barryqwalsh
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- Sep 30, 2014
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The original Jeanie Johnston was bought byTralee, Co. Kerry-based merchants John Donovan & Sons, as a cargo vessel and traded successfully between Tralee and North America for a number of years. The trading pattern was to bring emigrants from Ireland to North America, and then to bring timber back to Europe.
This documentary tells the story of how Jeanie came to be, where she went, and asks where she should go next, through the stories of the people who built her, sailed her, and look after her now.
“As I started talking to people associated with the Jeanie, I realised that yes, sure, my hypothesis wasn’t wrong, but the love people expressed for the ship, and the story of her voyage, and of how it changed the people who went on it, seemed a lot more compelling,” says Ruffino.
People like Tom Harding, who was the ship’s bosun on the American voyage. “Life in a square-rigged ship is adventurous, it’s hard, but it’s great fun,” he says. “And the people who do it are a small bit touched, mad, but they’re addicted to it.”
Harding is also critical of the way Ireland’s relationship to the sea is undervalued. “We’re an island where the powers that be stand on the cliffs of Moher, looking inland at the bogs.”
“Now if it’s a metaphor,” says Ruffino, “it’s for the way we too easily overlook great things because maybe we perceive them as too parochial, or we define them by surface impressions.”
Documentary on Newstalk: The Dream of Jeanie
The latest documentary from the Winter Season of Documentary On Newstalk
‘The Dream of Jeanie’ will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm this weekend, Saturday 10th January at 7am, and repeated at 10am on Sunday 11th January.
‘The Dream of Jeanie’ can also be listened to online at Newstalk A podcast will be available at
http://www.newstalk.com/documentaryonnewstalk
This documentary tells the story of how Jeanie came to be, where she went, and asks where she should go next, through the stories of the people who built her, sailed her, and look after her now.
“As I started talking to people associated with the Jeanie, I realised that yes, sure, my hypothesis wasn’t wrong, but the love people expressed for the ship, and the story of her voyage, and of how it changed the people who went on it, seemed a lot more compelling,” says Ruffino.
People like Tom Harding, who was the ship’s bosun on the American voyage. “Life in a square-rigged ship is adventurous, it’s hard, but it’s great fun,” he says. “And the people who do it are a small bit touched, mad, but they’re addicted to it.”
Harding is also critical of the way Ireland’s relationship to the sea is undervalued. “We’re an island where the powers that be stand on the cliffs of Moher, looking inland at the bogs.”
“Now if it’s a metaphor,” says Ruffino, “it’s for the way we too easily overlook great things because maybe we perceive them as too parochial, or we define them by surface impressions.”
Documentary on Newstalk: The Dream of Jeanie
The latest documentary from the Winter Season of Documentary On Newstalk
‘The Dream of Jeanie’ will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm this weekend, Saturday 10th January at 7am, and repeated at 10am on Sunday 11th January.
‘The Dream of Jeanie’ can also be listened to online at Newstalk A podcast will be available at
http://www.newstalk.com/documentaryonnewstalk
