Ireland’s Mercantile Marine during the Second World War

[lugite 1 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch”/]
[lugite 2 author=”Fisk” book=”In Time of War” page=”273″ quote=”“Up to four huge tricolours were painted on the sides of each ship together with the word EIRE in letters twenty feet high””/]
[lugite 3 author=”Gleichauf” book=”Unsung Sailors” page=”115″ quote=”“… remembered what they had heard in training: never expect another ship to stop and pick them up, nor could they stop their ship for others. For the safety of the many, the convoy must pass by survivors in the sea.””/]
[lugite 4 author=”Sinclair” book=”Blood and Kin” page=”561″ quote=”“… or we’re sitting ducks. So we sail past all these drowning sailors, and they call up to us, and we must sail on. I remember one crying, ‘Taxi! Taxi!’. We didn’t stop.””/]
[lugite 5 author=”Fisk” book=”In Time of War” page=”276″/]
[lugite 6 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”143″/]
[lugite 7 url=”boat.net/allies/merchants/2385.html” title=”“Roxby”” title=”Ships hit by U-boats”/]
[lugite 8 report=”“Existence of National Emergency”” title=”Dáil debates (Government of Ireland)” detail=”77: 19–20″ when=”1939-09-02″/]
[lugite 9 author=”Ferriter” book=”What If?” page=”100″ detail=”(Quoting Garvin)” quote=”“Irish isolationism was a very powerful cultural sentiment at that time”” /]
[lugite 10 author=”Spong” published=”1982″ book=”Irish Shipping Limited” page=”10″/]
[lugite 11 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”ii”/]
[lugite 12 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”129″/]
[lugite 13 author=”O’Hanlon” report=”Report of the Ports and Harbours Tribunal”/]
[lugite 14 author=”McIvor” book=”A History of the Irish Naval Service” page=”16″ quote=”“Despite the decades of neglect by an agriculturally-oriented political establishment in Dublin, the Irish navy managed to function””/]
[lugite 15 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page =”1″/]
[lugite 16 author=”McIvor” book=”A History of the Irish Naval Service” page=”85″/]
[lugite 17 author=”Share” book=”The Emergency” page=”94″/]
[lugite 18 author=”Coogan” book=”Ireland in the Twentieth Century” page=”251″/]
[lugite 19 author=”Spong” book=”Irish Shipping Ltd” page=”11″/]
[lugite 20 author=”O’Halpin” book=”Spying on Ireland” page=”27″ quote=”“widespread destruction of roads, bridges, and railway lines””/]
[lugite 21 author=”Wills” book=”That Neutral Island” page=”34″ quote=”“Ireland’s roads were amongst the most dangerous in Europe””/]
[lugite 22 title=”“Railways in Crisis”” detail=”Ask About Ireland” publisher=”An Chomhairle Leabharlanna”/]
[lugite 23 author=”Somerville-Large” book=”Irish Voices” page=”201″ quote=”“the heaviest losses occurring among the coasters who made the Dublin-Lisbon run””/]
[lugite 24 author=”Dwyer” book=”de Valera’s Finest Hour” page=”81″/]
[lugite 25 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”117″/]
[lugite 26 detail=”Reproduced in” author=”Ferriter” book=”Judging DeV” page=”294″/]
[lugite 27 author=”Ó Gráda” book=”A rocky road: the Irish economy since the 1920s” page=”66″ quote=”“In the post war period much of the criticism centred on the assets held by the bank in British government paper. Why could not the banks invest this money in creating jobs in Ireland instead?””/]
[lugite 28 author=”O’Connell” book=”The State and Housing in Ireland” page=”33″/]
[lugite 29 author=”Coogan” book=”Ireland in the Twentieth Century” page=”247″/]
[lugite 30 author=”Gilligan” book=”A History of the Port of Dublin” page=”166″ quote=”“a further factor extended responsibility for this situation to the government, namely its tardiness in dealing with the recommendations of the tribunal, since a bill such as proposed did not come before the Oireachtas for another fifteen years””/]
[lugite 31 author=”O’Hanlon” detail=”(Chairman), H.B.” report=”Ports and Harbours Tribunal (1930)” title=”Report of the Ports and Harbours Tribunal” where=”Dublin” publisher=”Government Publications Sales Office”/]
[lugite 32 author=”Sweeney” book=”Liffey Ships” page=”1927″/]
[lugite 33 author=”Gray” book=”The Lost Years” page=”33″/]
[lugite 34 author=”McIvor” book=”A History of the Irish Naval Service” page=”71″/]
[lugite 35 author=”Share” book=”The Emergency” page=”94″ detail=”attributed to Captain T. MacKenna”/]
[lugite 37 author=”Evans” book=”Ireland Duing the Second World War” page=”103″/]
[lugite 38 author=”Raymond” book=”De Valera and His Times” page=”129″/]
[lugite 39 author=”Ó Gráda” book=”A rocky road: the Irish economy since the 1920s” page=”47″/]
[lugite 40 author=”Evans” book=”Ireland During the Second World War” page=”91″/]
[lugite 41 author=”Lee” book=”Ireland” page=”193″/]
[lugite 42 author=”Gilligan” book=”A History of the Port of Dublin” page=”169″/]
[lugite 43 author=”Sweeney” book=”Liffey Ships” page=”208″/]
[lugite 44 author=”Spong” book=”Irish Shipping Ltd” page=”9″/]
[lugite 45 author=”The Oxford Companion to Irish History” book=”“Irish Shipping”” detail=”The Oxford Companion to Irish History” publisher=”Oxford University Press”/]
[lugite 46 author=”McRonald” book=”The Irish Boats” page=”70 & 216″/]
[lugite 47 author=”MacAonghusa” book=”Quotations from Eamon de Valera” page=”64″/]
[lugite 48 author=”Share” book=”The Emergency” page=”101″/]
[lugite 49 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”73″/]
[lugite 50 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”139″/]
[lugite 51 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”32″/]
[lugite 52 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”108″/]
[lugite 53 author=”MacGinty” book=”The Irish Navy” page=”57″/]
[lugite 54 author=”Share” book=”The Emergency” page=”99″/]
[lugite 55 author=”Holt, S.J.” report=”“Sharing the Catches of Whales in the Southern Hemisphere” (PDF)” detail=”FAO Corporate Document Repository,” publisher=”FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,”/]
[lugite 56 title = ““A Brief History of Christian Salvesen Shipping”” detail=”Merchant Navy Nostalgia” author=”Coombe, Ian” where=”Montreal, Canada” /]
[lugite 57 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”23″ quote=”“Their home addresses, listed in the Articles of Agreement, show that they came from districts where respect for the Irish Free State was minimal if not hostile””/]
[lugite 58 detail=”“Dáil Éireann – Volume 103”” web=”Damage to Merchant Ships” publisher=”Parliamentary Debates” when=”23 October 1946″/]
[lugite 59 title=”“Holyhead Services”” detail=”LNWR Fleet List” /]
[lugite 60 author=”Sweeney” book=”Liffey Ships” page=”202″/]
[lugite 61 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”2″/]
[lugite 62 title=”“Scotia”” /]
[lugite 63 author=”Kennedy” book=”Guarding Neutral Ireland” page=”178″/]
[lugite 64 title=”“Fishguard Harbour History”” detail=”Fishguard Harbour Centenary 1906-2006″ where=”Fishguard Port” /]
[lugite 65 author=”McMahon” book=”Bombs over Dublin” page=”125″/]
[lugite 66 book=”Statistical Abstract of Ireland” author=”CSO” when=”1967″ page=”59″ detail=”also, but less detailed: “Table 10.1 Area under selected crops” (PDF). Statistical Yearbook of Ireland. CSO. p. 174″/]
[lugite 67 author=”Bell” book=”A History of Irish Farming” page=”244″/]
[lugite 68 author=”Ó Drisceoil” book=”Censorship in Ireland” page=”256″/]
[lugite 69 author=”Ferriter” book=”What If” page=”94″ detail=”quoting Garvin: “Ireland did actually have the British over a barrel””/]
[lugite 70 author=”Duggan” book=”Herr Hempel” page=”22″/]
[lugite 71 author=”O’Rourke, Kevin” when=”June 1991″ journal=”“Burn Everything British but Their Coal: The Anglo-Irish Economic War of the 1930s”” publisher=”The Journal of Economic History. 2 (Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Economic History Association)” detail=”51 (2): 357–366. doi:10.1017/S0022050700038997. JSTOR 2122580″/]
[lugite 72 author=”Johnston” book=”Century of Endeavour” page=”82″/]
[lugite 73 author=”Fitzgerald” book=”Are We Invaded Yet?” page=”138″ quote=”“Meat exports were halted. Farmers panicked. Farms were closed down. The entire economy seemed threatened””/]
[lugite 74 author=”Manning” book=”Blueshirts” page=”182″ quote=”“(cattle – coal pact) a business transaction based on the mutual interests of two countries””/]
[lugite 75 author=”Griven” book=”The Emergency” page=”161″/]
[lugite 76 author=”Gerwarth” book=”Twisted paths: Europe 1914-1945″ page=”60″ quote=”“price inflation (74 per cent between 1939 and 1945)””/]
[lugite 77 author=”Whitaker, T.K.” when=”1949″ title=”“Ireland’s external assets”” publisher=”TARA (Trinity’s Access to Research Archive)” quote=”The central purchasing arrangements introduced by Britain on the outbreak of war enabled her to keep the prices for agricultural produce, which form the bulk of our exports, at levels which in some cases did not even cover costs of production Indeed, until we had no longer an exportable surplus of butter we were selling butter to the British Ministry of Food at a price which fell far short of the return guaranteed to producers, the difference being made good by domestic subsidy. Lower prices were paid for our exports than for similar produce raised in the Six Counties and in Britain itself. Cattle, the mainstay of our export trade, suffered particularly from this discrimination (the term “six counties” meant Northern Ireland)”/]
[lugite 78 book=”Statistical Abstract of Ireland” author=”CSO” when=”1967″ page=”64″/]
[lugite 79 author=”Barton” book=”Northern Ireland in the Second World War” page=”111″/]
[lugite 80 author=”Wills” book=”That Neutral Island” page=”153″ detail=”(a Garda report) “large numbers of Belfast people travel on special excursion trains to Border towns in Éire and buy sugar, cigarettes, tobacco, butter and eggs. Yesterday 2.10.40, three special trains arrived here about 4p.m. carrying approximately 2,000 people, mostly middle-aged women, all armed with capacious shopping bags. They all left carrying a considerable quantity of the above goods…””/]
[lugite 81 author=”Raymond” book=”Irish Economic Development” page=”121″ quote=”“the Irish statistical service lacked both system and skill. Although several quantitative approaches were made to the nation’s economic problems in the 1930s, their methodological assumptions were sometimes little better than makeshift guesses””/]
[lugite 82 author=”Ó Drisceoil” book=”Censorship in Ireland” page=”323″ quote=”(quoting from “Emergency Powers Order, 1939. Direction to the Press”)… Matter relating to the arrival, departure, or disposal of cargoes… at any port in the State…”/]
[lugite 83 author=”Blair” book=”Hitler’s U-boat War” page=”699″/]
