The Plassey is the rust-orange hull from the opening titles of Father Ted, beached on the stony eastern shore of Inis Oírr, smallest of the Aran Islands. It has been here since March 1960, when an Atlantic storm drove the little cargo ship onto Finnis Rock; a second gale a few weeks later lifted the whole hull clear of the rock and dumped it higher up the shore, where it has rusted ever since. Storms have nudged it again, in 1991 and during Storm Christine in 2014. There is no ticket and no gate. It’s a ten-minute cycle or a forty-five-minute walk from the ferry pier, past the lighthouse and the dry-stone walls.
If you have time for one thing on Inis Oírr, this is usually it, but be honest with yourself about what it is: a corroded steel hulk on a rocky beach, far more atmospheric under a grey sky than in flat June sun.
From naval trawler to cargo ship
The ship began as HMS Juliet, a naval trawler built at Beverley in Yorkshire and commissioned in 1941. After the war she was sold off, renamed Peterjon in 1947 and then Plassy in 1951, when the Limerick Steamship Company put her to work carrying cargo along the coast. She displaced 545 tons and ran about 50 metres bow to stern – a small ship, which is part of why she came off so badly against the rock.
The 1960 wreck and rescue
On 8 March 1960 the Plassey was caught in a fierce storm and thrown onto Finnis Rock, off the eastern tip of the island, carrying a hold of yarn, stained glass and whisky. All eleven crew got off alive, hauled ashore one at a time on a breeches buoy rigged by the island’s rocket crew in driving wind and rain. Photographs of the rescue are kept at the National Maritime Museum in Dún Laoghaire.
Once the crew were safe, the islanders salvaged what they could. Timber, doors and wool went into local building, and the cargo of whisky passed straight into island folklore, some of it said to have spent a while hidden under the potato ridges.
Father Ted, and getting the photograph
Most visitors come because the wreck opens every episode of Father Ted, filmed on Inis Oírr in the 1990s. The steel has weathered to a deep coppery orange that photographs best at sunrise, or under the kind of dramatic overcast the west coast supplies for nothing; midday sun flattens it. Bring a rain cover for the camera, because the weather turns quickly this far out.
Getting there and practical notes
- Ferries: the fast ferry from Doolin in Clare reaches Inis Oírr in about fifteen minutes; there are also services from Rossaveal in Galway. Check seasonal timetables before you travel.
- On the island: hire a bike near the pier, or take a pony-and-trap. Inis Oírr is car-free and small enough to cross on foot.
- At the wreck: the metal is badly corroded and the plating unsound, so don’t climb on or into the hull, and keep an eye on children on the wet rocks. A small stand near the site often sells refreshments and souvenirs in season, but don’t rely on it, and there are no toilets – use the village first.
The footing is the thing to plan around: the shore by the hull is uneven rock that turns slick at high tide, so wear boots with grip and time your walk to the ferry back rather than the tide.