The Ilen

Conor O'Brien

Conor O'Brien’s voyage in 1923-25 around the world, south of the great headlands of Good Hope and Cape Horn, in the 42 foot ketch Saoirse set new standards of seagoing competence for amateur sailors in small ships, achievements which continue to be recognized as a worthy benchmark for deepsea skills.

Edward Conor Marshall O'Brien was born in 1880, a son of Edward William O'Brien of Cahermoyle House at Ardagh in County Limerick, and a grandson of William Smith O'Brien of Young Ireland and 1848 fame. Although schooled in England at Winchester, his enthusiasm for the outdoor life derived from the places of his childhood in Ireland. In addition to properties on the Shannon Estuary (which included a house on Foynes Island), his family spent their summers at the lovely harbour of Derrynane in Kerry. After his schooling at Winchester young Conor went to university at Oxford, from where he qualified as an architect. While O’Brien always retained an interest in architecture, his greatest work was as a naval architect, including his designs for the Saoirse and the Ilen, while his creativity was best expressed in his books, of which he wrote fourteen in a vigorously flowing style.

O'Brien was an Irish patriot very much of his time. By adulthood he was a fluent Irish speaker, an early member of Sinn Féin, and an outspoken Home Ruler. In 1914, his gun-running exploits on the Kelpie complemented Erskine Childers' activities in the Asgard.

In 1928 he married the artist Katherine (Kitty) Clausen, and in the early 1930s they spent an idyllic time cruising with Saoirse in the Mediterranean, working together on books and articles which he wrote and she illustrated. Sadly, Kitty died in in 1936, just eight years into their marriage, and by 1940 Saoirse was sold. Conor O'Brien, who had served with the Royal Navy throughout World War I, was too old for active service when World War II broke out in 1939, but he did, however, serve the Allied cause as a skipper for the Small Ships Pool, delivering support vessels across the Atlantic. After the war he returned to Foynes Island where, aged 72, he died in his sister's home in 1952.