Tom Crean Research Ship Marks Three Years at Sea

The Marine Institute celebrating three years since the arrival of its flagship research vessel, the RV Tom Crean, in Galway Harbour today.

Since entering service, the Tom Crean has clocked 864 days at sea and sailed over 103,000 nautical miles — almost 20 return trips between Galway and New York. The vessel has supported a wide range of marine research, from fish stock surveys and seabed mapping to ocean climate studies and environmental monitoring.

A vital platform for student training, the Tom Crean has also enabled Ireland’s seabed mapping programme, INFOMAR, to chart more than 20,000 square kilometres of the Celtic Sea and Atlantic seafloor — an area larger than Leinster — over 234 survey days.

In 2024, the ship was fitted with a high-tech Imaging Flow Cytobot during the annual phytoplankton survey. The instrument captures and transmits images of up to 10,000 plankton species per sample, boosting early detection of harmful algal blooms and supporting aquaculture monitoring.

This May, over 4,500 visitors boarded the Tom Crean during European Maritime Days at Cork Harbour to meet researchers and learn about the ship’s work.

“The RV Tom Crean continues to play a central role in advancing Ireland’s marine research,” said Dr Rick Officer, CEO of the Marine Institute. “Its capabilities and crew expertise allow us to deliver world-class science and support sustainable ocean management.”

Live tracking of Marine Institute vessels is available at marine.ie.

Tom Crean (1877–1938) was a legendary Irish Antarctic explorer and seaman from Annascaul, Co. Kerry. He served on three major expeditions to Antarctica in the early 20th century alongside famous explorers like Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.