Liverpool to Dublin Last Ferry 1989 - Sealink The Earl William

This video shows the last sailing from Liverpool to Dublin in 1989.

[@davebond4924]

So happy to find this. I worked on the ship from 1989 until the run closed down in early 1990. That's me at 2 minutes 6 seconds - telling the passengers to mind the step lol. Feels like yesterday. Great ship with great staff and great regular passengers. Fantastic memories x

[@cbwatters]

2:00

[@marymary5494]

Thank you for uploading this.

[@cmondatahn]

Amazing to see that after 30 years. Never saw it at the time. God knows what made me look for it at 5.30am this morning. Thank you so.kuch for posting it.

[@390h8er]

I notice your name. Was that you in the video winning £400 playing cards, followed by your friend recalling jumping overboard and trying to swim to shore?

[@cmondatahn]

@@390h8er Yes indeed it was. Crazy ferry jumping escapade. Crazy night filming...

[@georgeholland2934]

Two famous names consigned to history; Sealink British Ferries and Granada Television. Filmed in the days when regional independent television provided a decent local service to viewers. There were some candid comments from the crew of the Earl William which would not have gone down well with management. They no doubt didn't feel they had anything left to lose. The ship was built in 1964 as Thoresen's Viking II, a very advanced design for her era. She was sold out of the fleet in 1991 and sank after a collision twenty years later.

[@rfw700]

George Holland. I was the driller on the Drill ship Petrosaudi Saturn, when she collided with us, on 2nd April 2011. I was the first one tasked with having to start emergency action after the collision.

[@roryobrien4401]

Fantastic bit of social history there Declan. See you in Doolin ( home of my people ) sometime.

[@jeremyhaines4481]

I have a book about The Ferry Earl William Many years ago I met a ferry captain who had worked on the Earl William

[@Tenko2007]

Wow thanks for the upload.i saw this when it first aired . I'm hoping if anyone has any information on the band or just the tune where he plays the spoons. Thanks again

[@jfk4153]

The band members were all from the Liverpool Ceili band. The members included: Eamon Coyne and Sean McNamara both on fiddles and Johnny Staunton playing the accordion. The man playing the bodhran was called PJ he was from a different group that joined the LCB just for the crossing etc

[@davebond4924]

I worked on the boat and the band were a liverpool based Irish band called cream of the barley.

[@jfk4153]

@@davebond4924 Hi, the man playing the bodhran and singing was the lead singing of Cream of the Barley. The two fiddle players and the accordion player were from the Liverpool Ceili Band. The other members playing in the background where all from a music organisation based at the Liverpool Irish Centre called Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. Both violin players in the band were founding members of the Liverpooo branch.

[@Tenko2007]

Thanks for the replies gents. I do remember cream of the barley from back in the 80s,I think they're about due a tribute band ,may I suggest the name, blast from the past. Haha thanks again

[@rfw700]

On April 2nd 2011, I was on the drillship Petrosaudi Saturn when the Earl William, now called Windward II, was in a collision with us. The Earl William (Windward II) sank nearby soon after. The Earl William is now lying in about 420ft of water in the Caribbean Sea, about 20 miles from the coat of Venezuela. The collision caused $100 million dollars of damage to the ship I was on, and to the oil well we were drilling. This was Lloyds of London, second biggest loss of that year.