[lugite 84 author=”Food and Agricultural Organisation” report=”Draft Report: European Programmes of Agricultural Reconstruction and Development” where=”Washington” when=”1948″ page=”47-51″ detail=”Table 9″/]
[lugite 85 author=”Dwyer” book=”Behind the Green Curtain” page=”212″/]
[lugite 86 author=”Wood” book=”Ireland during the Second World War” page=”77″/]
[lugite 87 author=”Gray” book=”The Lost Years” page=”185-86″/]
[lugite 88 author=”Coogan” book=”De Valera” page=”565″/]
[lugite 89 author=”Mulvaney , Peter” title=”“Leukos Crew”” publisher=”Irish Seamens’ Relatives Association,”/]
[lugite 91 author=”Wills” book=”That Neutral Island” page=”241″/]
[lugite 92 author=”Lee” book=”Ireland” page=”85″/]
[lugite 93 title=”“Revenue over the years”. 1932-1940″ publiher=”Revenue – Irish tax and customs,”/]
[lugite 94 author=”Carroll” book=”Ireland in the war years” page=”92″/]
[lugite 95 author=”Share” book=”The Emergency” page=”20″/]
[lugite 96 author=”Dwyer” book=”Behind the Green Curtain” page=”210″/]
[lugite 97 author=”Coogan” book=”Ireland in the Twentieth Century” page=”246-47″/]
[lugite 98 author=”Wood” book=”Ireland during the Second World War” page=”50″/]
[lugite 99 author=”Gilligan” book=”A History of the Port of Dublin” page=”196″/]
[lugite 100 title=”House of Commons Debate” when=”21 February 1939″ detail=”vol 344 cc216-7W. Ships Built Abroad” publisher=”Hansard” /]
[lugite 101 author=”Carroll, Joseph T.” book=”Ireland in the war years, 1939-1945″ publisher=”International Scholars Publications” page=”90″ ISBN= “9781573091862”/]
[lugite 102 author=”Sweeney” book=”Liffey Ships” page=”203″/]
[lugite 103 detail=”“Dáil Éireann – Volume 77”” title=”Sinking of Ships” publisher=”Parliamentary Debates” when=”27 September 1939″ /]
[lugite 104 author=”Coogan” book=”Ireland in the Twentieth Century” page=”250″/]
[lugite 105 author=”Coogan” book=”De Valera” page=”569″/]
[lugite 106 author=”Dwyer” book=”Behind the Green Curtain” page=”150, also pages 27 & 126″/]
[lugite 107 author=”Blair” book=”Hitler’s U-boat War” page=”85″/]
[lugite 108 title=”“Inverliffey”” detail=”Allied Ships hit by U-boats” publisher=”uboat.net” /]
[lugite 109 author=”Visser, Auke” title=”“International Esso Tankers”” detail=”Early War Incident” /]
[lugite 110 author=”Stephan” book=”Spies in Ireland” page=”125″/]
[lugite 111 author=”Rohwer” book=”Axis submarine successes of World War Two” page=”52″/]
[lugite 112 author= “Nesbitt, Sandra; Mcdermid, Jane” report=”“The Moray Firth”” detail=”Environmental Impact – Sunken Wrecks” /]
[lugite 113 title=”“The Inverlane”” publisher=”Blue Bell diving Academy” detail=”(dead link)” /]
[lugite 114 title=”“Inverlane, Scapa Flow”” publisher=”Panoramio” /]
[lugite 115 author=”Blair” book=”Hitler’s U-boat War” page=”122″/]
[lugite 116 title=”Inver Tankers Ltd.” detail=”whole fleet sunk in WWII” publisher=”The Ships List” /]
[lugite 117 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”144″/]
[lugite 118 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”58″/]
[lugite 119 author=”Fisk” book=”In Time of War” page=”273″/]
[lugite 120 title=”“Silent Waters Running Deep”” publisher=”Hofnaflus Teo.” /]
[lugite 121 author=”Magner, Senator Pat” when=”6 February 1985″ detail=”“Irish Shipping Employees’ Pensions”” publisher=”Seanad Éireann” quote=”The Irish only learned of this in the last months of the war after an extraordinary incident in which a U-boat scuttled itself off Cork. The crew had put their ship’s documents into two metal canisters and thrown them overboard before rowing ashore and being taken into custody at Collins Barracks in Cork. But the canisters were washed on to the beach and were retrieved..”/]
[lugite 122 author=”Duggan” book=”Neutral Ireland and the Third Reich” /]
[lugite 123 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”43″/]
[lugite 124 author=”Blair” book=”Hitler’s U-boat War” page=”662″/]
[lugite 125 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”56″/]
[lugite 126 title=”“EIRE: The Union & Jim Downey”” publisher=”Time” when=”5 May 1947″/]
[lugite 127 author=”Robb-Webb, Jon” title=”“Convoy”” detail=”In Holmes, Richard. The Oxford Companion to Military History. Oxford Reference Online” where=”Oxford” publisher=”Oxford University Press”/]
[lugite 128 title=”“Walmer Castle”” /]
[lugite 129 author=”Rohwer” book=”Axis submarine successes of World War Two” page=”86″/]
[lugite 130 title=”“Legal”” publisher=”Irish Seamens’ Relatives Association” detail=”Archived from the original”/]
[lugite 131 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”104″/]
[lugite 132 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”45″ detail=”£3 million”/]
[lugite 133 author=”Lund” book=”Nightmare Convoy” page=”29″/]
[lugite 134 author=”Hague, Arnold” title=”“Convoy OG.71”” detail=”OG Convoy Series. Don Kindell” publisher=”ConvoyWeb” /]
[lugite 135 author=”Markwell, June” when=”5 May 2005″ detail=”“12 Scarborough Wrens sunk by U-boat”” publisher:”On the Fourth Watch. Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre” /]
[lugite 136 author=”Helgason, Guðmundur” title=”“HNoMS Bath (I 17)”” publisher=”Ships hit by U-boats” /]
[lugite 138 author=”Helgason, Guðmundur” title=”“Alva”” publisher=”Ships hit by U-boats” /]
[lugite 139 author=”Lund” book=”Nightmare Convoy” page=”41″/]
[lugite 140 author=”Helgason, Guðmundur” title=”“Aguila”” publisher=”Ships hit by U-boats” /]
[lugite 141 author=”Helgason, Guðmundur” title=”“Ciscar”” publisher=”Ships hit by U-boats” /]
[lugite 142 author=”Blair” book=”Hitler’s U-boat War” page=”338″/]
[lugite 143 author=”Mason” book=”Britannia’s daughters” page=”46″/]
[lugite 144 author=”Forde” book=”Maritime Arklow” page=”198″/]
[lugite 145 author=”Monsarrat” book=”Life is a Four-Letter Word” page=”114″/]
[lugite 146 author=”Sweeney” book=”Liffey Ships” page=”220″/]
[lugite 147 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”86″/]
[lugite 148 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”87″/]
[lugite 149 author=”Kennedy” book=”Guarding Neutral Ireland” page=”220″/]
[lugite 150 author=”Freeman” book=”Ireland” page=”214″/]
[lugite 151 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”25″/]
[lugite 152 author=”Griven” book=”The Emergency” page=”159″/]
[lugite 153 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”3″/]
[lugite 154 author=”Griven” book=”The Emergency” page=”161″ quote=”“the Germans had publicly threatened certain companies, including the one at Campile if they continued to trade with Britain””/]
[lugite 155 author=”Fisk, Robert” when=”24 January 1999″ news=”“Why the Nazis bombed Dublin”” publisher=”Independent” /]
[lugite 156 author=”Kennedy” book=”Guarding Neutral Ireland” page=”197″/]
[lugite 157 detail=”“Dáil Éireann – Volume 81”” title=”Bombing of Motor Vessel” publisher=”Parliamentary Debates” when=”5 February 1941″ /]
[lugite 158 author=”Ó Drisceoil” book=”Censorship in Ireland” page=”106″/]
[lugite 159 author=”Griven” book=”The Emergency” page=”162-165″/]
[lugite 160 author=”Griven” book=”The Emergency” page=”165″/]
[lugite 161 author=”Duggan” book=”Herr Hempel” page=”111″/]
[lugite 162 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”33″/]
[lugite 163 detail=”“Dáil Éireann – Volume 85”” title=”Attack on Irish Ship” publisher=”Parliamentary Debates” when=”19 November 1941″ /]
[lugite 164 author=”Burne” book=”Chronological History of U.S. Foreign Relations: 1932-1988″ page=”537″/]
[lugite 165 author=”Spong” book=”Irish Shipping Ltd.” page=”7″/]
[lugite 166 author=”Kennedy” book=”Guarding Neutral Ireland” page=”253″/]
[lugite 167 author=”Kennedy” book=”Guarding Neutral Ireland” page=”254″/]
[lugite 168 author=”Anderson” book=”Sailing Ships of Ireland” page=”175″/]
[lugite 169 author=”Fisk, In Time of War” page=”275″ quote=”“Kerlogue’s tricolour, shredded by RAF gunfire is now in the National Maritime Museum of Ireland””/]
[lugite 170 author=”Dwyer” book=”Behind the Green Curtain” page=”277 and 308″/]
[lugite 171 title=”“Navicert system”” author=”Encyclopædia Britannica” publisher=”Encyclopædia Britannica Online” when=”11 August 2009″/]
[lugite 172 author=”Wills” book=”That Neutral Island” page=”133″/]
[lugite 173 author=”Fisk” book=”In Time of War” page=”272″/]
[lugite 174 author=”Fisk” book=”In Time of War” page=”272″ quote=”“In some cases, the British were prepared to issue navicerts only on condition that half or more of the Irish ships’ voyages were on British service””/]
[lugite 175 detail=”House of Commons Debate 23 June 1943, vol 390 cc1139-40″ title=”EIRE (MERCHANT SHIPPING)” publisher=”HANSARD” when=”23 June 1943″ /]
[lugite 176 title=”“D/S Enid”” publisher=”warsailors.com” /]
[lugite 177 title=”“Violando N. Goulandris”” detail=”Kriegsmarine and U-Boat history” publisher=”ubootwaffe.net” /]
[lugite 178 title=”“Naval Events, May 1940”” )/]
[lugite 179 title=”“Petsamo” detail=”Kriegsmarine and U-Boat history” publisher=”ubootwaffe.net” /]
[lugite 180 author=”Dwyer” book=”Irish neutrality and the USA” page=”107″/]
[lugite 181 author=”Sweeney” book=”Liffey Ships” page=”224″/]
[lugite 182 author=”Gray” book=”The Lost Years” page=”138″/]
[lugite 183 author=”MacGinty” book=”The Irish Navy” page=”54″/]
[lugite 184 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”60″/]
[lugite 185 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”61″/]
[lugite 186 author=”Sweeney” book=”Liffey Ships” page=”231″/]
[lugite 187 author=”McCabe, Aiden” book=”“Our War-time Lifeline”. Irish Ships and Shipping” /]
[lugite 188 author=”Sweeney” book=”Liffey Ships” page=”254″/]
[lugite 189 author=”Forde” book=”The Long Watch” page=”128″/]
[lugite 190 journal=”“Cork honours the Ardmore”” publisher=”Maritime Journal of Ireland” detail=”(43)” when=”Summer 1998″ ISSN=”0790-7885″/]
[lugite 191 title=”“Neutral Irish Registered Vessels”” detail=”UK National Inventory of War Memorials” publisher=”Imperial War Museum” /]
[lugite 192 author=”Mulvaney, Peter” book=”“The Irish Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleet 1939-46”” publisher=”Irish Seamen’s Relatives Association” detail=”(dead link)”/]
[lugite 193 detail=”Irish Seamens’ Memorial Memorial to the Irish Seamen (wmv). City Quay, Dublin” author=”Creative M” /]
[lugite 194 author=”Sweeney” book=”Liffey Ships” page=”254″/]
[lugite 195 journal=”Department of Supplies – Record of Activities” detail=”account of the activities of the Department of Supplies from its inception until 30th June 1944″ detail=”lugnad.ie/isl_lemass/”/]
[lugite 196 author=”Walling” book=”Bloodstained Sea” page=”15″ quote=”“It was a cruel reality that any ship stopping for survivors was likely to become the next victim. Despite gallant rescue efforts by many a ship’s crew, men were left behind.””]

