The bow of the Asgard. Image copyright National Museum of Ireland. (Click to enlarge).
The Asgard sailed into Irish history in 1914 when it arrived in Howth Harbour packed with rifles for the Irish Volunteers. The conserved 51′ yacht has just gone on permanent display at the National Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin. Built in 1905 for Erskine and Molly Childers by renowned Norwegian naval architect Colin Archer, the Howth gun running vessel was later to become Ireland’s first national sail-training vessel.
English-born Irish nationalist and writer Robert Erskine Childers, his wife and a small crew made the crossing with the rifles to arm the Irish Volunteers in response to the arming of the Ulster Volunteers in the Larne gun-running. The story is intertwined with other episodes of Irish history on display at the museum including ‘The Easter Rising: Understanding 1916’ and ‘Soldiers and Chiefs: Irish Soldiers at Home and Abroad Since 1500’.