The 5th Duke of Westminster had a beautiful, classic, wooden motor yacht which was moored at His Grace's County Fermanagh seat, Ely Lodge.
Trasna, the finest vessel I have ever seen on Lough Erne, is 54 feet in length and holds sixteen passengers in comfort.
The yacht was designed for the 5th Duke by the firm G L Watson, and built by Bruce Cowley at Bangor Shipyard Company in Bangor, County Down.
Originally called Trasna of Ely, she was completed in 1968-9.
Trasna sports a splendid figurehead on her bow, a golden wheatsheaf or garb, part of the Grosvenor coat-of-arms.
Lough Erne’s most handsome motor yacht is clipper-style.
When the 6th Duke moved permanently to the family's Cheshire seat, Eaton Hall, Trasna was acquired briefly by the National Trust, when it was moored near the boat-house at Crom estate for several years during the late 1980s.
I sailed on her several times, under the captaincy of Robert Lowry, of Blessingbourne.
Trasna now belongs to the Duke of Abercorn and is based at Belle Isle estate, County Fermanagh.
First published in July, 2013.
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The yacht was designed by the firm G L Watson and built by Bruce Cowley at Bangor Shipyard Company in Bangor, County Down, and completed in 1968 or 1969. She was originally called "Trasna of Ely" after Ely Lodge, the Fermanagh house of the Duke of Westminster.
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