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GEOWAVE VOYAGER LATER RENAMED EAGLE EXPLORER IMO 9381299

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AT CUSTOM HOUSE QUAY IN CORK JULY 2016

I photographed this in July 2016 but in November 2018 Oslo-listed seismic acquisition specialist SeaBird took took delivery of the Geowave Voyager seismic vessel, fully rigged with 40 kilometers streamer and dual source. SeaBird had agreed to buy the vessel and equipment from $17 million from CGG.

Geowave Voyager is a 2009-built seismic survey vessel. It has a length of 90 m, a beam of 24 m and a dwt of 2,879 tonnes. It has capacity to tow up to 10 streamers and can undertake 2D, source and niche 3D, and node-laying work.

KENNEDY QUAY SECONDS BEFORE A THUNDER STORM ARRIVED

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EVERY TIME I VISIT CORK IT RAINS

I had planned to visit and photograph Custom House Quay after visiting Kennedy Quay but when I arrived at Kennedy Quay I had to shelter under some industrial equipment for about an hour because of an extreme thunder storm.

During its 400 year history, Kennedy Quay and its associated docklands have been the seat of commerce and trade for the City of Cork however the area has been in decline for many years.

Kennedy Quay still operates commercially and has a number of interesting features including a number of old buildings but there has been a lot of demolition work in the area since I first visited about twelve or thirteen years ago.

Last month Cork developer Brian O’Callaghan announced that a major development in the docklands area will include offices, apartments, healthcare facilities and retail outlets. The plans include the repurposing of the iconic red-brick Odlums building on Kennedy Quay, dating to the 1890s and extended in the 1930s.

OLD PHOTOGRAPHS OF CUSTOM HOUSE QUAY IN CORK

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AS IT WAS IN MAY 2011

The Custom House is located at the eastern extremity of Cork City’s centre island, where the north and south branches of the River Lee reconverge.

As you can see this area could be derelict back in 2011 and unfortunately there was no sign of any improvement when I visited in May 2023.

In March 2021 it was reported that planning permission had been granted for €150 million development incorporating Ireland’s tallest building. The 34-storey tower on the site of the former Port of Cork building on Custom House Quay will include a five star 240 bedroom hotel as well as food and beverage outlets along with a distillery in the accompanying commercial development. The planning decision followed an appeal by three parties of a decision by Cork City Council to grant planning for the project on October 13th 2020.

The Custom House is an early 19th-century building in Cork, Ireland.[7][8] Originally developed as a custom house and opened in 1818, the Cork Harbour Commissioners (later reorganised as the Port of Cork Company) took over the building in 1904. The Port of Cork Company vacated the building in early 2021.[10] The Custom House is, together with a number of other buildings on the same site, listed by Cork City Council on its Record of Protected Structures.

The Custom House is attributed to designs by Abraham Addison Hargrave, the eldest son (and partner in the architectural practice) of Abraham Hargrave the Elder.[12] Built between 1814 and 1818, the building was used initially by the Inland Revenue, having replaced an old custom house on Emmet Place, now part of the Crawford Art Gallery. It was built on “slob” land, which was reclaimed at a cost of £10,000; the building itself cost £70,000. In 1904, it became the headquarters of the Cork Harbour Commissioners, who took over the building on a 999 year lease.

The building was extended in 1906, with additions including a new boardroom, designed by William Price the then Harbour Engineer. This boardroom, with semicircular tables and upholstered chairs, was described in the Irish Examiner as “one of the finest examples of the commercial interior design of the time”. Originally the royal arms were on the building’s pediment, being replaced by the city arms in 1957.

As of 2021, the Harbour Commissioners had vacated the building, and a number of developments were proposed for the site. Aspects of the proposed developments, including the proposal to “largely demolish the Revenue Building” (a protected structure on the Custom House Quay site), have been the subject of some opposition, including by the Irish Georgian Society and An Taisce Corcaigh.

These photographs are old as they date from my 2011 visit to Cork City. I used a Sony NEX-5 which was my very first Mirrorless camera and it was the beginning of my switch over from Canon to Sony. The lens that I used was the 18-200mm supplied with the VG10E camcorder and it was much better than the kit lens supplied with the NEX-5. As a matter of interest I still have the NEX-5 and the VG10 which I still use.

The software available was primitive so I decided to se if the original files could be reprocessed and published online.

I PHOTOGRAPHED A MINIMAC IN CORK IN MAY 2011

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1972 AUSTIN MINI PICKUP

I have been advised that this 1972 Morris Mini has been worked on since I photographed it in 2011 and it is now painted red.

This is an interesting little car (pickup). It is much smaller in reality than it appears in my photographs.

Minimac is on the back but I cannot find any reference to this variation of the mini so I am assuming that it is a mini pickup. The pick-up, launched in 1961 at the same time as the original 997 Cooper, is the second rarest of the product range, with about 58,000 produced against around 49,000 Mokes and 520,000 vans. Note: Minimac appears to be a brand of rear facing infant car seat.

The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout (which allowed 80% of the area of the car’s floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage) influenced a generation of car-makers. The vehicle is in some ways considered the British equivalent to its German contemporary, the Volkswagen Beetle, which enjoyed similar popularity in North America. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th Century, behind the Ford Model T.

Mini Pick-up (1961–1983). A pick-up truck (technically a coupé utility by definition), 11 ft (3.4 m) in total length was built on the longer Mini Van platform, with an open-top rear cargo area and a tailgate. The factory specified the weight of the pick-up as less than 1,500 lb (680 kg) with a full 6 imperial gallons (27 L; 7.2 US gal) tank of fuel.

As with the van, the pick-up had stamped metal slots for airflow into the engine compartment. The Pickup was basic, although the factory brochure described a “fully equipped Mini Pick-up is also available which includes a recirculatory heater”. Passenger-side sun visor, seat belts, laminated windscreen, tilt tubes and cover were also available at extra cost. Like the van, the pick-up was renamed as the Mini 95 in 1978.

A total of 58,179 Mini pick-up models were built.

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