The ELIANA

The Greek-registered cargo ship, the ELIANA, was the first maritime mural painted on the old East Pier. This vessel was built in 1946 at Turku, Finland under the name FINLANDIA which she held until 1967. She sported the name CARELIA until 1968, after which she became the ELIANA. Under this name, she was owned by Antonius Panagakos, from Athens, until 1972. Finally, she was scrapped under the name LEONI at Izmir, Turkey, in 1975.

The ELIANA was a large vessel which regularly delivered phosphate from Casablanca, Morocco to Wicklow Town Port - reputedly colliding with the North Pier wall on one such visit! This was used as a component for fertiliser that was produced in Arklow (the ship being too large to berth there).

The original mural was created by a crew member of the ship in 1971 around the time when the vessel was moored alongside the East Pier for repairs following her collision with the North Pier several days earlier. Unfortunately, this visiting artist got into a spot of bother with the local authorities as he had painted his work on the pier wall without permission. He was fined and ordered to remove the mural before his ship departed.

As it happened, his ship sailed several days later with the sailor on board and, fortunately for me as it was to turn out, the mural still intact on the pier wall. At the same time, as I was in my mid-teens, I regularly sat on the South Quay sketching pictures of visiting ships on location. 

Over the following five years, the condition of the original mural deteriorated greatly. As a result, many people who watched me sketching on the quayside regularly asked me if I ever considered restoring the mural on the pier. This indicated to me that the original mural of the ELIANA was well liked.

[Below is my original sketch of the ELIANA before I painted her mural on the East Pier wall].

In 1976, I decided to take this up as a challenge and I approached the local Harbour Master, Captain Willie Kinsella,and requested his permission to revive the mural. Happily, he told me to go right ahead! My restored ELIANA mural was the beginning of a long 50-year journey of painting my murals on the East Pier wall.

I have fond boyhood memories of my many visits to the ELIANA which I treasure. The Greek crew showed me around the vessel and made me feel at home to the extent that I used to join them for meals in their galley. My first 'foreign' meal there was spaghetti bolognese which was not your typical Irish meal at that time! This treat was usually followed with some Greek pastries!