On the morning of Good Friday, April 21st, 1916, a very young and excited Colm Ó Lochlainn, a captain in the Irish Volunteers, set out in Dublin on his bike, knowing that he would be leading a group of men to complete a mission that was thought would have had far reaching repercussions for Ireland.

Above, Ballykissane Pier, outside Killorglin, where, nearby, three Irish Volunteers perished en route to on a secret mission. Photo by David Medcalf, licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Ó Lochlain served on the special staff of Joseph Mary Plunkett, director of military operations of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Having gained the trust of his commanding officer on other special assignments, Ó Lochlainn realized that his mission was of vital importance.

To get the details, he was to meet up with an officer of the Irish Republican Brotherhood on O’Connell Bridge (then named Sackville Street / Carlisle Bridge ) very early that Good Friday morning. As he cycled toward the bridge, he was approached by Michael Collins -- in his witness statement Ó Lochlainn said there were few words spoken between them – “Mick said, 'Here I will take the bike, here are your tickets, you know what you have to do. There’s the tram.' The orders were clear enough, I was in charge and we had to get to Killarney by train and meet up with two motor cars that would be waiting for us.”

So off went Ó Lochlainn, a Kilkenny native and typographer by trade, to meet with the other men who would be traveling with him to Killarney. The team, chosen for their particular expertise, comprised Limerick man Thomas McInerney, who could drive a motor car; Charlie Monahan, a mechanic and a wireless (radio) installation expert; Donal Sheehan, from West Limerick, who had worked at the War Office and knew the British admiralty codes; Kerry native Dennis Daly, from Caherciveen, who knew the Caherciveen area; and fellow Caherciveen native Con Keating, a wireless-radio operator on a number of ships.

They set off by train to Killarney, where they were to pick up two cars that would be parked outside the train station, and then drive to Caherciveen. Their orders were clear: They were to take control of the wireless station at the nearby College .When they arrived at Killarney, they were met by a Limerick man, Sam Windham, who had experience with explosives -- he drove the first care with Dennis Daly navigating as he knew the way, with Colm Ó Lochlainn  as another passenger. The second car was driven by Thomas McInerney [who owned that car], with passengers Charlie Monahan, Donal Sheehan and Con Keating. McInerney was to follow the first car's tail lights.

The plan was to seize control of the wireless station at the nearby College in Caherciveen, by whatever means, so that they would be able to distract British ships that were surveilling the Kerry coastline. They would accomplish this by transmitting false information and then demolishing the wireless  transmitter. The plan was to signal the British navy that a German naval attack was imminent off the Scottish coast.

Once British naval forces had taken the bait, and moved from the waters off the Kerry coast, this would then facilitate the landing of the German freighter ‘The Aud’ at Banna Strand, with its cargo of 20,000 German rifles and 10 machine guns. The armaments were, of course, to be distributed around the country, in coordination with Austin Stack at Tralee, to better ensure sufficient weaponry was in place for the Easter Rising. 

Pictured, three RIC constables at a checkpoint.

Then the fateful mission began to unravel. The lead car, bearing Ó Lochlainn and Daly, broke down near a checkpoint, and a curious Royal Irish Constabulary officer went to its aid. When this plan had been hatched in Dublin, the assumption was that there would be no security surrounding Caherciveen or the wireless station at the College. Unknown to them, of course, was that the Royal Irish Constabulary had received intelligence of their own -- they were out in force, with the British army as backup, surrounding the Caherciveen area and the wireless station in the College, in particular.

Having managed to convince the officer that they were medical students and tourists, they then realized that the area was securely fortified by the Royal Irish Constabulary and British army. Ó Lochlainn and Daly then set off, checking constantly to ensure that the second car was following them. Then, about three miles further on, they did not see any lights behind them. They waited for some length of time that would have allowed the other car to catch up with them, thinking either that the second car had broken down, or had been caught at the checkpoint. When the second car failed to materialize, they made the decision to abort the mission, and headed back over the hills to Killarney. They slept in the car through the night, and went back to Dublin the next morning to report the mission aborted, not knowing the fate of their four colleagues.

