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Posted on : February 23, 2007
Hiya Folks,
Roy Stoke's book has finally been published. A comprehensive coverage of the sinking of the RMS Leinster including the politics of the day that led to it's demise. A good read for those interested in this wreck.
Death in the Irish Sea : The Sinking of the RMS Leinster
by Roy Stokes
Amazon.com Price: $35.95
Amazon.co.uk Price ST£19.95
Hardcover (June 1999)
Dufour Editions; ISBN: 1898256527
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Posted on : February 23, 2007
Change of e-mail address...
Glad to see there is still an interest in the Leinster. Roy Stokes - I'm interested in buying a book!
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Posted on : February 23, 2007
mr john cave of the holyhead maritime museum would like to corespond with people on the sinking of this vessel and if he can be of any assistance to anyone else.
on behalf of john cave. brendan maguire (welsh)
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Posted on : February 23, 2007
I have just completed a book on the sinking of the Leinster and the rolet Ireland played during WW1. I am awaiting replies from a prospective publisher.
There are many aspects to this terrible disaster and I will just list them briefly by headings. Further information I will gladly supply on request:
The grip U-boats gained on the Western Approaches and Great Britain's narrow escape from surender.
The military and industrial role Ireland played in WW1and it's strategic geographical location.
The origin and treatment of the City Of Dublin Steam Packet Co. by it's rivals and the authorities.
The building of The Provinces and the service they gave.
The military role of the Provinces.
The full extent of U-boat activity in the Irish Sea 1918.
The attack on the Leinster from sworn' on board' testimonies previously unpublished.
The Conscription and censorship issues and the authorities attempt to cover up the reasons why U-boats had orders to sink the mail boats.
The memories, the sad stories, the feats of heroism the effect on Kingstown, Holyhead and the City Of Dublin Steam Packet.
The manuscript contains over 45 photos and there is so much to tell. Call me if you want more.
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Posted on : February 23, 2007
Hello Will.
Having finally got our historian, Mr Don Moore, to get me info on the above
vessel I have the following -
She was built in 1896 in Birkenhead. Steel construction - Twin screw
steamer - Length 360 ft. - width - 42 ft. - Speed 24knots. owned by the
City of Dublin Steam Packet Co. Ltd.
He was also telling me that the anchor from the vessel is part of a
monument in Dun Laoighaire and also there information and mementoes of her
in the Maritime Museum in Dun Laoighaire.
What I also have is a photo of said vessel and 2 articles. One from a
newspaper article from 10/10/1988 which states that on this day 70 years
ago the Holyhead ferry RMS Leinster.......
There was a book written about B&I Line which was to sucessor to the City
of Dublin Steam Packet Co. and I have 2 pages photocopied from it.
Now, as time is getting short and you were talking about travelling to
Ireland so as to travel on the ferry on the 10th October would you happen
to have a fax machine available that I could fax the above sheets to you.
At the moment I don't have a scanner and due to the vagrancies of my modem
the fax software that I have will not allow me to send myself a fax and
therefore send you an attachment. (This situation maybe rectified on
Monday!!)
Don also extended an invitation to you to visit him, if you are over here,
and he would show you what he has and tell you what he knows about the
vessel.
Please let me know what you wish to do re the pages that I have and also
about setting up a meeting if you like.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
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Posted on : February 23, 2007
This wreck lies in the path of the new HSS ferry service from Dun Laoghaire to Holly Head. Check the HSS sailing timetable before diving this wreck. If it is a clear day the HSS will see you, if its foggy - you have been warned.
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Posted on : February 23, 2007
SOUTHSIDE
PEOPLE
Vol. 1. No. 2. 7th February, 1996 EAST EDITION
DUBLIN PUBLISHERS LTD., ORION HOUSE, 53 MAIN ST., RATHFARNHAM, DUBLIN 16.
