To ask the CE for an update on the repair of the bicycle hire station on Morrison’s Island by the College of Commerce? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
Motions:
That an urban animation scheme be prepared for and created for Robert Street (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
That Cork City Council calls upon the Minister of Housing to debate and secure that in the private housing market vendors are obliged to supply a current engineer’s status report to potential buyers, and that vendors are obliged to provide evidence of ownership prior to the house being placed on the market; that these latter measures be implemented in order to limit the exposure and costs of buyers in the private housing market (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
1145a. Picture of Upnor, Cork Harbour, c.1922 (picture: Cork City Library).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 7 April 2022
Journeys to a Free State: The Capture of the Upnor
The turbulence behind the Pro-Treaty and Anti-Treaty sides took a darker turn when across February, March and April 1922, the IRA, particularly Anti-Treaty elements, began to seize sizable amounts of weapons from evacuating British forces.
On 29 March 1922, the Upnor, which was a British arms ship, was captured by members of the Cobh IRA company. It was departing Cork Harbour with its second load of arms, which amounted to 400 rifles, 40 machines guns, hundreds of thousands of rounds of .303 ammunition and numerous crates of high explosive. A plan was devised to capture the ship. Michael Burke, Officer in Command of Cobh IRA wrote an account of the raid on the ship.
In March 1922, Michael was in Cork attending a parade in honour of the late Tomás MacCurtain when he was informed that the Brigade Officer in Command, Seán Hegarty, wanted to see him before he returned to Cobh. He met him and the Brigade Staff (Cork No I Brigade) when he was told that a British War Department vessel, named Upnor, was landing warlike stores in Haulbowline for delivery at Woolwich Arsenal. Michael was told to make arrangements for her capture at sea. After her capture she was to be taken to Ballycotton where she would be unloaded. The Brigade would arrange for the unloading and transport of the cargo.
Michael was also advised to contact one of his men in Haulbowline who would let him know when the Upnor was putting to sea. He was then to phone the All-For-Ireland Club, Emmet Place, Cork where the Brigade Staff were standing by. He outlines in his account; “Returning to Cobh, I detailed a man to get in touch with our representative in Haulbowline and inform him that he was to send me word when the Upnor was ready to leave, whilst towing a barge. I then organised a crew to man the boat which was to proceed after the Upnor. Several of the men I recruited were not members of the IRA”.
A week or so elapsed and then word was sent that on 29 March the Upnor was sailing at 11am that day. She was known to carry hundreds of rifles, machine guns and many hundred boxes of ammunition, Verey lights and suchlike war stores. Michael got in touch with Brigade HQ immediately and soon a car came from Cork with about fifteen Cork IRA men, amongst whom were Mick Murphy, Tom Crofts and ‘Sando’ Donovan, all Brigade Officers. Mick Murphy carried a Lewis gun.
With the Cork men was a sea captain named Collins who was to take over the captaincy of the Upnor when she was captured. He was not an IRA man. Arrangements previously made to commandeer a boat to follow the Upnor to sea did not materialise but luckily the tugboat Warrior had berthed at Deepwater Quay, Cobh that day about noon.
Michael and his crew boarded her and found the captain had gone ashore. Putting his own crew aboard they went in search of the captain. He describes: “We could not put to sea until we located him; if we put to sea and he returned to the quay to find his boat missing he would report the fact to the Admiralty and the alarm would be given”. Michael describes that they searched hotels and shipping offices in the town and eventually found him in the very last office we tried. They took him prisoner and placed him under an armed guard in the Rob Roy Hotel.
The time was now gone 2pm and the Upnor had at least two hours or more of a start on them. Michael and his crew gave chase. He describes: “We got aboard the Warrior with Captain Collins in charge of her and made for the open sea. Our lads worked so hard on the engines that the original crew, who were aboard, were afraid the boilers would burst and they offered to do the job themselves. We agreed to this”.
Leaving Cobh Harbour Michael told Captain Collins to strike a course for Waterford. He had no idea of what was afoot and did as he was told. When they got outside the harbour there was no sign of the Upnor so he asked the Captain to alter course for Portsmouth. He did this. They sailed on the Portsmouth course for several hours and just as dusk was falling, they sighted the Upnor and her escort of two armed trawlers.
