Irish Ships and Shipping
MEMORIAL
TO THE IRISH SEAMEN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
DURING THE 2nd.WORLD WAR.
| Video
from Creative Minds Production ©2007
Producer/Director |
 Ships lost in 2nd.WW.wmv |
LIST OF IRISH MERCHANT
SHIPS LOST DURING 2nd.WORLD WAR:
NAMES OF IRISH MERCHANT SEAMEN LOST DURING 2nd.WORLD WAR:
MEMORIAL TO THE DEAD OF THE INNISFALLEN 1940
REPORT OF THE KERRY HEAD SINKING IN 1940
FOR PHOTOS OF THE
SEAMEN'S MEMORIAL COMMEMORATION
ON THE 24 NOVEMBER 2002 AND
VIDEO OF THE 2006 COMMEMORATION CLICK HERE:
CITY QUAY
Irish Seamen's Memorial Committee
A Chairde,
On behalf of the Committee I welcome you all on this historic and unique occasion, the official unveiling ceremony by An tUachtaran na hEireann Dr. P. Hillery of the National Memorial honouring our dead seamen of the 1939/45 war period we extend a special welcome to the dependents and relatives present and a sadness at the absence of so many of our friends and supporters who are no longer with us.
"Ar Dheis De go raibh a anam "
Since 1947 many attempts to have a National Memorial erected went unfulfilled for various reasons beyond the control of those involved till 1977 when the present Independent Committee was formed and as a result of 13 years of persistent effort succeeded in completion of the project.
Those we honour to-day were unique in that as civilians of a neutral country carrying out their normal functions at sea, bringing essentials to Ireland, they were drawn into the ensuing conflict between the great powers resulting in heavy loss of life and limb with a casualty rate of 17% the highest ratio among the combatants and neutrals.These men were patriots in the truest
sense, prepared to work for Ireland under appalling conditions and in so doing
made the. ultimate sacrifice with their lives. Their remains are scattered over
the worlds oceans and seemingly forgotten by their
fellow countrymen, except their loved ones who mourned
their loss and comrades who remember them each year at the Commemoration
Services organised by the Maritime Institute.
Our motive in erecting this Memorial was to correct this omission and give testimony to future generations of the Seamens contribution to the survival of our Nation in very difficult times when the call to serve was responded to by thousands ready to endure, but none had to face the hazard of almost daily confrontation with death among the belligerents while in a totally defenseless state protected only by the silent prayers and the word 'EIRE" painted on a rusted hull.
Our hope that the Nation being an Island would have learned the lesson of dependency on others, appears misplaced when one see 85% of our essential commodities being carried on foreign based vessels while trained personnel are redundant and young people are denied the opportunity of making a living and career from the sea.
Till recent years the Irish Flag flew proudly in all the ports of the world while to-day it is conspicuous by its absence in our own home ports. Must we only look to the sporting fraternity to see the National Flag fly abroad, however, grand and joyous the occasion, it is only a substitute for a native owned Merchant Fleet manned by Irish Seafarers.
Is Misc,
Paddy Launders, Chairman.
"SURELY ITS TIME THE GOVERNMENT GAVE IRISH SEAMEN, WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED IN NO SMALL WAY TO THE SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF OUR COUNTRY, THE CREDIT THAT THEY DESERVE."
©AIDEN MC CABE 2001
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IRISH MERCHANT SHIPS LOST IN WORLD WAR TWO.
MUNSTER (Captain William James Paisley)
mined and sunk in Liverpool Bay
2 February 1940-no casualties
CITY OF LIMERICK (Captain, R. Ferguson)
sunk by air attack 700 miles west of Ushant.
15 july 1940-2 dead
MEATH (Captain T. MacFarlane) mined and
sunk off Holyhead .
16 august 1940-1 dead
LUIMNEACH (Captain E. Jones) sunk by
gunfire from U-46 in Bay of Biscay
4 september 1940-no casualites
KERRY HEAD (Captain C. Drummond) bombed
and sunk with all hands off Cape Clear.
