The History of The Irish...Worldwide
First Casualties of the Easter Rising Were in Kerry
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.
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Heritage Partner Comment by That's Just How It Was on March 9, 2016 at 9:31am -
I have read many paper from Ireland that speaks about commemorating all the hero's of the 1916 Easter ... what I don't read is anything about the women who also put their lives on the line in the Easter Rising........ Nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell; Julia Sheila Grenan ; Maud Gonne.. Countess Markievize ;Helene Molony ;Jenny Wise Power ; Winnie Carney, to name just a few of these remarkable, and very brave women .
Why is that the Irish Politicians of today, cannot bring themselves, to get to grips with the fact that all of these woman played a vital role in all of the Irish movements of that era...... It is beyond rational !
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Comment by Micheal O Doibhilin on March 9, 2016 at 10:21am
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TWJHIT
I don't know what papers you are reading but if you were here now you would get the distinct impressions that there were no men in the Easter Rising at all
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Heritage Partner Comment by That's Just How It Was on March 10, 2016 at 6:21am -
Oh Michael .. I live in England ........ so maybe the articles I am reading are are biased !!
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TJHIW
I don't see why that should happen. Though I suppose you're only getting articles about Ireland in English papers, and they would be mostly rehashed. here we have a huge movement to put the women back in their rightful place in 1916 - I've even got caught up in this - one of my talks for the Centenary is on Josie McGowan who was only 18 when she took part in the Rising. There has been a slew of books by authors and historians such as Liz Gillis on women, and even conferences.
When one remembers that almost 2,500 people took part in the Easter Rising, only about 250 of them were women. yet virtually every talk, every magazine, every TV and Radio show, is about women. Even in my own publishing company we have two books (of 7 on the Rising) about women, but only one about men (priests!) - the others are about events. And of the texts I have in for forthcoming books two of the four on my desk are about women, and one of the other two includes them. Hence my rather frustrated comment above!
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Heritage Partner Comment by That's Just How It Was on March 10, 2016 at 11:33am -
Now then Michael Ó Doibhilin,,, you are a publisher; no wonder you are so such of a expert on Irish History... I had my book published with Author House... What is your company called?
All of the English papers give a skewed slate on what is happening in Ireland in this year of the centenary..
I am really glad that the USA are highlighting the women of 1916 ..
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Comment by Richard R. Mc Gibbon Jr. on March 10, 2016 at 2:35pm
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Well folks how about we discuss the different aspects of Irish history and include all our hero's regardless of age, sex, height, complexion etc. I The sad thing is that many people who helped with Ireland's fight for independence will never be known. Their job was intelligence gathering and that meant being one of the unknown hero's. Maybe we should try to connect the "dots" of history and see if their sacrifice can be improved upon by our generation to make Ireland, the USA and the world a better place, with freedom and justice for all. Slainte !
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Heritage Partner Comment by That's Just How It Was on March 11, 2016 at 5:59am -
Now the Richard R McGibbon JR. I will endorse that line of history 100% .. where do we start? ..... Are files available anywhere in Ireland taht woudl allow access to the public to search , for all of these unknown hero's of our History ....
If anyone out there has any knowledge of where to obtain files, documents that contain info on any unknown hero , please let me know. I am will to do the research , if I know where to start looking
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TJHIW,
I publish books on Irish history because I love the history. I learned the history and decided that what I wanted was not available so I started by writing my own and then got others to write for me. many of 'my' authors have gone on to the mainstream press and had some serious and acclaimed books published there too. My company is Kilmainham Tales and we have a website of the same name.
I am in Ireland (not the USA) and see that much work is being done to expose the little-known names of our history. Currently, for example, I am giving a talk on Josie McGowan who fought in Marrowbone Lane in the Easter Rising. She died two ears later at the age of just 20.
Richard, I have a problem with the current sexual revolution in history, where your sex or sexual orientation is more important than what you did. I think ALL should be remembered for their contribution to the rebellion, and for no other reason. To quote an example, I don't give two hoots whether Roger Casement was gay or a paedophile - he did what he could for Ireland, he exposed atrocities in Africa - that is what is important. So agree with you - remember the people, not sexual icons.
