Joey Dunlop Shipwrecked!

Details

Location

Strangford Lough

Year

1985

Date

Production 27/05/1985

Length

02min 31sec

Audio

sound

Format

Betacam

colour

Source

Digitised as part of the BFI Heritage 2022 project.

Courtesy

British Film Institute, ITV, UTV Archive

Rights Holder

ITV

It is illegal to download, copy, print or otherwise utilise in any other form this material, without written consent from the copyright holder.

Description

A report for Good Evening Ulster following the dramatic sinking of a boat which was carrying one of Northern Ireland's most famous sporting sons, Joey Dunlop, to compete at the Isle of Man TT. The former fishing boat, Tornamona, was carrying 13 people and a number of motorbikes when it was forced onto rocks in Strangford Lough. Everyone on board was rescued by the Portaferry lifeboat but the ship sank. In the days afterwards a rescue mission was launched to retrieve the bikes before the salty waters damaged them and the report shows them being brought back to land after a team of divers located them on the wreck.

Dunlop himself is interviewed about the terror of the sinking in the night and his fears that he wasn't going to make it. Dunlop, world champion road racer at the time, shrugged off the incident and went onto to win races in three categories at the event on his way to securing another world title.

Credits

An Ulster Television Production.
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