22 october 1940-12 dead
ARDMORE (Captain T. Ford) missing on
passage Cork to Fishguard.
11 november 1940-24 dead
ISOLDA (Captain A. Bestic) bombed and
sunk by German aircraft off Wex ford Coast
19 december 1940- 6 dead, 7 wounded
INNISFALLEN (Captain G. Rrth) mined and
sunk in River Mersey.
21 december 1940-4 dead
ST. FINTAN (Captain N. Hendry) bombed
and sunk by German aircraft of Welsh Coast.
22 march 1941-9 dead
CLONLARA (Captain J. Reynolds) torpedoed
and sunk whilst in convoy 0G71 in Bay of Biscay
22 august 1941-11 dead
CITY OF WATERFORD (Captain T. Alpin)
sunk whilst in convoy 0G74 in North Atlantic.
19 september 1941-5 dead
CITY OF BREMEN (Captain G. Bryan) sunk
by German aircraft in Bay of Biscay
2 june 1942-no casualites
IRISH PINE (Captain M. O'Neill)
torpedoed and sunk in North Atlantic by U-608.
15 november1942-33 dead
KYLECLARE (Captain A. Hamilton)
torpedoed and sunk in Bay of Biscay by J-456
23 february 1943-18 dead
IRISH OAK (Capatin E. Jones) torpedoed
and sunk in North Atlantic by U607
15 may 1942-no casualites
CYMRIC (Captain C.
Cassedy)
missing on passage Ardrossan to Lisbon.
22 march 1944-11 dead
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IRISH FISHING VESSELS
LOST IN WORLD WAR 2
S/Trawler "LUKOS" missing off Donegal
10 march 1940-11 dead
M/Trawler "NAOMH GARBHAN" mined and sunk off Waterford
coast.
2 march 1945-3 dead
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The following names are those of Seamen lost on Irish ships during the 2nd.World war.
APLIN, T.E .
BARRY, E. BARRY, M.J. BEGLEY, T. BERGIN, P. BENT, P.
BRADY, T. BRAN NOOK, P. BRENNAN, H. BRENNAN, J. BROWN, W. BRULAND, E. BURKE, L.
BYRNE, E. BYRNE, R.
CARR, W. CASHIN, C. Cassedy, C. CLEARY, P. CONNOLLY, W. CONWAY, J. COWZER, F. CRICHTON, R. CRONIN, J. CROSBIE, J. CUDDIHY, N. CULLEN, M. CUSACK, M. CUSACK, T. CUSHBY, W.
DALGARNO, J. DALY, T. DAVISON, W. deBU RCA, D. DESMOND, B. DONAGH, E. DON NOLLY, W. DONOHOE, T. DONOVAN, P. DOOLEY, M. (Snr) DOOLEY, M. (Jnr) DOYLE, W. DUFFY, P. DUNNE, P. DRUMMOND, C.
FANNING, P. FARRELLY, P. FENNELL, J. FORD, T. FORDE, M. FRITZSON, K. FURLONG, G. FURLONG, K.
GEARY, D. GREENE, E. GRIFFIN, J. (Snr) GRIFFIN, J. (Jnr) GRIMES, R.
HAMILTON, A. HARE, T. HARTNE1T, T. HAYDEN, J. HAWKINS, J. HENDERSON, W. HENDRY, N. HOLLAND, W. HOPKINS, P. HOWAT, J.
JOHNSON, A. JONES, J.
KAVANAGH, E. KEARNEY, E. KELLEHER, J. KIERAN, B.
LAMBE, J. LANE, J. LARKIN, J. LEONARD, M. LYNCH, T.
MOONEY, D. MORGAN, J. MULLIGAN, T.
MURPHY, F. MURPHY, P. McCarthy, J. MCCARTHY,
Cecil McConnell. P. MCGLYNN,
J. McGUIGAN, P. McKANE, S. McLeod, A. McMahon. McMahon, S. MCNALLY, S.
NAUGHTON, G. NAUGHTON, J. NAYLOR, S. NICHOLL, G. NOLAN, J.