As so often happens in all walks of life, the best laid plans went awry; the second car lost sight of the lead car and had stopped a young girl to ask the way to Cahirciveen, which lay 25 miles to the southwest. The instructions she gave them were “to take the first turn on the right.” On that dark road, passing through Killorglin,with only the headlights of the car to outline the surface of the road, bearing in mind that this was very early days for motor cars and infrastructure, McInerney missed the first turn, which led to the quay, and headed straight for Ballykissane Pier, and beyond, the River Laune. 

Some sources would suggest that with the moonlight shining on the surface of the river, the reflection on the water may have been thought to be a continuation of the road. The car was, in fact, heading straight for the river. The car with all its passengers inside went over the unprotected edge and straight into the river, where it was at its deepest and widest. At this point in time, some sources say, McInerney must have managed to get out of the car, but was, however, disoriented and started to swim the wrong way. A local man by the name of Thady O’Sullivan shouted to him, guiding him back to shore with a lamp light.

While McInerney was being cared for by O’Sullivan, other local people such as Patrick and Michael Begley, son and father, the son being an Irish teacher based in Limerick, made dangerous and strenuous efforts to rescue the other passengers, but this proved to be an impossible task. All three men, Sheehan, Monahan and Keating, were thought to be trapped in the car, and at this point the decision to abandon the rescue was made.

At this stage, it was clear that the three other occupants of the car had somehow become trapped in the vehicle and had, sadly, in all likelihood, quickly drowned. O’Sullivan took the one disheartened and cold survivor McInerney back to his house, where he was given towels to dry himself and a hot drink..

McInerney was then advised to go to the Royal Irish Constabulary  Barracks and report the incident in the event that any of the other passengers had survived. While away, McInerney's wet overcoat was picked up to dry it, and a revolver was discovered in it. Patrick Begley soon realized that there was more to the night’s events than at first thought.

At that moment, the Royal Irish Constabulary  arrived at the cottage to inquire if they had seen anything untoward in the area. Begley hurriedly hid the revolver under a cushion and then sat on the cushion. When McInerney later arrived to retrieve his revolver, Begley advised him that the police had started asking questions about the car driving into the River Luane, and if they returned, as he had no doubt they would, it would be better if they did not find the revolver on him.

Unknown to McInerney at this time, the Royal Irish Constabulary had arrested a man in Tralee, who was connected to the Fenian movement, and putting two and two together, had information that the Fenian could be related to the activity of the sunken car and its passengers. So not to be outwitted by the local people, lo and behold, back to the O’Sullivan and Begley cottages the Royal Irish Constabulary went. Unsurprisingly, they found McInerney sitting in the kitchen,drinking tea. Despite the fact that McInerney stuck to his accounts of the car being full of students on a  tour, he was arrested and kept in custody until after the Rising was over. He was then transferred to Frongoch Prison in North Wales, which would house many of the Republicans who were captured after the Easter Rising surrender.

Local fishermen found the bodies of Keating and Sheehan the next day, on 22nd April 1916. They did not know who they were and an inquest was held. It was assumed that they were the bodies out of the car that had plunged into the river on the 21st.

Sheehan was buried as a stranger, in Dromavally Burial Ground, in Killorglin, amidst great sorrow, as the gathered crowd wept openly for a young man to have died, and none knew whom he was. Keating was buried in his native Caherciveen, as he had been identified.

Monahan was found on the banks of the Laune on the 30th October 1916 by a Mr. Sheehy, approximately a quarter of a mile from the quay. His head, one arm and two feet were missing. The trunk of his body, all that was left of him, was fitted with good quality clothes, waterproof trousers, a belt containing two gold sovereigns and a wad of soaked bank notes, more than an average amount of cash even for a man of gentrified background, as it was thought. Also found on his remains were nippers and a wrench, ready and able for the job he never got to carry out. His remains were identified as those of Charlie Monahan. The police did not think an inquest was necessary, so his remains were buried alongside those of Sheehan on Wednesday, the 1st November 1916, at Dromavally Graveyard. 

