All aboard the famine ship

Werner is well known for building model ships, which are on display in museums across the country.

It was during a visit last year to the Co Cavan Museum with his wife Evelyn that his latest project came about. “We visited Co. Cavan museum last year to view the WW1 trenches,” explained Evelyn. “Whilst there we went to the ‘Famine Gallery’.

“The staff thought it would be good to have a model of a ship, the type of which would have been used at the time of the Emigration, to add to the gallery. Some had seen photos of Werner’s work and asked if he would be prepared to build a model for them.

“He has been building model ships for many years for museums and private individuals. He has quite a few on display in Dun Laoghaire National Maritime Museum. He also has two in Carrickfergus Civic Centre, one of which is a model of HMY Mary in which King William III landed in Carrickfergus and also HMY Henrietta. Most recently he built a model of a Lagan Canal Barge (Lighter), which can be seen in Lisburn Museum and Irish Linen Centre.”

The build was no mean feat for Werner, taking some five months and approximately 448 hours to build, and the timing of the build, during the pandemic lockdown has not been lost on the couple.

“This was the type of ship used at the time of the emigration in the mid 1800s when there was a pandemic in Ireland and now approximately 173 years later we have another pandemic,” explained Evelyn. “The yellow flag on the mast is a “quarantine flag” and now again we have a similar situation.”