Madeline Kavanagh, 83, from Sallynoggin, with a picture of her father, John Donohoe, who survived the RMS Leinster sea tragedy of 1918. The disaster was commemorated recently when the ship’s anchor was unveiled as a permanent memorial in Dun Laoghaire. Inside, Madeline recalls her memories of the tragedy and her father’s lucky escape. See pages 8 and 9.
Waiting for news of family and friends
By Joe Humphreys
She was only six years only when the Leinster went down in 1918, yet Madeline Kavanagh remembers the tragedy like it was yesterday.
News traveled fast through Dun Laoghaire and people rushed to the harbour to find out whether friends and neighbours had survived. For Madeline, there was an added worry - her father, John Donohoe, was one of the crew.
"People had been very anxious about the German U-boats for quite a while, and we often got word to say that the Leinster had been torpedoed," Madeline told Southside.
"I remember one such day, my mother took us by the hand - there were three of us - and we ran down to the Marine Road to the wharf where we expected to see the boat being sunk. And there, the mail boat was sailing into the harbour - it was only a false alarm."
Finally, however, the mail-boat was struck, and on that fateful day her father, a stoker, was on board.
"The stoke room was the most dangerous place to be on the boat because it had huge steel doors which closed automatically in an emergency trapping the workers inside. A lot of the men were asleep in their bunks when the boat was hit. They had no chance. They never got out."
Her father was fortunate to escape from the sinking boat but, unable to swim, he still needed a miracle to get ashore.
"When the boat went down he was lucky enough to have a lifebelt, until he saw a young cabin boy floating on the water next to him. When he saw him, he took off his lifebelt and gave it to that cabin boy, who was only 16 at the time.
"He then held on to a couple of seats from the mail-boat which had turned into a raft on the water. It had rope handles around it, which he gripped onto as hard as he could."
He was joined on the raft by a number of British officers who held on until help arrived. In the melee, however, a rescue boat struck and capsized the raft.
"They were all drowned except himself, and yet he never swam a stroke in his life," says Madeline.
The cabin boy saved by John Donohoe was Tom Connolly who went on to own his own shop on Patrick Street, Dun Laoghaire.
"In fact, he had a model of the Leinster in a glass case in his shop which he bought off the LMS when their offices closed down in Westmoreland Street," says Madeline. "It’s now in the Maritime Museum."
Her clearest memory of the whole event is when her father returned home from the harbour, tired and somewhat disheveled.
"I remember him coming home that night, he was wearing a tight little jacket and a balaclava helmet. And I think two or three men came home with him. There were no buses or taxis in those days, so they walked all the way up from Dun Laoghaire.
"I was very bad myself that night, because it was the time of the big flu and I was threatened with meningitis. After he came home he had to get up at three o’ clock to get a doctor for me."
Although he suffered no lasting physical wounds from the ordeal, the mental scars were deep.
"The next day, he had to go and identify his shipmates - they were over in St Michael’s Hospital, all laid out. The only way he recognized his own men was by their hands which were black and burned from the coals."
"For years afterward he used to get dreadful nightmares. There were a lot of wives and babies going over from here to England on the boat, and he thought he could see them floating in the water. It played on his nerves for years."
The sinking had a lasting effect on the town of Dun Laoghaire also, and Madeline remembers the many funerals and collections which took place.
"I went into Dublin one day and they had one of the Leinster lifeboats up on a trolley and were collecting for the victims’ families. My father was up in the boat and he had a long pole with a bag hanging out of it. They went collecting all around Grafton Street and College Green."
Madeline’s father went on to be captain of the Stoke Room on other Dun Laoghaire - Hollyhead mailboats. One of those boats, the Scotia, was drafted into the War, in 1940, to rescue Allied troops from Dunkirk. The Scotia was one of many military and private vessels sunk in that operation, however Madeline’s father was, by a stroke of luck, sick at home when it happened. He died in 1944, aged 69, having spent 49 years on the mailboats.
The family connection with the mailboat route, however, has not come to an end. Madeline’s grand niece, Mandy Byrne, is now training to become one of the staff on the new Stena HSS ferry.