Then, on the 3rd February 1917, the missing bones belonging to Monahan were found by Thady O'Sullivan -- small amounts of tweed material which had rotted, and alongside the material, a six-chamber revolver with an American pattern with 20 rounds of ammunition and a small screwdriver. The bones were interred with his remains by a local priest at Dromavally graveyard. To add insult to injury in these tragic events, Austin Stack [waiting for the illicit cargo in Tralee] was arrested the same night of the car accident, which would have made the distribution of arms shipment nigh impossible as Stack had been the liaison between ‘The Aud’ and the local Irish Republican Brotherhood. As well, Roger Casement, who orchestrated the arms shipment from the German Government, had been captured earlier that day at Banna Strand, about 18 miles north of the accident site.

This tragic story only serves to illustrate the way in which human error, in this case, making assumptions about people and places unknown to planners, often plays a significant role in determining outcomes. Hindsight is a wonderful thing [mmm, or is it?]. In hindsight, we would all, indeed, be perfect.

The 'what if's' began as soon as these tragic events started to unfold in the newspapers;  'What if ' they had managed to divert the Royal Navy as planned? 'What if ' they had not lost sight of the lead car? Nevertheless, in the aftermath of the Easter Rising, it is a very interesting and not-often-enough-told story, which should serve as a warning to those who plan operations without having full knowledge of the specific details of planned targets and surroundings.

Suffice it to say, Thomas McInerney, Colm Ó Lochlainn and Denis Daly lived to tell their tales.

A memorial was erected to Con Keating and Donal Sheehan over their graves in 1919. In 1939, 23 years after the tragic accident took the lives of the three volunteers that fateful night, a monument was erected and unveiled at Ballykissane Pier, by J.J. O’Kelly. In 2006, a mural was unveiled at Short Strand, Belfast, to honor Charlie Monahan as one of the 1916 heroes.

* My thanks to Kieron Punch who provided invaluable information about the driver of the first car.

Views: 4012

Tags: Easter Rising, Irish Freedom Struggle

Comment by Kieron Punch on February 26, 2016 at 1:56pm

Thanks for providing such a fascinating account of this tragic incident but I hope you won't mind if I make a small correction. The other car, a Maxwell that actually belonged to Tom McInerney, was not driven by Denis Daly, who was a passenger, but by Limerickman Sam Windrim. Windrim was an employee of Evans' munitions factory where he worked alongside my Grandfather, Tom Gleeson, with whom he became firm friends. Both of them served in the Limerick city battalion of the mid-Limerick Brigade during the Tan War - my grandfather, who was a few years younger than Windrim and younger than the majority of Volunteers, was only permitted to join because of the experience with explosives he had gained through working at Evans'. The two men were such good friends that when a new street of houses was built in the early 1930s at Rossa Avenue, off Mulgrave Street, they both moved their families there and lived as neighbours unitl Windrim's death in 1955 (my grandfather died only 11 months after his friend).


Heritage Partner
Comment by That's Just How It Was on February 27, 2016 at 6:08am

Kieron Punch.. Thank you so much for that piece of information, that I definitely did not find in my research . I will of course add this piece of info to the story ... if you do not mind .. 

Comment by Kieron Punch on February 27, 2016 at 8:16am

I don't mind, at all. Glad I could help!

Comment by Richard R. Mc Gibbon Jr. on February 28, 2016 at 10:43am

This is a grand adventure and now we have a few more parts to the puzzle.  Studying history is a wee bit like putting a puzzle together with no picture on the box to go by we don't know if there are any straight edges nor how many pieces to this puzzle, thus it (the perceived picture) is always changing ! Jakkers I love this thing called history. Slainte

Comment by Janet on February 28, 2016 at 1:47pm

Very informative! Thanks for sharing this information. We love learning more about Ireland's quest for freedom. When in Ireland 2 years ago, we visited some historic sites that were significant to us -- especially Beal na Blath and Kilmachael memorials.