The trawlers were about two miles from the Upnor and in front of the Upnor. She was making slow speed as she was towing a barge. Michael describes that they closed in on her; “One of our lads shouted to her captain to stop, saying we had an important message for the captain at the same time waving an official looking envelope. She stopped. We lowered a boat and a few of us went aboard her. We produced our guns and held up the captain and any of the crew in sight. Mick Murphy ordered the captain, at the point of a Lewis gun, to leave the bridge”.
Meanwhile the Warrior had pulled alongside the Upnor and a further party of lads came aboard the latter. Darkness had now fallen. They were from thirty to forty miles off the Irish coast and the British trawler escort had gone ahead oblivious of the fact that the Upnor with its precious cargo had changed hands. The journey to Ballycotton was uneventful. Michael details: “We tied up at the pier at about 4am on 30 March 1922 and the task of unloading commenced. There were upwards of one hundred lorries of all kinds and the same number of men, all from the Cork Brigade, waiting to unload and take away the cargo and it was not until about 6pm that the last lorry left the pier”.
Just as they were preparing to leave Ballycotton on the last lorry a grey shape loomed up at sea. It was the British man-of-war searching for the missing Upnor. Apparently the Upnor’s escorts tried to make contact with her and failing to do so informed the British naval authorities that something was amiss.
Caption:
1145a. Picture of Upnor, Cork Harbour, c.1922 (picture: Cork City Library).
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy is to restart his free historical walking tours during the month of April. This month’s tours will be of South Docklands, Fitzgerald’s Park, and The Marina. Cllr McCarthy noted; “It’s been a long wait since the last walking tours I conducted for the general public. It’s been a long two and a half years. In the meantime, I have pursued more research of some of my area tours and have posted them up under my revised history trails section on my Corkheritage. ie website”.
“My Marina tour is one I have tried to sharpen and get more information on and reflect more on its development. The three areas I am re-starting with are all relatively close to each other, but do have their own unique sense of place, their own cultural and built heritage, their own historic angles, and add their own stories to how the city as a whole came into being”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.
Full details of Kieran’s April tours are below,
▪ Saturday 9 April 2022, Cork South Docklands; Discover the history of the city’s docks, from quayside stories to the City Park Race Course and Albert Road; meet at Kennedy Park, Victoria Road, 2pm, as part of the Cork Lifelong Learning Festival (free, duration: two hours, no booking required).
Sunday 10 April 2022, Fitzgerald’s Park: The People’s Park, meet at band stand, 2pm, in association with Rebound Arts Festival and as part of the Cork Lifelong Learning Festival (free, duration: 90 minutes, no booking required).
Saturday 16 April 2022, The Marina; Discover the history of the city’s promenade, from forgotten artefacts to ruinous follies; meet at western end adjacent Shandon Boat Club, The Marina, 2pm (free, duration: two hours, no booking required).
1 April 2022, “These will be the first public tours I’ve done in two years, so I’m really looking forward to it. They are two very different parts of the city with a lot of interesting history”, said Kieran, So much choice at Cork Lifelong Learning Festival, So much choice at Cork Lifelong Learning Festival (echolive.ie)
1 April 2022, “In February, Independent Councillor Kieran McCarthy warned that damaged quay wall by the South Gate Bridge would need to be repaired urgently ahead of any construction work on the events centre, City Hall engineers attend site of quay wall damage in Cork”, City Hall engineers attend site of quay wall damage in Cork, City Hall engineers attend site of quay wall damage in Cork (echolive.ie)
1 April 2022, “Historian, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, said several sections of quayside will not benefit from OPW investment, and a full audit is required. “The quays on the southern channel in this historic areahave been neglected for centuries and no one has dealt with the issue properly”, he said, Action called for after quay wall partially collapses in Cork City centre, Action called for after quay wall partially collapses in Cork City centre (irishexaminer.com)
31 March 2022, “Kieran McCarthy described himself first and foremost as ‘your typical proud Corkonian’, adding: “Over the last twenty years there’s been a growing interest in the city, in its history, in promoting the city. “I was lucky enough in primary school to have had a teacher who taught us local history, and to have good history teachers in secondary school as well. That’s where my interest comes from”, Cork’s a hard-working city but it can also be quite hard on itself, Michael Moynihan: Cork’s a hard-working city but it can also be quite hard on itself (irishexaminer.com)