An earlier version of this article was donated to Wikipedia

The Irish Mercantile Marine[lugnote]In Ireland it is the “Mercantile Marine”; in the United Kingdom, it is the “Merchant Navy”; in the USA, it is the “Merchant Marine”.[/lugnote] during World War II continued essential overseas trade during the conflict, a period referred to as “The Long Watch” by Irish mariners.[lugite i=1]

Irish merchant shipping ensured that vital imports continued to arrive and exports, mainly food supplies to Great Britain, were delivered. Irish ships sailed unarmed and usually alone, identifying themselves as neutrals with bright lights and by painting the Irish tricolour and EIRE[lugnote]Éire is the Irish name for Ireland. From 1937 “Ireland” was the correct name for the country. Prior to that it was the “Irish Free State”. British documents of the time, tended to use the word “Eire” while the USA used “Irish Republic”. Churchill said “Southern Ireland”.[/lugnote] in large letters on their sides and decks.[lugite i=2] Nonetheless twenty percent of seamen serving in Irish ships perished, victims of a war not their own: attacked by both sides, though predominantly by the Axis powers.

Often, Allied convoys could not stop to pick up survivors,[lugite i=3][lugite i=4][lugite i=196] while Irish ships always answered SOS signals and stopped to rescue survivors, irrespective of which side they belonged to. Irish ships rescued more than 534 seamen.[lugnote]At least 534 lives were saved by Irish ships, this excludes rescues by lifeboats, fishing trawlers and other craft. It also excludes transfers, such as on 3 September 1939, the day war was declared, U-30 sank the liner Athenia with 1,103 passengers aboard. 430 survivors were rescued by the Norwegian Knute Nelson. They were transferred to the Irish Cathair na Gaillimhe and brought to Galway. They were met by a group sent by the American ambassador London to assist Americans. This group included his son, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.[/lugnote][lugnote] Most sources say 521.[lugite i=5] This comes from a list of rescues in Appendix 4 of Frank Forde’s book The Long Watch.[lugite i=6] However that list is incomplete, it omits the rescue of 13 survivors from Roxby by Irish Beech.[lugite i=7][/lugnote] There were never more than 800 men, at any one time, serving on Irish ships during the war.[lugite i=12]

At the outbreak of World War II, known as “The Emergency”,[lugnote]“The Emergency” was an official euphemism used by the Irish Government to refer to World War II.[/lugnote] Ireland declared neutrality and became isolated as never before.[lugite i=9] Shipping had been neglected since independence. Foreign ships, on which Ireland’s trade had hitherto depended, were less available; neutral American ships would not enter the “war zone”. In his Saint Patrick’s Day address in 1940, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera lamented:

“No country had ever been more effectively blockaded because of the activities of belligerents and our lack of ships…”

Trade Routes

There were three principal trade routes:

1. “Cross-channel” trade, between Ireland and Britain, was from both national perspectives, the most important Irish trade route. Ireland was a net food exporter. The excess was shipped to Britain. The Irish Mercantile Marine ensured that Irish agricultural, and other, exports reached Britain, and that British coal and manufactured goods arrived in Ireland.
2. Irish ships crossed the Atlantic on a route defined by the Allies: a line from Fastnet Rock to the Azores and then along the line of latitude at 38° North.[lugite i=10] Although Ireland was a net food exporter, some foods such as wheat, fruits and tea were imported. There was considerable anxiety over the supply of wheat. Wheat, corn as an animal feed and phosphates as fertiliser were imported from North America
3. Ships on the “Lisbon-run”, imported wheat, maize as animal food and fruits from Spain and Portugal, as well as goods transhipped from the Americas,

Taoiseach Éamon de Valera 14 April 1941
Archives of University College Dublin

Ireland depended on, mainly, British tankers for petroleum.[lugnote]As the Dublin registered Inver tanker fleet had been transferred to the British register.[/lugnote]

Initially Irish ships sailed in British convoys. In the light of experience they chose to sail alone, relying on their neutral markings. German respect for that neutrality varied from friendly to tragic.