O'BEIRNE, D. O'BRIEN, D. O'BRIEN, G O'BRIEN, R. O'BRIEN, W. O'BRIEN, W. O'CALLAGHAN, JAMES O'CONNELL, M. O'CONNELL, J. O'CONNOR, J. O'DONNELL, M. O'FLYNN, P. O'LEARY, E. O'LEARY, T. O'NEILL, M. O'NEILL, P. O'NEILL, P. O'ROURKE, W. O'SCANLON, P. O'SHEA, F.
PAISLEY, W. PILL, A. PLUNKETT, B. PORTER, J. POWER, J. POWER, J.
RAYMOND, M. REGAN, J. REYNOLDS, J. RICKARD, J. ROBERTSON, A. RYAN, M. RYAN, P. RYAN, S. RYAN, W.RUSHBY, T. SEAVER, P. SHEEHAN, P. SHORTT P. SIMMS, W. SMITH, S. SMITH, W. SMYTH, W. SPANNER, J. SPEED, E. SPENCE, R. SULLIVAN, J. SUMNER, J.
TALBOT, R. THOMPSON, J. TIERNEY, M. TOBIN, A. TOBIN, J. TODD, U. TREACEY, F.
WARD, H.
WILSON, J.
YOUNG, H.
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REPORT OF THE KERRY HEAD SINKING
"The Irish Press",
Saturday June 21, 1952, page 5 as part of a series "The Brave Ships", heading
"Kerry Head and All Hands".
--------------
They were taking in the hay around Kinsale, on the fine
August evening (1940), when the first sign of war glinted in the sun over the
old historic town.
A bombing plane roared over the bay of Ballymacous and
circled the Sovereign Islands.
John Hurley is a small farmer, seafarer and pilot at
Kinsale, and he was making up a rick of hay in his haggard. He looked at the sky
when the bomber's roar ripped the silence and he watched the dark wings of it
rushing to the sea.
John scanned the bay. There was a ship out there. A three
masted ship with derricks forard. He knew her well. Kerry Head of the Limerick
firm of Mullocks. Out near the Old Head of Kinsale he saw the plane dive - just
where the ship was.
Two explosions rumbled from the sea. John called two of
the men who were making the rick and with him (his brother Pat and Tim
O'Donovan, since dead) and ran to the shore even as the plaintive siren of Kerry
Head moaned on.
The three men rushed the boat into the water, pulled at
the oars. They were fast oarsmen, those men of Kinsale. Half a mile outside the
Bullman Rock they saw Kerry Head. She was stopped but seemed undamaged.
John pulled alongside, clambered aboard. He saw Captain
Charles Drummond and asked him what was wrong. The Wexfordman answered: "The
plane bombed us."
They inspected the damage. No direct hit had been made on
the ship. Captain Drummond explained:
Two light bombs had been dropped forard, missed the bridge
and hit the sea right beside the vessel. A heavier bomb had fallen about five
yards to the starboard side of the engine room. The concussion had stopped the
engines, the impact of the sea had crushed in the vessel's side.
Ship Saved For Awhile
The cabin quarters were a shambles. The forard winch had
been cracked on both sides by the concussion alone; doors had been wrenched from
their hinges; the compass was smashed; the glass from the wheelhouse windows was
all over the place; cooking pots, tinned foods and crockery were spattered on
the decks. One of the lifeboats had got locked and entangled in the davits. The
other lifeboat had been lowered but was filling with water.
And, after all that, nobody was hurt. The crew stood by in
lifejackets, some were disentangling the locked lifeboat.
John Hurley's boat took the captain ashore to make the
report to Limerick, where he was bound from Britain with coal and tinplate for
that city's factories.
The engineers and crew stowed everything, rushed the ship
to Garley Cove, to ground her on a sandbank, so that repairs could be carried
out.