Although the Leinster disaster was over 75 years ago, it is not Madeline’s first childhood memory. She recalls other events spanning back to the 1916 Rising when, as a youngster, living is Crossthwaite Park, British army reinforcements landed in Dun Laoghaire.
"I must have been about four or five at the time, and my sister, my brother and myself were standing at the railing outside the house. We saw all the soldiers turning into the park and, as they came in, they occupied all the houses.
"My mother was out at the time and when she came back she had to go to the officer in charge to get a bedroom for us because the soldiers were sleeping on the stairs and everywhere.
"They had their horses and guns in the park opposite and we used to watch them doing their maneuvers. You needed to have a pass to get near them because they had checkpoints all over the place.
"Most of them were young fellas, from 16 to 20, and they seemed to think they were on their way to France. But instead of that they ended up here."
"There were to young fellas in particular that my mother got very fond of, and they said that they would write to her the day they left. But they never did, because that morning, on their way over Mount Street Bridge, they were ambushed and killed."
Despite such clear memories of her youth, Madeline scorns the idea of putting them all down on paper.
"My daughters are always telling me to write a book but I don’t think I’d have the patience."
She is glad, however, that the sinking of the Leinster, and the sacrifice of those on board, is finally getting some recognition.
"It’s good that the disaster is being commemorated now. There are still a lot of relations living around this area. As well as the troops on board, it should be remembered, men like my father were also risking their lives."
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Posted on : February 23, 2007
Leinster ship wreck e-mail
January 22, 1996
11:05 PM
My research on my Higgerty family tree brought me to this site. My great grandfathers
brother, Francis Edward Higgerty was killed October 10, 1918 at sea in the Irish Channel when he drowned after the boat he was on sunk.
Frank was a lawyer here in Ottawa and was 31 when he died. He fought in WW1 and was on holiday and on his way over when, as the Dublin Metropolitan Police put it in their letter to his mum on the 22nd of October 1918, "the Mail Boat "Leinster" was torpedoed."
I have a photo of Frank and some poetry that he wrote. Have you ever been to this wreck, do you have any photos? Do you know where I can find any more information, preferably on the internet?
If you would be so kind as to reply to 75323.3372@compuserve.com it would be most appreciated. Thank you,
Will Lockhart
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
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Posted on : February 23, 2007
Will
First thing to say is that it was no accident!!!
City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, built 1897 by Laird Bros, 2,646 tons. Maintained service throughout war. On the morning of 10/10/18 she left Kingstown for Holyhead with 680 passengers and crew under Capt W Birch. When a few hours out she was torpedoed by a U boat and sank with a loss of 480 lives. Two torpedoes struck her, the first exploding near the bow where 22 Post Office officials were sorting the mail. The second torp penetrated the engine room. Capt Birch had an eye blown out by splinters and his leg smashed, he was pulled into a boat but was drowned when it capsized later. Bad weather - heavy seas but an attempt was made to get her into a tow. A destroyer responded to the SOS but the Leinster foundered. Most of the passengers were in their bunks when the attack came - suffering, no doubt, from sea sickness. Confusion reigned and several boats were badly launched and capsized as a consequence. Sad.....
Best
Hal
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Posted on : February 23, 2007
Thank you for the info - fascinating. I culled most of my initial reply from "Dictionary of Disasters at Sea During the Age of Steam 1824 -1962" - a quite rare, out of print, and very useful two volume set.
I can't imagine there was too much publicity at the time - we hardly needed to encourage the Germans, and depress our own people, with details the enemy's 'succcesses'! I will, however, look the story up in the London Illustrated News, The Sphere and The Graphic, -(as you know, illustrated news 'magazines' of the time) and let you know of any success.
What was your great uncle - a Serviceman or a Civie? - I can't find him on the Mercantile Marine Memorial nor on the R.N. Memorials at Chatham, Portsmouth or Plymouth. I deduce from this that he was either a civilian or that his body was recovered and that he is buried on land?
Best
Hal
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