Irish Ships and Shipping 

www.irishships.com

MEMORIAL TO THE IRISH SEAMEN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
DURING THE 2nd.WORLD WAR.

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Video from Creative Minds Production ©2007 

Producer/Director 
Patrick Mc Gauley 

creative minds production


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:)

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 
Patrick Mc Gauley 

creative minds production

IRISH SEAMEN'S MEMORIAL 2006.wmv

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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 Dublin with 157 passengers and a crew of 63. She had just left the berth when air-raid sirens began sounding a warning and the harbour authorities closed the port to navigation. Captain Firth anchored the ship in the river as bombs and mines fell about her. At daylight, it was reported that there was an unauthorised passenger on board and when the ‘All Clear’ sounded Captain Firth took the ship back to the stage to land him. In the early afternoon, the port re-opened and at 3pm Innisfallen again sailed for Dublin.   Twenty minutes later, when moving slowly down river past New Brighton tower, a massive explosion occurred just forward of the bridge on the portside, a magnetic mine had activated. Three crewmen were killed outright and quartermaster Daniel Geary sustained injuries from which he died a few hours later. Two other seamen and Captain Firth were wounded. However, Captain Firth remained in charge and ordered the evacuation of the ship. He was the last to abandon his ship by sliding down a rope onto a tug that assisted in the rescue. Innisfallen sank fifteen minutes later. The Tower buoy off New Brighton marks the location of the wreck. 

D.Geary                    Quatermaster                    Cork                           49

W.Doyle                   Able Seaman                      Dublin                       43            

J.Porter                     Able Seaman                      Dublin                       49   

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, Buenos Aires province, the son of John McCarthy (b.1860) and Mary Callaghan (b.1859), and brother of Timoteo McCarthy (b.1895).

John and Mary McCarthy were dairy farmers, originally from Ballyclough in Mallow, Co. Cork . They emigrated from Queenstown ( Cobh ) to Argentina onboard the  steamer City of Dresden , arriving in Buenos Aires on 16 February 1889 . At the early age of eight, Patricio McCarthy was brought to Ireland together with his brother Timoteo, and ended up in the Sacred Heart Home, Drumcondra, run by the Sisters of Charity. In 1906 the McCarthy brothers were sponsored by the St. Vincent De Paul Society and sent on to St. Vincent 's Orphanage, Glasnevin, in Dublin . Spanish was their spoken language at the time.

Both brothers went to sea, training in the catering departments of various shipping lines. Patricio McCarthy served on the Irish registered fishery protection vessel  Fort Rannoch  before he lost his life on the steam trawler Leukos on 9 March 1940 . Timoteo served in Irish shipping throughout the War World II. He was also a great friend of Captain Carlsen of the Flying Enterprise, and died at sea in August 1960, being buried in the Catholic Cemetery , Cimitero Latino, Rue De Port Said, in Alexandria , Egypt . Patricio McCarthy was the only Argentine citizen lost on an Irish registered vessel during World War II.

Edmundo Murray

 

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