Background

Following independence in 1921, there was no state encouragement to develop the mercantile marine. The Ports and Harbours Tribunal[lugite i=13] reported “Public Apathy in Port Affairs”[lugite i=14]; “Our new leaders seemed to turn their backs upon the sea and to ignore the fact that we are an island”. The then Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Éamon de Valera had advocated a policy of self-sufficiency. Foreign imports were discouraged. “It was an important status symbol in the modern world for a country to produce her own goods and be self-sufficient.”[lugite i=24] Each year the fleet declined. In 1923, the merchant fleet consisted of 127 ships. This number dropped every year until 1939 when, at the start of World War II, the fleet numbered only 56 ships.[lugite i=15] Only 5% of imports were carried on Irish flagged vessels.[lugite i=16]

There were several reasons for this decline:[lugite i=17] a consequence of the war of independence, a policy of self-sufficiency, the economic depression, the lack of investment[lugite i=18] and government neglect.[lugite i=15] Foreign ships, on which Ireland had hitherto depended, were withdrawn. “In the period April 1941 and June 1942 only seven such ships visited the country”.[lugite i=19] The war of independence (1919–1921), and the civil war (1921–1922) which followed it, left the country in near economic collapse. There had been destruction of industry and infrastructure.[lugite i=20] Many industries relocated abroad. It was often cheaper to transport by sea, within Ireland, rather than using the poor road[lugite i=21] and rail networks.[lugite i=22] To take advantage of this commercial opportunity, new coasters[lugnote]Coaster: as the name implies, these ships were suited to travelling close to shore, between ports on the same island. They were suited for shallow waters, unsuited for the oceans. The assumption was that if a storm threatened they could promptly reach the safety of a harbour.[/lugnote] were acquired in the 1930s, intended to ply between Irish ports. These ships would be invaluable once hostilities began. Many of these small coasters were lost, particularly on the “Lisbon run”, a voyage for which they were never intended.[lugite i=23]

Menapia leaving São Tomé November 1943 with a cargo of palm oil, an 8,000 mile voyage for a 900 GRT ship.[lugite i=25]
Oil by Kenneth King – on display in Straid Studio, Glencolmcille, Donegal

The global economic depression of the early 1930s impacted upon Ireland less because of the partial recovery following the civil war and because industry was protected behind tariff barriers established during the Anglo-Irish Trade War (1932–1938).[lugnote]In their election manifesto in 1948 Fianna Fáil claimed to have established 100 new industries and 900 factories.[/lugnote] The need for extra sea capacity was readily met by British and other foreign ships. Foreign ships were used, rather than preserving the home fleet. Banks were reluctant to lend to Irish industry,[lugite i=27] preferring British government gilts.[lugnote]The government set up the “Commission of Inquiry into Banking, Currency and Credit”[/lugnote][lugite i=28].

Although there was state support for many industries, this did not extend to shipping. In 1933 de Valera’s government established the Turf Development Board; turf became Ireland’s primary source of fuel during the emergency years and was stockpiled as imported coal was in short supply. In 1935 civil servants in de Valera’s own department warned him of the consequences a war would have on the importation of fuel. He ignored that warning.[lugite i=29] Earlier, in 1926 the Ports and Harbours Tribunal was initiated.[lugite i=30] The tribunal received “abundant evidence” of “inefficient, uneconomic and extravagant management”.[lugite i=31] It submitted a report in 1930 with recommendations which were not implemented until after the war. The tribunal observed “the public generally do not, we fear, appreciate the importance of our harbours …”.[lugite i=30] Vickers-Armstrong liquidated their subsidiary Vickers (Ireland) Ltd. on 15 November 1938; their Dublin Dockyard had ceased operation in 1937.[lugite i=32]

On 2 September 1939 the “realisation dawned on Ireland that the country was surrounded by water and that the sea was of vital importance to her”.[lugite i=33][lugite i=34][lugite i=35]

Industry

Seán Lemass as Minister for Industry and Commerce, and later Minister for Supplies sought to address these issues.[lugite i=38] Many infant industries were developed in the 1930s[lugite i=39] behind a protective tariff barrier. These industries proved valuable in the war years. They reduced the need for imports, for example in 1931 over five million pairs of shoes were imported, by 1938 this had fallen to a quarter of a million pairs.[lugite i=24] Between 1931 and 1938, Gross Industrial Output rose from £55 million to £90 million; and Industrial Employment from 162,000 to 217,000.[lugite i=41]

Industry lacked finance. In 1933 the government established the Industrial Credit Corporation to provide finance. In 1938, Life Assurers were required to hold their reserves in Ireland, to make capital available for industry; promptly five of the six UK providers closed,[lugnote]The five were: Prudential, Britannic, Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society, Pearl, and Refuge; The Royal Liver remained.[/lugnote] They lodged their business with Irish Assurance.[lugnote]As a consequence of the great depression, life assurers went technically insolvent. These companies were: City of Dublin Assurance Company, Irish Life and General Assurance Company, Irish National Assurance Company, and Munster and Leinster Assurance Company. The government merged these.[/lugnote] Private enterprises established included: Grain Importers Ltd., Animal Feed Stuffs Ltd., Fuel Importers Ltd., Oil and Fats Ltd., Timber Importers Ltd., and Tea Importers Ltd. Industries were encouraged. There were plans for Irish National Refineries Ltd. to build an oil refinery.[lugite i=42] The former Vickers repair yard in Dublin port was reopened, in 1940, by the Dublin Port and Docks Board. It repaired British and Irish ships;[lugite i=43] Repairing British ships was technically a violation of neutrality and therefore kelp secret. Semi-state enterprises were established, including Irish Shipping in 1941[lugnote]Irish Shipping was initially 51% government owned[/lugnote][lugite i=44] which purchased nine vessels and leased six more.[lugite i=45]

Flags

At the outbreak of the Second World War Ireland declared neutrality.[lugite i=47] There were a total of 56 Irish ships at the outbreak of World War II; 15 more were purchased or leased in the conflict, and 16 were lost.[lugnote] Up to then most Irish-registered ships had been flying the red ensign of the United Kingdom Merchant Navy[/lugnote]. All were required by UK law to fly the Red Ensign, but some, such as the Wexford Steamship Company ships, had always travelled under the tricolour.[lugite i=52] There were instances when Irish captains were fined by British courts for “flying an inappropriate ensign” With the outbreak of hostilities, choices were forced. The Irish government ordered all Irish ships to fly the tricolour.[lugite i=53]

Some British-owned ships were on the Irish register, such as the whalers which were Scottish-owned (Christian Salvesen Shipping)[lugite i=54] but Irish-registered[lugite i=55] in order to take advantage of the Irish whale quota. The six whale catchers and the two factory ships, which were excellent bulk-carriers, were pressed into British naval service.[lugite i=56] Some ships which could be described as British also choose the Tricolour. Kerrymore, which was registered as belonging to R McGowan of Tralee, was actually owned by Kelly Colliers of Belfast. Most of the crew had addresses in loyalist areas of Belfast. For six years they sailed under the tricolour.[lugite i=57]
B&I had some of its ships on the British registry with others on the Irish registry. Their MV Munster which operated the Belfast to Liverpool route, (both British ports) flew the tricolour. But, no flag was a protection against mines; Munster struck a mine approaching Liverpool and sank. [lugnote]There were over 200 passengers and 50 crew on board. A few hours later they were all rescued by the collier Ringwall.[lugite i=46] Four were injured; and one died later.[lugite i=58][/lugnote] Three months earlier, in June 1939, B&I transferred their Normandy Coast from the Irish to the British register. In Dublin, the crew protested and walked off the ship. The management refused to reconsider. On 11 January 1945, U-1055 torpedoed and sank Normandy Coast with the loss of 19 lives; 8 survived.

