston
At the helm of the Jeanie Johnston
    If you would like to be part of the Jeanie Johnston experience, you can do so by volunteering to help out in the US or Canada, sponsoring a mile to be sailed in your name, or sailing onboard as a crew or passenger.

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The itinerary for Jeanie's Irish tour
will be published here as soon as it becomes available.
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Jeanie's voyage postponed,
27th June 01

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