It’s emerged it will be Tuesday morning when the replica Spanish galleon ‘El Galeón Andulucia’ visits Mulladearg Bay in West Donegal. The vessel was one of the main attractions at the Foyle Maritime Festival, and after a visit to Sligo, it’s leaving there en route to Coleraine.
However, it’s departure from Sligo is being delayed, meaning it will not be at Mulladearg on Monday afternoon as had been originally planned.
Local history in Donegal records that a Spanish Armada vessel ran aground near Mullaghderg in 1588, with the beach’s Spanish Rock still associated with that story.
Members of the crew will lay a wreath and fire a cannon salute to honour the sailors lost on the Donegal coast.
Four Gaeltacht students from Dublin and Monaghan who drowned at the beach on July 13th 1972 will also be remembered.
Local man John Paddy Óg Gallagher is one of those behind the visit……………..
More details –
The world’s largest Spanish galleon replica, El Galeón Andalucía, is due to visit Mullaghderg
Bay, Kincasslagh, in what promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime
maritime spectacle for west Donegal.
The vessel is visiting Ireland as part of its 2026 European tour, travelling as a floating
museum of Spanish maritime history and Andalusian culture.
Local history in Donegal records that a Spanish Armada vessel ran aground near Mullaghderg
in 1588, with the beach’s Spanish Rock still associated with that story.
Members of the crew will lay a wreath to honour the sailors lost on the Donegal coast. There
will also be a cannon salute.
The idea to bring the vessel to Mullaghderg came from local man John Gallagher, known as
John Paddy Óg, who had visited El Galeón Andalucía while it was in Derry, as part of this
year’s Maritime Festival. On 24 June, while out walking at Mullach Dearg Strand, he stopped
at the monument at the head of the strand, close to the boardwalk.
The memorial recalls four girls who drowned at the beach on 13 July 1972. Students Máire
Grae, 14, from Sutton, Dublin, Catherine Carrol, 13, of Clones Road in Monaghan and Susan
O’Reilly, 14, and Bernadette McCabe, 14, who were from both Fermanagh Terrace in Clones,
had been attending Gaeltacht colleges in the area. That moment of remembrance led him to
think about the Spanish sailors who were lost off Mullaghderg in 1588, and about the
possibility of marking that history while the galleon was still in Irish waters.
He said: “Wouldn't it be some catch to get the galleon to do a fly by, as I called it, on their
way back from Sligo. I contacted my friend, John Joe McBride, and that's how it started.”
Calls were then made to BBC NI journalist, Kevin Sharkey, Donegal TD Pat the Cope
Gallagher, helping to get the ball rolling and turn the idea into a planned visit to the Donegal
coast.
The vessel’s planned arrival will mark exactly 54 years from the tragic incident involving the
four Irish teenagers.
Public coastal viewing will be possible from suitable vantage points including Arranmore,
Cruit Island, Gweedore, Gola Island, Kincasslagh, Mullaghderg, Owey Island and other
coastal locations, with members of the public asked to view safely and follow any local
guidance on the day.