The L&NWR ferries Cambria, Hibernia and Scotia[lugnote]Anglia was withdrawn in 1935[lugite i=59][/lugnote] were Irish-registered and sailed between Dún Laoghaire and Holyhead. Up to the declaration of war, as was the practice of most Irish ships, they sailed under the Red Ensign. Their British crews were taken aback when the tricolour was hoisted, as Irish law required all irish-registered ships henceforth to fly the tricolour. They went on strike and refused to sail. The management acquisted. The ships were transferred from the Irish registry to the British registry and red ensign restored.[lugite i=60][lugite i=61] Scotia was sunk in the Dunkirk evacuation with the loss of 30 crew and 300 troops.[lugite i=62] Hibernia had a fortunate escape on the night of 20 December 1940. She was berthing at Dún Laoghaire when a German bomber swooped down. All lights were extinguished. Bombs fell on the nearby Sandycove railway station.[lugite i=63] The GWR ferries operated the Rosslare to Fishguard route sailed under the red ensign. Thirty lives were lost when their Saint Patrick was bombed and sunk.[lugite i=64][lugite i=65]

Cargo

Exports

The main export was agricultural produce to Britain. In the First World War, Ireland’s food production increased to meet Britain’s needs; a pattern which would be repeated for the Second World War. In 1916 there were 1,735,000 acres under plough, this increased to 2,383,000 acres in 1918, and then fell back. By the start of the trade war in 1932 tillage had fallen to 1,424,000 acres.[lugite i=66]

The trade war between Ireland and Britain started in 1932, in which Britain imposed a tax on Irish products. Cattle from the Irish Republic were taxed but cattle from Northern Ireland were not. So, cattle were smuggled across the border. In 1934/5, about 1,000,000 cattle were “exported” in this way[lugite i=67]. In 1935, Basil Brooke, the Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture wrote “the smugglers are suceeding”. he was commentating on the number of seized smuggled cattle. The number succcessfully smuggled would have to be multiples of the number seized. in 1933 50,000 were seized and just under 80,000 were seized in 1934[lugite i=40] The Department of Supplies was “all in favour of the smuggling and urged that nothing should be done which might stop it”.[lugite i=68] By then, Britain was anxious to secure Irish food supplies before another world war.[lugnote]“Ireland did actually have the British over a barrel for a very simple reason – there was going to be a very large war in Europe and it was also evident from the First World War experience that there was a huge danger of Britain and Ireland being cut off from food supplies overseas”.[lugite i=69][/lugnote] Survival in the looming war was the spur.[lugite i=70] There were a series of agreements from the “cattle-coal pact” of 1935 to the Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement of 1938 which ended the dispute, on terms favourable to Ireland.[lugite i=71]

Under the “cattle-coal pact”,[lugite i=74] the British set up a central authority for the purchase of cattle, under John Maynard Keynes.[lugite i=75] The prices set before the war were attractive. As the war progressed, open market prices rose dramatically.[lugite i=lugite i=76][lugite i=77] Cattle from Northern Ireland fetched a better price, so smuggling, as practised in the trade war, resumed. [lugnote]Cattle numbers peaked at 4,246,000 in 1944[lugite i=78] yet consumption remained level and official exports fell[/lugnote] In answer to the demand for food in World War II, the area under plough increased from 1,492,000 acres in 1939 to 2,567,000 acres in 1944.[lugite i=66] Studies are inconclusive on how vital Irish food exports were to Britain,[lugite i=79] due to the difficulties in accounting for the effect of smuggling,[lugite i=80] the unreliability of statistics,[lugite i=81] and wartime censorship.[lugite i=82] While Ireland’s food production was increasing, British food imports were falling; for example the UK imported 1,360,000 tons of food in August 1941, but only 674,000 tons in August 1942.[lugite i=83]

Before, during and after the second world war, Ireland was a net food exporter and the Irish people enjoyed a high calorie diet.[lugite i=84] (Nonetheless the poor experienced real deprivation). Food was donated to war-refugees in Spain.[lugite i=85] The nation did need to import certain foods, such as fruits, tea and wheat. Nearly half of Ireland’s wheat was imported from Canada.[lugite i=86] Domestic food production relied on imported fertilizer [lugnote]In June 1942 Lemass told the Dáil that there were only 42,000 acres under sugar beet, as against 73,000 in 1941; this was due to the shortage of artificial fertilizer[lugite i=87][/lugnote] and imported animal feeding stuffs. In 1940, 74,000 tons[lugnote]At this time, in Ireland, imperial tons (also called long ton) were used, that is 1 ton = 2,240 pounds, or 1,016 kilograms[/lugnote] of fertilizer were imported, only 7,000 tons arrived in 1941. Similarly 5 million tons of animal feed were imported in 1940, falling to one million in 1941 and negligible quantities thereafter.[lugite i=88]

Imports

Although Ireland had a surplus of food, some foods were not grown in Ireland, as the climate was unsuitable. Only small plots of wheat were cultivated. A series of orders for compulsory tillage were enacted,[lugite i=90][lugnote] at least 12.5% of all holdings over 10 acres would have to be made available for tillage[/lugnote] with the threat that those who did not put their fields to wheat would have their land confiscated.[lugite i=91] In 1939, 235,000 acres of wheat were planted; by 1945 this had increased to 662,000 acres.[lugite i=92] Yet, a shortfall remained and imports were required. Clashes between smugglers and Customs were commonplace.

In 1940 the infamous “Battle of Dowra” took place on the border of Leitrim and Fermanagh. Revenue crews from Blacklion and Glenfarne intercepted over a hundred men with donkey loads of smuggled flour. Unwilling to part with their bounty, the smugglers used cudgels, boots, stones and fists in the ensuing struggle. Most of the flour was destroyed in the fray and some Revenue people were injured.[lugite i=93][lugite i=37]

“My Goodness My Guinness”
“Flying Toucans”

News of the threat to Guinness supplies was censored. But these advertisements appeared shortly afterwards

Early in 1942, the Allies restricted wheat deliveries to Ireland. In return, the Irish threatened to withhold the export of Guinness beer.[lugite i=94][lugite i=95] To the great annoyance of David Gray, the United States Ambassador to Ireland,[lugnote]David Gray was not titled “ambassador”, but “Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary”.[/lugnote] Ireland received 30,000 tons of wheat.[lugite i=96] Gray complained of a waste of “a vital necessity for what Americans regard at the best as a luxury and at worst a poison”.[lugite i=94]

By 1944–45 coal imports were only one-third of those of 1938-9 and supplies of oil had almost ceased. The production of town gas, manufactured from imported coal, was so adversely affected that regulations were brought in limiting its use, enforced by the “Glimmer Man”.[lugite i=97] Britain relaxed these restrictions from 19 July 1944.[lugite i=98]

There were plans to build an oil refinery in Dublin.[lugnote]The Oil Refinery was to be built on right side Alexandra Rd. going towards ferry port, beyond ocean pier[/lugnote] In the event, this refinery was not completed.[lugite i=99] Nonetheless seven oil tankers were built in Bremen-Vegesack, Germany for Inver Tankers Ltd. Each 500 feet (150 m) long and capable of carrying 500 tons were on the Irish register.[lugite i=100] Britain asked Ireland to requisition the tankers,[lugite i=101] The reply was that it was not Irish policy to requisition vessels, instead offering to transfer them to the British register.[lugite i=102] They were transferred on the 6th, war had been declared on the 3rd.[lugite i=103][lugnote](from Admiralty archives) “The Eire government attached no conditions of any kind to the transfer of flag and were most helpful and gave every assistance in securing the use of the ships for His Majesty’s government”[/lugnote][lugite i=102]

“In a manner reminiscent of Chamberlain’s handover of the ports to de Valera, two days after the outbreak of war, de Valera himself transferred the tankers to the British registry without getting any promise of fuel supply in return.[lugite i=104][lugite i=105][lugnote]Dwyer says that there was an agreement, but Britain violated it[/lugnote][lugite i=106]”

