SS Irish Pine

Date: 1919 to 15 Nov 1942
Location: [unknown]

The SS Irish Pine was torpedoed and sunk by U-608 on 15 November 1942. All 33 crew were lost.

The Irish cargo ship IRISH PINE left Dublin on October 28th 1942, on a voyage to Boston and Tampa, and was last reported in the Atlantic on November 13th. She carried a crew of 33. A German report stated that the vessel was sunk 400 miles S.S.W. of Sable Island on the 15th, and that a boat was seen to be launched.^[1] Read more at wrecksite.

West Neris and the West Hematite, renamed Irish Oak and Irish Pine respectively, were, the only ships acquired by Irish Shipping in the United States during the war.^[2]

"Irish Shipping Limited acquired two ships by charter from the United States Maritime Commission through United States Lines on 26th September, 1941. The two vessels were the West Hematite, a vessel of 8,556 tons deadweight, built in Seattle by J. F. Duthrie in 1919, and the West Neris, of 8,542 tons deadweight and built by the South Western Shipbuilding Company, San Pedro, California, also in 1919.

A commentator on shipping affairs writing about the West Hematite referred to her as follows- "She was built as part of the huge wartime programme of merchant ships ordered by the United States after the country's entry into the First World War. However, she was not completed until after hostilities had ended. She was a single screw ship, using steam from dual-purpose boilers and she had a speed of ten knots. For a time she was operated by the United States Shipping Board and then by the Oriole Lines, under whose flag she frequently traded to Great Britain and, indeed, called occasionally at Irish ports. She was laid-up for a time after the banning of American ships from the European war zone in 1940 until she was handed over on charter to Irish Shipping Limited in September, 1941. In appearance, she was strictly utilitarian so she was no beauty, but she did have a useful career in the United States Merchant Marine until the advent of the Second World War."

The West Hematite was chartered for £3,251 per month from September, 1941, and she was delivered to the company at New Orleans on 8th September, 1941, where she was taken over by Capt. F. C. Dick of Belfast on behalf of the company. Despite the best efforts of the company's local representatives, A. K. Miller & Co., the vessel did not sail from New Orleans until 23rd October, 1941, when she left for St. John, New Brunswick to load 6,522 tons of wheat for Dublin. She arrived at Dublin on 11th December, 1941, to complete her first voyage for the company.

On her second voyage she sailed from Dublin, as the Irish Pine, on 31st December, 1941, for Belfast on passage to St. John where she loaded grain for discharge at Foynes. The vessel then made three voyages to Halifax on the third of which she arrived at Dublin on 19th October, 1942. During this period the Irish Pine was under the command of Capt. Matthew O'Neill of Wexford, brother of Capt. John O'Neill who was very soon afterwards appointed General Superintendent with the company. Whilst on passage from Halifax to Limerick on 13th August, 1942, the vessel was involved in the rescue of members of the crew of a British motor vessel, Richmond Castle which had been torpedoed off the south coast of Ireland. The Irish Pine came across a lifeboat filled with survivors of the sinking ship and took them on board in very heavy weather. The survivors were subsequently landed at Kilrush, Co. Clare and later, as a gesture of gratitude, the crew of the Richmond Castle presented Capt. Matthew O'Neill with an inscribed silver salver.

The final voyage

The Irish Pine sailed from Dublin on 29 October, 1942,on charter to W. & H. M. Goulding Ltd..to load a cargo of phosphate rock at Tampa, Florida for discharge at Dublin. This was to be the ship's final ill-fated voyage and she was scheduled to call at Boston on the outward passage to have her tanks overhauled. From Boston the vessel was to proceed to her loading port of Tampa and would then call to Norfolk to take on bunkers for the homeward passage. She was expected to arrive at Boston on 17 November, 1942. In a telegram dated 11 November, the ship's managers, Limerick Steamship Co. Ltd. advised H. W. Brandon & Co., the ship agents at Tampa, that the Irish Pine and the Irish Oak would arrive there about 23 November. On 13 November the Master of the Irish Pine sent a wireless message to the Boston agents, Furness Withy & Co. Ltd. advising that she would arrive there on 16 November and that was the final communication received from the vessel. A telegram from Limerick Steamship Co. Ltd. to the Boston agents expressed anxiety that there was no news of the vessel. The company's Directors decided at a Board meeting on 3 December, 1942, that the ship should be presumed lost and that the charterers and all next-of-kin should be so informed. In a letter from Furness Withy to the Limerick Steamship Co. Ltd., dated 28 December, 1942, the final paragraph stated "with regards to O'Neill, we regret that we have received absolutely no further information". For security reasons during that period the names of ships did not appear in letters, telegrams or other communications and were referred to by the names of the relevant ships' masters. The true facts regarding the sinking of the Irish Pine were not known for a further thirty-five years until the German submarine diaries, captured by British forces at the end of the war, were inspected by Capt. Frank Forde in researching material for The Long Watch, his history of the Irish merchant marine during the Second World War. The records show that the Irish Pine was sunk at 0014 on 16 November, 1942, when she was struck aft by the second torpedo fired by the German submarine U-608 and sank stern first within three minutes of being hit. All thirty-three crewmembers were lost with their ship in the greatest tragedy suffered by Irish Shipping Limited during the war."^{[3] [4]}