The Kerry Head was saved - for three months.
In October of that same year, the 1,000-ton ship was
passing Castletownbere, travelling light. Local people at Blackhall Head
recognized the familiar outlines of the vessel. She passed out of sight.
A bomber again swept over the coast, dipped down at the
horizon, where the Kerry Head had gone hull down.
Nobody could say, for certain, whether the plane had
bombed the ship.
Local boats searched the area when the signal went along
the coast. But Kerry Head had passed Kinsale for the last time.
The following were the crew of the Kerry Head: - Capt.
Charles Drummond;
First Officer Dick Byrne, of Wicklow; Second Officer
Stephen MacMahon,
Scattery Island, Co. Clare; Will Davidson, chief engineer
of Carrickfergus;
Tom Begley, Hartsong St., Limerick; George Naughton,
Windmill St., Limerick;
his brother James Naughton, Windmill St., Limerick;
Patrick O'Neill, 4 Henry
St., Limerick; John Tobin, Distillery Houses, Limerick;
Michael MacMahon,
Scattery (cousin of Stephen); James Wilson, Carrickfergus.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
John D. Reid
Ottawa, Canada
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IRISH SEAMEN'S MEMORIAL
COMMEMORATION CITY QUAY DUBLIN
ON THE 24 NOVEMBER 2002
PICTURES BY TONY BRENNAN
(CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR FULL PICTURE:)
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| THE LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN |
DES BRANIGAN (long time seaman's union leader) |
INCLUDED IN PHOTO ARE:- BOBBY CARRICK AND PAUL BOLAND OF THE S.U.I | INCLUDED IN PHOTO ARE:-JOAN McCAIN AND PAUL SMITH OF S.I.P.T.U. |
|
IRISH SEAMEN'S MEMORIAL
COMMEMORATION CITY QUAY DUBLIN 2006
Video from Creative Minds Production ©2007 Producer/Director |
 IRISH
SEAMEN'S MEMORIAL 2006.wmv |
My name is Carl Leckey I am a
retired Liverpool tug boat mate. I live in New Brighton on the banks of the
River Mersey.
WW2 on 20/12/1941 the Liverpool / Dublin Irish ferry
Innisfallen struck a German mine and sunk within a quarter of a mile in
front of the apartment where I now live. Five of the crew died. To date there is
no recognition of the sacrifice they made. Sadly the ship sank in close
proximity to the war memorial located on the prom. I am personally financing
fifteen memorial plagues to be located along the promenade in the vicinity where
the ships, tugs etc were sunk in war and peace on the River Mersey. Inserted is
the plaque I designed and had manufactured in memory of the Innisfallen.
I hope you approve
I was planning to have the plaques in situ before the
anniversary of the tragedies. Unfortunately because of delays Xmas holidays etc
this now looks unlikely. I am advised it will occur as soon as possible.
I have written to the Irish Embassy London and the Irish
club Liverpool notifying them of my intention. Sadly I have had no response. It
appears the war dead are not remembered despite of the declarations otherwise.
Carl leckey.
16th. December 2011
A neutral casualty of World War Two
Innisfallen
1930 - 1940
Innisfallen
was a
passenger ship owned by the City of Cork Steam Packet Company and on 20th
December 1940 she was operating between Dublin and Liverpool, commanded by
Captain George Firth of Clontarf, Dublin. At 6pm on 20th December 1940. she left
Liverpool landing stage for
D.Geary
Quatermaster
Cork
49
W.Doyle
Able Seaman
J.Porter
Able Seaman
R.Pickard
Able Seaman
Howth
55
157 Passengers and the remainder of the crew were rescued.
We will
remember them
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McCarthy, Patricio
(1897-1940), merchant seaman, was born in Balcarce,
John and Mary McCarthy were dairy farmers,
originally from Ballyclough in Mallow, Co.
Both brothers went to sea, training in the
catering departments of various shipping lines. Patricio McCarthy served on the
Irish registered fishery protection vessel
Edmundo Murray