Two days after the transfer, on 11 September 1939, while still flying the Irish tricolour, Inverliffey was sunk.[lugite i=103] In spite of Captain William Trowsdale’s protestation that they were Irish and therefore neutal, U-38 said that they “were sorry” but they would sink Inverliffey as she was carrying petrol to England, considered contraband by the Germans.[lugnote]The crew took to the lifeboats. Inverliffey burned fiercely, endangering the lifeboats. At risk to herself, U-38 approached and threw lines to the lifeboats and towed them to safety.[lugite i=107] As Captain Trowsdale’s lifeboat was damaged, they were allowed to board the U-boat. The captain did not have a lifebelt, so he was given one. The crew were transferred to the neutral American tanker R.G. Stewart.[lugite i=108][lugite i=109]Neither Inverliffey nor U-38 would have been aware of the registry change.[lugite i=103] In a later voyage U-38 landed Walter Simon, alias “Karl Anderson”,a Nazi agent, at Dingle Bay in Ireland on the night of 12 June 1940. He was promptly arrested.[/lugnote][lugite i=110] U-38’s next encounter with the Irish tricolour was less gallant. U-38 shelled the fishing trawler Leukos, all 11 crew were lost. Inver Tankers’ entire fleet was lost in the war.[lugnote]These tankers, because of their cargo, were highly combustible when attacked. Inversuir was in ballast (empty) when torpedoed by U-48, which then surfaced and fired 51 rounds from the deck gun, without sinking her. Three hours later U-48 fired another torpedo and left, leaving Inversuir still afloat. The next night she was sunk by U-75[lugite i=111][/lugnote] [lugnote]Inverlane became a popular dive site[lugite i=112][lugite i=113] She was still visible above the water until a storm on 29 January 2000, Inverlane finally sank below the waves.[/lugnote][lugite i=114][lugnote]Inverdargle hit a mine laid by U-32,[lugite i=115]Inverilen, Inverlee, and Invershannon were torpedoed.[/lugnote][lugite i=116]

U-boat encounters

Vizeadmiral Karl Dönitz issued a standing order to U-boats on 4 September 1940, which defined belligerent, neutral and friendly powers. Neutral included “Ireland in particular”. The order concluded: “Ireland forbids the navigation of her territorial waters by warships under threat of internment. That prohibition is to be strictly observed out of consideration for the proper preservation of her neutrality. Signed, Dönitz”.[lugite i=117] However those orders did not always protect Irish ships. Wolf Jeschonnek, commander of U-607 was mildly reprimanded “An understandable mistake by an eager captain” for sinking Irish Oak.[lugite i=118] When U-46 sank Luimneach on the Lisbon run, her commander recorded in his war diary “flying a British or Irish flag”.[lugite i=119] A supplement to Dönitz’s order found after U-260 was scuttled off Cork[lugite i=120] read: “for political reasons, Irish ships and also at times Irish convoys are not to be attacked within the blockade zone if they are seen to be such. However, there is no special obligation to determine neutrality in the blockade zone.”.[lugite i=121]

Oil painting by Kenneth King: from the deck of U-753, signalling to Irish Willow “send master and ships papers” (National Maritime Museum of Ireland)

There were many encounters with U-boats, some pleasant, others not so. On 16 March 1942 Irish Willow was stopped by U-753,[lugite i=122] which signalled “Send master and ship’s papers”. As Capt Shanks hailed from Belfast and therefore legally a British subject, this was considered unwise. Chief Officer Harry Cullen and four crew rowed to the U-boat. He said that his (39-year-old) captain was too elderly for the boat. He added that it would be Saint Patrick’s Day in the morning. To celebrate the occassion, they were treated to schnapps in the conning tower and given a bottle of cognac to bring back to the crew of the Irish Willow.[lugite i=123] On a later voyage Irish Willow performed a dangerous rescue of 47 British sailors from Empire Breeze.[lugnote]Empire Breeze, a British ship, was in convoy ON-122 with fog closing in, when she was torpedoed by both U-176 and U-438[/lugnote][lugite i=124][lugnote]the rest of the convoy ON-122 sailed on, as nine u-boats were stalking them. Irish Willow answered the SOS. She was in danger of collision because of the dense fog. 47 crew of Empire Breeze were rescued; one was lost.[/lugnote]

On 20 March 1943 U-638, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Oskar Bernbeck stopped Irish Elm. Rough seas prevented Elm’s crew from pulling their rowboat alongside the submarine to present their papers, so the interview was conducted by shouting. In the course of the conversation, Elm’s Chief Officer Patrick Hennessy gave Dún Laoghaire as his home address. Bernbeck asked if “the strike was still on in Downey’s?”,[lugite i=125] a pub near Dún Laoghaire harbour. (The Downey’s strike started in March 1939 and lasted 14 years).[lugite i=126])

Oil painting by Kenneth King:22 October 1940, Kerry Head left Limerick exporting food to Newport Monmouthshire, The Luftwaffe attacked when she was five miles west of Sheep’s Head. It was a direct hit. Kerry Head sank immediately. All died. No bodies were ever recovered

Convoys

The Irish and British authorities co-operated in the chartering of ships. They made combined purchases of wheat, maize, sugar, animal feeds and petrol.[lugite i=79]

At the start of the war, Irish ships sailed in convoys protected by the Royal Navy. The advantages were protection and insurance. These advantages were not borne out by experience. So they chose to sail alone.[lugite i=127] Insurers such as Lloyd’s of London charged a higher premium to insure ships not in convoy, or refused insurance. So ship-owners instructed their ships to accept the British offer of Royal Navy protection. Events caused them to review the value of insurance and the ability of the Roal Navy to protect them.

The value of insurance was reviewed after the failure of the life insurance claim following the loss of City of Waterford. When she joined Convoy OG 74, the lives of the crew were insured. The ship suffered a collision with the Dutch tugboat Thames, and sank. Waterford’s crew were taken aboard by HMS Deptford and then transferred to the rescue ship Walmer Castle.[lugite i=128] Walmer Castle was bombed two days later[lugite i=129] and five of City of Waterford’s survivors were killed. When their families made life insurance claims, they were refused, because at their time of death they were not crew of City of Waterford, but passengers of Walmer Castle.[lugite i=130] Later the Irish government introduced a compensation scheme for seamen lost or injured on Irish ships[lugite i=131] and Irish Shipping opened its own marine insurance subsidiary, which made a handsome profit.[lugite i=132][lugnote]After the war Irish Shipping floated off the insurance subsidiary as the Insurance Corporation of Ireland. Much later it was taken over by Allied Irish Banks. After some ill-advised decisions, it had to be rescued by the state and eventually liquidated.[/lugnote]

The ability of the Royal Navy to protect was questioned after the losses suffered in convoy OG-71, known as “nightmare convoy”[lugite i=133]. Two Limerick Steamship Company ships, Lanahrone and Clonlara were part of convoy” OG 71, which left Liverpool on 13 August 1941.[lugite i=134] bound for Gibralter. On 19 August in separate attacks the Norwegian destroyer HNoMS Bath was drawn away from the convoy and sunk by U-204,[lugite i=136] and three minutes later U-559 sank the British merchant ship Alva.[lugite i=137][lugite i=138] The Limerick ship Clonlara rescued 13 survivors from Alva.[lugite i=139] Two hours later U-201 sank the Commodore ship Aguila[lugite i=140] and the British cargo ship Ciscar.[lugite i=141] The convoy was subjected to continous attack. U-564 sank Clonlara.[lugite i=142] The corvette HMS Campion rescued 13 survivors (eight from Clonlara and five from Alva). In all, eight merchant ships,[lugite i=137] two naval escorts and over 400 lives were lost,[lugnote] Over 400 were lost, including 152 from the commodore ship Aguila. They included the 22 “lost wrens” who were en route to Gibraltar.[/lugnote][lugite i=143] when the decision was taken to retreat to neutral Lisbon. Five of the convoy’s surviving merchant ships reached Gibraltar; 10 retreated to neutral Portugal.[lugite i=134][lugite i=144] This was described as “a bitter act of surrender as could ever come our way”.[lugite i=145] The City of Dublin had arrived in Lisbon earlier with the new crew of the Irish Poplar. The two Irish crews saw the sad remneants of OG-71 limp in. Lanahrone’s crew initially refused to return in convoy and went on strike, which was resolved with extra life-rafts and pay; Lanahrone returned in Convoy HG 73. Nine of the 25 ships in that convoy were lost.[lugite i=137] The crew of Irish Poplar resolved to sail home alone.[lugite i=147] Captain Matthew Moran cabled Irish Shipping to say that they would travel alone. While City of Dublin brought Clonlara’s survivors to Cork, These experiences of the inability of the Royal Navy to protect merchant ships had a most profound effect on all Irish Ships. Ship-owners, on the advice of their masters, decided not to sail their vessels in convoys and by the early months of 1942 the practice had ceased.[lugite i=148]

Captain William Henderson of Irish Elm, returning from a transatlantic voyage reported “circled by two German bombers, probably Condors, they circled for a considerable time and inspected closely but didn’t molest. The incident had given the crew great confidence in the protection afforded by the neutral markings”.[lugite i=149] However there were many instances when those markings were not respected.