Casualties of war

The men lost were:-

Master: Capt. Matthew O'Neill, Maudlinstown, Wexford. Age 41

Chief Officer: Joseph O'Connor, 91 Oxmantown Road, Dublin. Age 31

Second Officer: Alfred Hartnett, 99 Lower Road, Cork (a native of Youghal, Co. Cork). Age 50

Third Officer: William J. Connolly, 18 Lower O'Connell St., Kinsale, Co. Cork. Age 31

Chief Engineer: George K. O'Brien, 3 West Beach, Cobh, Co. Cork. Age 39

Second Engineer: Joseph O'Connell, 26 Parnell Place, Cork. Age 46

Third Engineer: Michael Cusack, Glenview Avenue, Farranshone, Limerick. Age 28^[5]

Fourth Engineer: Patrick Cleary, St. John's Road, Wexford. Age 31

First Radio Officer: Thomas Daly, 15 Niall St., North Circular Road, Dublin. Age 32

Second Radio Officer: Robert J. Creighton, 25 Wellington St., Portobello, Edinburgh. Age 20 (also as Crichton)

Bosun: Stephen Smith, Wellington Place, Wexford. Age 42

Carpenter: Patrick Bent, Burne's Lane, Wexford. age 56

A.Bs.:-

Richard Talbot, 34R Pearse House, Dublin. Age 57

Alphonsus Tobin, 2 Broad Lane, Limerick. Age 30^[6][7]

Patrick Sheehan, 42 James's St., Dublin (native of Kinsale). Age 38

Michael Flynn / O'Flynn, Mount Kennet Cottages, Windmill St., Limerick. Age 30

Joseph Conway, 3 Lealand Place, North Wall, Dublin. Age 25

Fred Cowzer, 11B Boyne St., Dublin. Age 20

Peter Fanning, Clogherhead Co. Louth. Age 56

Ordinary Seamen:-

Eamon Donagh, 12 Grattan Terrace, Galway. Age 18

Kevin Cashin, 45 Hardwicke St., Dublin. age 21

Firemen:-

T or Frank Murphy, 1 Carroll's Road, Limerick. Age 38

Frank Tracey/Tracy, 2 Mount Kennet Cottages, Limerick. Age 27

A or Sean Ryan, 28 Charlotte Quay, Limerick. Age 22

Donkeyman: John Nolan, 57 Marino Green, Fairview, Dublin.

Greasers:-

John McCarthy, Bandon Road, Kinsale. Age 48

Maurice Dooley, 1 Windmill Street, Limerick. Age 33

Harry Ward. 11 Eblana Villas, Grand Canal Street, Dublin. Age 49

Steward: Thomas (P?) Cusack, 105 Evergreen Road, Cork. Age 50

Assistant Steward: M. O'Callaghan, 22 St. Patrick's Quay, Cork;

Cook: Joseph Duffy, 14 Haroldville Avenue, Rialto, Dublin. Age 36

Assistant Cook: Hector Young, Rosbrien Road, Limerick. Age 20

Cabin Boy: T. Donohoe/Donoghue, 5 Newbridge Drive, Sandymount, Dublin. Age 20

Sponsored by the Irish Seamen's Relatives Association (1939-46), the Irish Merchant Navy Memorial Plaque and Plinth^[8] uniquely embossed with the Irish flag commemorating those crews lost on Irish registered vessels during World War II, is now on view in the British Merchant Navy Section of the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, England, which is currently managed by the Royal British Legion. An oak tree within the Merchant Navy Convoy oak wood section which is located directly behind the plinth is also dedicated to their memory. In September 2007, a new memorial plaque was fixed to the front of the plinth, to record the names of the 5 Irish Born Merchant Seamen captured while serving on British merchant vessels who lost their lives as a result of Gestapo ill-treatment in the Arbeitsertziehungslager located in Bremen-Farge 1943-45. The Irish Merchant Navy Memorial Plaque is listed in the official inventory of United Kingdom War Memorials.

Sources

1. ↑ Hocking, Charles. Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the Age of Steam
2. ↑ https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/5073/1/Sean_McDonagh_20140620160235.pdf
3. ↑ http://homepage.eircom.net/~Irishshipping/The%20War-Time%20Fleet%20-%20Irish%20Pine.htm
4. ↑ Irish Shipping Limited. "Signals" Journal 1980, Spring Summer, Wartime Fleet No 7 Wartime Fleet No 7
5. ↑ https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1939/08868/5207258.pdf
6. ↑ https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1907/01681/1668762.pdf
7. ↑ http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Limerick/Limerick_No__2_Urban/Augustine_Place/626573/
8. ↑ Imperial War Museum Record

• https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship2434.html
• http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/09%20olj%2052%208%20limk%20men%20lost.pdf
• http://www.irishships.com/images/ISL%20Ltd/ISL%20Signals/1980%20Spring-Summer.pdf
• https://www.mariner.ie/irish-pine/
• https://www.greentigergroup.com/downloads/truck-names/ss-irish-pine/