One of the world's largest tall ships, the Argentine navy's ARA Libertad, will steam up the Liffey early today with 10 "captives" on board.
The captives, mainly from Mayo, were press-ganged into service by Capt Pablo Vignolles at Galway docks earlier this week for the 100m (330ft) vessel's voyage to Dublin.
The ship, due up the Liffey by 6am, is on a nine-day visit to Ireland to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Mayoman Admiral William Brown, who founded the Argentine navy.
The highlight is tomorrow's national military ceremony on the Liffey banks involving Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea and Admiral Jorge Omar Godoy, the Argentine navy's commander-in-chief.
Seamus Murray, chair of the Mayo Association's Galway branch, wasn't sure if the additional crew had yet been sent "up top" on the three-masted vessel.
Among them are Leuween Beattie from Foxford, Co Mayo - a school student and member of the Admiral Brown Society who presented a telescope to the ship's captain earlier in the week - and her friend and avid sailor Lauren Leigh-Doyle.
The others include Frank Gaughan from Claregalway, Andy Dunleavy from Renmore, Dan O'Neill from Kingston and Tony Lally from Knocknacarra.
More than 7,000 people queued to visit the ship during its three-day visit to Galway. Itleft on Tuesday to the strains of U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday blaring from its deck.
Capt Vignolles, from Brazil, prefers the Latin American tango, in which he is a qualified instructor.
Admiral William Brown was virtually orphaned at 10 in the US and spent his life at sea. He earned the title of "liberator of the south Atlantic", when he led a rebel fleet against the Spanish Royal Navy in March 1814.
Attending tomorrow's wreath-laying ceremony on Sir John Rogerson's Quay in Dublin will be the Argentine chargé d'affaires, Federico Guillermo Urrutia; the chief of staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Gen Jim Sreenan; and the flag officer commanding the Naval Service, Commodore Frank Lynch.
The Libertad will be open to the public on the South City Quays from noon to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.
