MV ''Plassy'', or ''Plassey'', was a cargo ship in the Irish Merchant Service, operating during the 1950s. It was built as HMS ''Juliet'', a naval trawler of the Royal Navy at the start of the Second World War, and sold into merchant service at the end of the conflict. As ''Plassy'' it was wrecked in a storm off Inisheer, and is best known as the wreck seen on the foreshore of 'Craggy Island' in the TV comedy, '' Father Ted''.

As ''Juliet''

''Juliet'' was built by Cook, Welton & Gemmell at Beverley, Yorkshire, at the beginning of World War II. It was ordered on 12 December 1939 and laid down the following May. It was launched on 2 October 1940 and entered service with the Royal Navy on 20 March 1941 as a minesweeper. ''Juliet'' served in home waters until November 1942 when it took part in

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

, the Allied landings in French North Africa. Thereafter it worked in the Mediterranean. At the end of the conflict ''Juliet'' was no longer required by the Royal Navy and in 1947 it was converted into a cargo vessel and sold into the British Merchant service as ''Peterjon''.

As ''Plassy''

In 1951 it was acquired by the Limerick Steamship Company and renamed ''Plassy'' after the Plassey area near Limerick, which was in turn named after

Robert Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for laying the foundation of the British ...

(Baron Plassey), who took his title from the 1757

Battle of Plassey The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive. The victory was made possible by the defection of Mir Jafar, ...

, in India. As ''Plassy'' (sometimes spelled ''Plassey'')'' The Irish Times'' (Monday, June 23, 1958), page 8. it operated around the coast of Ireland carrying general cargo until her loss in 1960.

Fate

On 8 March 1960, while sailing through Galway Bay carrying a cargo of whiskey,

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

and yarn, it was caught in a severe storm and ran onto Finnis Rock, Inisheer, Aran Islands. A group of local Islanders, the

Inisheer Rocket Crew The Inisheer Rocket Crew were a group of men trained in maritime rescue, on Inisheer, one of the Aran Islands, County Galway off the coast of Ireland. The was driven onto the rocks near Inisheer after heavy storms in 1960. Its crew of 11 men ...

, rescued the entire crew from the stricken vessel using a breeches buoy; an event captured in a pictorial display at the National Maritime Museum in Dún Laoghaire. Several weeks later, a second storm washed the ship off the rock and drove it ashore on the island.

The wreck today

The wreck still lies on the shoreline and is a tourist attraction. It is visible in the opening credits of the television series '' Father Ted''. In early January 2014, Storm Christine shifted the wreck's position on the coast for the first time since 1991.Geraldine Gittens (6 January 2014
''Disappointment for father Ted fans as storm ravages the familiar wreck''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

Wreck of the 'Plassy'. Inisheer - geograph.org.uk - 289299.jpg, MV ''Plassy'' shipwreck, 2005 Mv Plassy Shipwreck, June 2010.jpg, MV ''Plassy'' shipwreck, June 2010 Plassy shipwreck 2016.jpg, MV ''Plassy'' shipwreck, June 2016 MV Plassy, Inisheer.jpg, "Plassey" on Inisheer in October 2016

References

External links

HMS ''Juliet'' (T136) at uboat.net
* * Michael Kirwan (winter 2010
"The Last Voyage of the M.V. Plassy"
*Robert Straughton (12 April 2016
"The Plassey Story"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plassy 1940 ships Aran Islands Maritime incidents in 1960 Merchant ships of the United Kingdom

Juliet Juliet Capulet () is the female protagonist in William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. A 13-year-old girl, Juliet is the only daughter of the patriarch of the House of Capulet. She falls in love with the male protagonist R ...

Ships built in England Ships sunk with no fatalities Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Shipwrecks of Ireland