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Comment by Mike McCormack on March 11, 2016 at 9:49am
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The heart and soul of a patriot know no gender. With regard to all the prior comments, it is great to see so many involved and so much material being revealed. Let me add the following:
1. With regard to the interception of the Aud, the U.S. Federal agents had raided the office of German Embassy Attache Wolf Von Igel days earlier and confiscated correspondence between Devoy and Germany regarding the arms delivery which was perfectly legal since America had not yet entered the war. When the Clan learned of that, they cabled Germany to redirect the landing. If radio interception and code breaking played a part in intercepting Aud, the Brits would have been waiting at the alternate location. As it was, the Aud had no radio and the arms were intercepted at the original landing spot as described in Devoy's correspondence. Devoy always believed that since President Wilson was descended from Unionist stock, he had tipped the Brits and betrayed the Irish!
2. In my personal interview with Sam O'Reilly, Armorer of the Dublin Brigade, he insisted that the 'Castle Document' was real because they had inside information that the Castle was planning to arrest the leaders. Later documentation revealed that on 12 April, Under-Secretary Nathan had cabled Chief Secretary Birrell in London to obtain permission to raid the Irish Volunteer and Citizen Army premises and arrest their leaders and was only awaiting his reply when the rising took place.
3. With regard to the intensity of the patriot's resolve, I am reminded of the death of Terence MacSwiney and the impact it made on a young Vietnamese dishwasher in London’s Carlton Hotel named Nguyen Ai Quyoc. He actually wept and observed that A Nation which has such citizens will never surrender. In 1941 he adopted the name Ho Chi Minh and took the lessons of Ireland’s anti-imperialist fight to his own country against the French.
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Comment by michael dunne on March 11, 2016 at 3:15pm
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t is sometimes thought that the test of a democracy or its maturity can be measured by the track record in the field of human rights and specifically the level of access the ordinary man has to the law!? The second biggie is how women fare out in equality with particular reference to pay and working conditions. Recently our hung Dáil had an opportunity of living up to their new found ideologies of government reform, by electing an excellent female candidate with a proven record to the position of Ceann Comhairle. At least she got to be nominated and the new assembly dropped the ball once again electing a male member to the post.
As with Health and Safety, Minimum Pay, Banking regulation etc, it has been the European Union that has been the champion of these causes including and especially issues of equality. Brexit is an amusing charade where the old boys want to get back to the game of pushing children up chimneys to clean them. The Banking Racket in Ireland went unchecked for years and now our government issued general absolution and nationalized them. Interest rates are made more favourable to those in the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland today than us here in Pearse's Republic who have been compelled to bankroll the speculative punts taken by the cosseted few whose gambles are now the liability of the ordinary Irish citizen.
This may be dismissed as a rant but consider that under Brehon Law women held property rights and positions of privilege until the arrival of the Normans in 1169. The old laws came under the systemic attack of the Norman and Roman Catholic laws resulting in the subjugation of women which is still the case in Ireland and other European countries today. Lets not talk of human rights elsewhere. I agree to a great extent with Michael that women's role in the rising is getting perhaps more cover than is merited, but this corrective is understandable after the mysonogist treatment they received until recently. I would have my own preferences in terms of who the great Irish women were in these turbulent times and Dr Cathleen Lynn would feature a lot more highly than another who had no scruples about shooting dead a uniformed policeman to prove some point.
It was not until 1970's that a book on Patrick H Pearse was written and very critically at that. He was virtually accused of being a child molester without a scintilla of evidence. He was believed to have a blood lust and is shown with the smoking hand gun in the GPO. Pearse studied Rousseau and it is thought he read Emile by the same author. and had secular views on education thus his booklet The Murder Machine. Pearse's fervour and Nationalism including his love for the Irish language prompted him to present an award of a 303 rifle for the best written Gaelic essay. It can be argued that even today Pearse is greatly misunderstood and misrepresented like Casement. The latter appeared to be suffering depression after landing in Banna but this is speculative and the notion that he was of the same view as MC Neill that the rebellion was doomed to failure and should be called off is further speculation that does not come with the exact science of retrospection. This botched rebellion, poorly planned, without even a projected duration or provision for drinking water or food, was a resounding success because of typical British arrogance. Even the existence of the row boat left as a token to the people of Kerry was denied by officials of Government in the 1950's and the holy people really would prefer if he had never existed. Now we have the Centenary and should be very proud to have a distinctive and courageous history..a cause for real celebration as already suggested. And the Devil take the hindmost... Arterial drainage!
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