The Eithne, at Penn's Landing.
In Ireland, the traditional greeting is céad míle fáilte: A hundred thousand welcomes.
When the Irish Naval Ship Eithne docked at Penn’s Landing early Tuesday morning—the first Irish navy vessel to visit Philadelphia—the city returned the favor.
Eithne’s Cmdr. David Barry remembers the scene: “We were met by Irish dancers, the USO, the Navy League … We damn nearly had a party on board at 8 a.m.”
The rest of the week, those welcomes just kept rolling in. On Wednesday night, hundreds of local guests crowded aboard ship for a cocktail party and reception. Thursday, there was a raucous Irish football game between the crew and local players at Cardinal Dougherty field. Also Thursday night, the Philadelphia Irish Center played host to the officers and crew.
Of course, the people of Philly—especially the merchants—offered their own welcomes. It wasn’t unusual to see groups of Irish sailors in Phillies T-shirts heading back to the ship with bags of locally-purchased loot. One of the crew speculated that the ship will weigh a lot more going back.
We’ve captured memories of the visit in photos.
Check them out.