Trade routes

Cross-Channel

This “cross-channel” trade accounted for most[lugnote]Britain accounted for half of imports and almost all exports, see www.cso.ie[/lugnote] of Ireland’s trade.[lugite i=150] The ships ranged, in age, from Dundalk built, two years before the start of the war, in 1937 to Brooklands built in 1859.[lugite i=61] The most important vessels to Ireland were the ten colliers and to Britain the livestock carriers.[lugite i=74] Initially Germany respected the neutrality of Irish vessels, apologising for the first attack on the collier Kerry Head and paying compensation.[lugite i=58] Losses came from mines, rather than direct attacks. Meath suffered such a fate; while she was being inspected by the British Naval Control Service, she was struck by a magnetic mine, drowning seven hundred cattle, and destroying both vessels.[lugite i=151]

In August 1940 Germany “required” Ireland to cease food exports to Britain.[lugite i=152] Ireland failed to comply. On 17 August 1940, Germany declared a large area around Britain to be a “scene of warlike operations”.[lugite i=153] It was believed that attacks on Irish ships and the bombing of Campile was to reinforce that message.[lugite i=154] Lord Haw-Haw in a broadcast on German radio, threatened that Dundalk would be bombed if the export of cattle to Britain continued.[lugite i=155] On 24 July 1941, George’s Quay, Dundalk was bombed.[lugite i=156] Nonetheless, the trade continued.

The first attack, after the German ultimatum, was against the schooner Lock Ryan, returning to Arklow. She was strafed and bombed by three German aircraft. Fortunately Lock Ryan’s cargo of china clay absorbed the blast and although badly damaged, she survived. Germany acknowledged the attack but refused to pay compensation for the damage as she was in “the blockaded area”,[lugite i=157] “through which the Irish had been offered free passage but on terms which were rejected”.[lugite i=158] There were many attacks on ships on the cross-channel trade. In 1940 nine Irish ships were lost.[lugnote]February 2: Munster; 9 March: Leukos; 15 July: City of Limerick; 15 August: Meath; 22 October: Kerry Head; 11 November: Ardmore ; 19 December: Isolda; 21 December: Innisfallen. [/lugnote] That figure may be small compared with Allied losses, but it represents a larger proportion of the small Irish fleet.[lugite i=53]
There were restrictions on reporting attacks on ships. Frank Aiken, the government minister whose responsibilities included censorship, reverted this policy when the collier Glencree was strafed.[lugite i=163] His intention was to let Germany know that the Irish public know, and “they don’t like it”.[lugite i=158] There had been an Allied proposal for transshipment. [lugnote]The transhipment proposal was for British north-American convoys to terminate at ports in the west of Ireland and their cargo transported overland to ports on Ireland’s east coast for onward shipment to Britain. Lemass had proposed the idea well before the war, but it would require a very large investment in infrastructure.[lugite i=159]Ireland’s transport infrastructure was woefully inadequate.[/lugnote] William Warnock, the Irish chargé d’affaires in Berlin told Germany that Ireland was refusing to transship British cargoes,[lugite i=160] while protesting against the attacks on Irish ships, and other neutral ships with Irish cargoes.[lugite i=161] Deliberate attacks on cross-channel shipping ceased on 5 November 1941,[lugite i=162][lugnote] The rejection of transshipment might have been why these deliberate attacks ceased. Alternatively, this cessation could have been because Germany put a higher priority on attacking convoys bound for Malta or Murmansk [/lugnote][lugnote]A later loss was from “natural causes”, Lock Ryan was wrecked in a storm, on 7 March 1942.[/lugnote] There were attacks on other routes. Mines were a constant danger.

The City of Limerick was bombed and sunk on 15 July 1940 in the Bay of Biscay while on the “Lisbon Run”, with a cargo of fruit, en route to Liverpool for inspection. Ship and two crew were lost.
Oil painting by Kenneth King
on display in the National Maritime Museum

The Iberian trade

On November 1939, Roosevelt signed the Fourth Neutrality Act forbidding American ships from entering the “war zone”,[lugite i=164] which was defined as a line drawn from Spain to Iceland. Cargoes intended for Ireland were shipped to Portugal. It was up to the Irish to fetch them from there.[lugite i=165] This route, known as the “Iberian Trade” or the “Lisbon run”. Setting sail from Ireland the ships carried agricultural products to the United Kingdom. There they would discharge their cargo, load up a British export (often coal)[lugnote]this earned foreign currency which Britian needed for the war[/lugnote], refuel and carry it to Portugal.[lugite i=48] In Portugal, usually Lisbon, Irish ships delivered the British export[lugite i=174] and loaded the waiting American cargo, such as fertilizer or agricultural machinery.

Sometimes the cargo was not there: it may have been delayed, or lost at sea due to the war. In this case, the Irish captains would load a “cargo of opportunity” and bring it back to Ireland. This might be wheat or oranges; on occasions, they even purchased the cargo of coal on their own ship. MV Kerlogue was fortunate to have a cargo of coal when two unidentified aircraft attacked her with cannon fire. The shells lodged in the coal, rather than piercing her hull.[lugite i=166] Britain denied involvement, but when the coal was discharged shell fragments of British manufacture were found. The attackers were de Havilland Mosquitos of the Polish squadron of the RAF.[lugnote] The British Naval Attaché in Dublin reported to the Director of Naval Intelligence that it was “unfortunate from a British point of view” that Fortune (Captain of Kerlogue) had been involved in the Kerlogue incident as he was “always ready to pass on any information in his possession”.[lugite i=166] In a damning indictment an Admiralty official concluded “there was nothing very suspicious about the ship and anyone but Polish pilots would have hesitated to attack without inquiring at base”.[lugite i=167][/lugnote]

Other Irish ships were was not so fortunate. Cymric vanished in the same waters without a trace.[lugite=168]

The Lisbon run was undertaken by small coastal trading vessels, commonly called coasters, which were not designed for deep-sea navigation.[lugite i=48] Small, and having low freeboard (frequently around one foot) these ships were designed never to be out of sight of land, and to be able to make quickly to a harbour when the weather turned foul. Kerlogue has become the exemplar of the Irish Mercantile Marine in the Emergency. Only 335 gross register tons (GRT) and 142 feet long, Kerlogue was attacked by both sides[lugite i=169] and rescued both sides. Her rescue of 168 German sailors,[lugite i=170] given her size, was dramatic.

From January 1941, British authorities required Irish ships to visit a British port and obtain a “navicert”.[lugite i=171] This visit sometimes proved fatal.[lugite i=172] It also added up to 1,300 miles to the voyage.[lugite i=173] A ship with a “navicert” was given free passage through allied patrols and fuel,[lugite i=104] however they would be searched.

Atlantic routes

Oil painting of SS Irish Poplar, by artist  Kenneth King courtesy of Cormac Lowth.

Some British ships traded between Ireland and Britain. Other destinations were served by Irish and other neutral ships. Philip Noel-Baker (Churchill’s Parliamentary Secretary) was able to tell the British parliament that “no United Kingdom or Allied ship has been lost while carrying a full cargo of goods either to or from Eire on an ocean voyage.”[lugite i=175] He added “a very high proportion of imports from overseas sources into Eire, and of such exports as are sent overseas from Eire, are already carried in ships on the Eire or on a neutral register.” and “The trade between Great Britain and Eire is of mutual benefit to both countries, and the risks to British seamen which it involves are small.”[lugite i=175]