Your story adds rich details to an important time. Looking at events with this richness gives a fuller glimpse to Ireland's history.

Thanks again.

Comment by Micheal O Doibhilin on February 28, 2016 at 4:18pm

O'Lochlainn and Daly, I believe, actually threatened the inquisitive policeman that if he didn't back off they would plug him.

Colm O'Lochlainn, remained an active Republican and later became a printer of international renown, setting up the Three Candles press. He represented Ireland at international print fairs, and was considered one of the best letterpress printers in the world. I had the honour of studying typography and print design under his son, Dara O'lochlainn, in Dublin's College of Art in the '60s. Dara was a fantastic graphic designer and a keen musician, playing the trumpet in his group "The Jazzberry Jam Band"!

The story of the abortive attempt to get to Kerry, of course, has been mentioned in many histories. it is told in detail in "Rebel Radio - Ireland's first international radio" by Eddie Bohan, published by Kilmainham Tales.

Comment by Risteárd Sinclair on February 29, 2016 at 7:53am

A cara,

Wonderful article. Just one small detail, you mentioned the 'Sackville Street Bridge (now the O'Connell) however

it was actually the 'Carlisle Bridge'.

Is mise

Risteárd Sinclair


Heritage Partner
Comment by That's Just How It Was on February 29, 2016 at 9:51am

Thank you all for you comments.. The Wild Geese has given us all a wonderful forum to write and discuss theories, about our Irish history, and to debate and comment on our shared historical perspectives... I do try and get the balance right for my articles, as there is so much documents , files, books, all having differing perspectives 

Richard R Mc Gibbon .... it is all indeed a puzzle, just as we have a grasp of some of our history , another historian writes a book , and low and behold, here we are once again questioning  out own perspectives.. What I have learned from doing all this research is, that historians differ in their opinion and perspective, and that we can only take what each of them have to say, and look at the fuller picture, of all documents/ books and references, to glean a smidgen of fact that is in there somewhere. !  

Janet ..Thank you, I love our Irish History ..

Michael O' Doibhilin  ...I am coping the exact words from O'Lochlinn own statement, which was made many years later,...for your reference as well as my own, just so I know I have done my research 

"""we heard a police whistle and saw
in the gleam of its headlights two R.I.C. men swinging a
lantern. I remember grasping the .32 Savage I had borrowed
from Joe Plunkett (my own Webley being a bit heavy for
travelling) while I heard Denny say "Will we shoot"? "No",
says I "let someone else start the war. Talk will do these
fellows". And so it did...""""

It must have been a pleasure to have trained under a son of one of our lest know hero's...

Risteárd Sinclair  .. Indeed you are correct .. it was called Carlisle Bridge in that era. Howveer in O'Lochlinn own state , he writes and I copy his statement ,he called it O'Connell Bridge  ....

Good Friday it was, in the year of glory 1916, and
I had made an early start. As I
jumped off my old Lucania
at O'Connell Bridge, Collins stepped out from the path.

To all of you , Thank you, I love getting these comments and sharing our history 

 

Comment by Mike McCormack on February 29, 2016 at 7:10pm

I learned this story many years ago in Killorglin, but not with the details you have provided.  It was also mentioned in a discussion I had in Caherciveen later in the same trip.  I even saw the pier mentioned.  Thank you so much for the detailed version of this historic event.  It is now in my archives for future trips to Kerry.


Heritage Partner
Comment by That's Just How It Was on March 1, 2016 at 5:37am

Thank you Mike for commenting --- the wild geese have given us all Irish such a lovely forum to learn and participate in all discussion about our history 

Comment

You need to be a member of The Wild Geese to add comments!

Join The Wild Geese

The Wild Geese Shop

Get your Wild Geese merch here ... shirts, hats, sweatshirts, mugs, and more at The Wild Geese Shop.

Irish Heritage Partnership

ZenBusiness:
Start a Business Today!

Adobe Express:
What will you create today?


Adverts

Extend your reach with The Wild Geese Irish Heritage Partnership.

Congrats to Our Winners

© 2024   Created by Gerry Regan.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Service