In the economic depression of the 1930s, the Limerick Steamship Company sold both its ocean-going ships, Knockfierna and Kilcredane.[lugite i=165] They were Ireland’s last ocean-going ships. At the outbreak of hostilities Ireland did not have a ship designed to cross the Atlantic. British ships were not available. American ships would only travel to Portugal. Ireland depended on other neutrals. In 1940 a succession of these ships, from Norway,[lugnote]17 January 1940 Enid (Captain Wibe) of neutral Norway sailing from Steinkjer to Dublin, 10 miles north of Shetland, went to assist SS Polzella (British) which had been torpedoed by German submarine U-25, U-25 then shelled and sank Enid. Enid’s crew survived. Polzella’s crew were lost. [lugite i=176][/lugnote] Greece,[lugnote]10 June 1940, Violando N Goulandris of then-neutral Greece sailing from Santa Fe to Waterford with a cargo of wheat was torpedoed by U-48 off Cape Finisterre 6 died 22 survived.[lugite i=177][/lugnote] Argentina,[lugnote]27 May 1940, Uruguay of neutral Argentina sailing from Rosario to Limerick with 6,000 tons of maize, sunk by scuttling charges by U-37 160 miles from Cape Villano, Costa da Morte, Spain 43.40°N 12.16°W. 15 died, 13 survived.[/lugnote][lugite i=178] and Finland,[lugnote]10 July 1940: Petsamo of Finland, inward Rosario to Cork with a cargo of maize, torpedoed and sunk by U-34, four died[/lugnote][lugite i=179] usually carrying wheat to Ireland, were lost. Soon many of these nations were no longer neutral. Ireland had to acquire its own fleet. Irish Shipping was formed. Irish Poplar was Irish Shipping’s first ship. It was acquired in Spain after it had been abandoned by its crew.[lugite i=44] Other ships were acquired from Palestine, Panama, Jugoslavia[lugnote]Yugoslavia[/lugnote], and Chile. The Irish government minister Frank Aiken negotiated the bareboat chartering of two oil-burning steamships from the United States Maritime Commission’s reserve fleet.[lugite i=180] They were both lost to U-boats. Irish Oak was sunk in controversial circumstances by U-607. All 33 crew of Irish Pine were lost when she was sunk by U-608. Three ships were from Estonia, They were in Irish ports when Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union. Their crews refused to return to the new Estonian SSR. The ships were sold to Irish Shipping.[lugnote]44. • A Soviet claim to the ownership of these vessels was rejected by the Supreme Court … … did not recognize the Government of the USSR as the sovereign government of Latvia and Estonia.[/lugnote][lugite i=181][lugite i=182] The SS Cetvrti (Jugoslavia) was abandoned in Dingle Bay after being strafed on 1 December 1940. She was salvaged by Fort Rannoch of the Irish Navy; she was purchased and renamed Irish Beech.[lugite i=183] An Italian ship, Caterina Gerolimich had been trapped in Dublin since the outbreak of the war. After the fall of Italian Fascism she was chartered, repaired and renamed Irish Cedar. When the war was over, she returned to Naples with a cargo of food, a gift from Ireland to war-ravaged Italy. Irish Hazel was bought on 17 June 1941. She was 46 years old, and required extensive repairs. “She was fit for nothing but the scrap yard.”[lugite i=184] A British yard bid for, and won, the contract to renovate her. This work was completed in November 1943. Even though the Irish government paid for her purchase and for the repairs she was requisitioned by the British Ministry of War Transport and renamed Empire Don.[lugnote]She was returned to Irish Shipping in 1945[/lugnote].The Irish Shipping fleet imported, across the Atlantic: 712,000 tons of wheat, 178,000 tons of coal, 63,000 tons of phosphate (for fertilizer), 24,000 tons of tobacco, 19,000 tons of newsprint, 10,000 tons of timber and 105,000 tons of assorted other cargo.[lugite i=187]

After the war

When the hostilities were over, on 16 May 1945, Éamon de Valera, in his speech to the nation said: “To the men of our Mercantile Marine who faced all the perils of the ocean to bring us essential supplies, the nation is profoundly grateful.”[lugite i=189] The Ringsend area of Dublin has a long maritime tradition. When housing was being redeveloped in the 1970s, some streets were named after ships which were lost: Breman Road, Breman Grove, Cymric Road, Isolda Road, Pine Road, Leukos Road, Kyleclare Road and Clonlara Road. The “An Bonn Seirbhíse Éigeandála” for “An tSeirbhís Mhuir-Thráchtála” or in English: “Emergency Service Medal” of the “Mercantile Marine Service”,was awarded to all who had served six months, or longer, on an Irish-registered ship in the Emergency.[lugite i=190]

On 24 September 2001, a plinth and plaque, embossed with the Irish tricolour was erected to commemorate those crews lost on neutral Irish registered vessels in 1939-45. “a very significant gesture by our British friends towards recognising the debt of honour owed to all shipmates irrespective of nationality who lost their lives in the Second World War.”[lugite i=191] in the National Memorial Arboretum in England.[lugite i=192]
In Dublin, an annual commemoration, is held on the third Sunday of November. The Cork commemoration is held on the fourth Sunday of November in the former offices of the White Star Line. The Belfast commemoration is held on the second Sunday of May.

Footnotes

[lugnote]end[/lugnote]

Bibliography

Books, Journals and web-sites consulted

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• [lugbook author=”Barton, Brian” book=”Northern Ireland in the Second World War” when=”1995″ where=”Belfast” publisher=”Ulster Historical Foundation” ISBN=”978-0-901905-69-7″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Bell, Jonathan; Watson, Mervyn” book=”A History of Irish Farming 1750-1950″ when=”2008″ where=”Dublin” publisher=”Four Courts Press” ISBN=”978-1-84682-096-0″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Blair, Clay” book=”Hitler’s U-Boat War. London” publisher=”Weidenfeld & Nicolson” ISBN=”0-297-84076-2″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Burne, Lester H; Dean Burns, Richard, (eds.)” book=”Chronological History of U.S. Foreign Relations: 1932-1988″ publisher=”Routledge” ISBN=”978-0-415-93916-4″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Carroll, Joseph T” book=”Ireland in the war years” publisher=”International Scholars Publications” ISBN=”978-1-57309-186-2″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Coogan, Tim Pat” book=”De Valera” where=”London” publisher=”Arrow Books” ISBN=”0-09-995860-0″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Coogan, Tim Pat” book=”Ireland in the Twentieth Century” where=”London” publisher=”Hutchinson” ISBN=”0-09-179427-7″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Duggan, John P” book=”Neutral Ireland and the Third Reich” when=”1985″ publisher=”Gill and Macmillan” ISBN=”978-0-389-20598-2″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Duggan, John P” book=”Herr Hempel” publisher=”Irish Academic Press” ISBN=”0-7165-2757-X” /]
• [lugbook author=”Dwyer, T Ryle” book=”De Valera’s Finest Hour” where=”Cork” publisher=”Mercier Press” ISBN=”0-85342-675-9″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Dwyer, T Ryle” book=”Strained relations: Ireland at peace and the USA at war, 1941-45″ publisher=”Rowman & Littlefield” ISBN=”978-0-7171-1580-8″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Dwyer, T Ryle” book=”Irish neutrality and the USA, 1939-47″ when=”1977″ publisher=”Gill and Macmillan” ISBN=”978-0-87471-994-9″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Dwyer, T Ryle” book=”Behind the Green Curtain – Ireland’s Phoney Neutrality During World War II” where=”Dublin” publisher=”Gill and Macmillan,” ISBN=”978-0-7171-4638-3″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Ferriter, Diarmaid ” book=”Judging DeV” where=”Dublin” publisher=”Royal Irish Academy” ISBN=”978-1-904890-28-7″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Ferriter, Diarmaid” book=”What If? Alternative Views of Twentieth-Century Ireland” publisher=”Gill & Macmillan” ISBN=”978-0-7171-3990-3″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Fisk, Robert” book=”In Time of War” where=”London” publisher=”André Deutsch” ISBN=”0-233-97514-4″
  detail=”(Later republished as:In Time of War: Ireland, Ulster and the Price of Neutrality, 1939-45″ publisher=”Gill & Macmillan Ltd” ISBN=”978-0-7171-2411-4″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Fitzgerald, John” book=”Are We Invaded Yet?” where=”Cork” publisher=”Callan Press” /]
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• [lugbook author=”Forde, Frank” book=”Maritime Arklow” where=”Dún Laoghaire” publisher=”Glendale Press” ISBN=”0-907606-51-2″ /]
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• [lugbook author=”Gleichauf, Justin” book=”Unsung Sailors” publisher=”Bluejacket Books” ISBN=”978-1-55750-420-3″ /]
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• [lugbook author=”Lund, Paul; Ludlam, Harry; Shuttleworth, Tom” book=”Nightmare Convoy” publisher=”Foulsham” ISBN=”978-0-572-01452-0″ /]
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• [lugbook author=”O’Connell, Cathal” book=”The State and Housing in Ireland” publisher=”Nova Science Publishers Inc,” ISBN=”978-1-60021-759-3″ /]
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• [lugbook author=”Rohwer, Jürgen” book=”Axis submarine successes of World War Two” where=”Annapolis, MD” publisher=”Naval Institute Press,” ISBN=”9781853673405″ /]
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• [lugbook author=”Somerville-Large, Peter” book=”Irish voices: an informal history” publisher=”Pimlico” ISBN=”978-0-7126-6532-2″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Spong, H.C.” book=”Irish Shipping Ltd., 1941-1982″ publisher=”World Ship Society” ISBN=”978-0-905617-20-6″ /]
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• [lugbook author=”Sweeney, Pat” book=”Liffey Ships” publisher=”Mercier” ISBN=”978-1-85635-685-5″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Warner, Mildred W. Lloyd Warner:” book=”Social Anthropologist” publisher=”Publishing Center for Cultural Resources” ISBN=”978-0-89062-234-6″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Walling, Michael G” book=”Bloodstained Sea” when=”2004″ publisher=”Cutter Publishing,” ISBN=”978-0-578-01290-2″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Wills, Clair” book=”That Neutral Island” where=”London” publisher=”Faber and Faber,” ISBN=”978-0-571-22105-9″ /]
• [lugbook author=”Wood, Ian” book=”Ireland during the Second World War” when=”2002″ where=”London” publisher=”Caxton” ISBN=”1-84067-418-0″ /]

References

References or Citations

[lugite end /]

END