Source: http://lugnad.ie/willow/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 14:04:42+00:00

Document:
The Irish Willow was one of the few ships which maintained Irish trade during World War II.
At the outbreak of World War II, known as “The Emergency”, (3) (4) Ireland declared neutrality and became isolated as never before. (5) Although Ireland had a substantial food surplus, there were shortages of specific foods such as fruits, wheat and tea. There were very few Irish ships as shipping had been neglected (6) since independence. Foreign ships which had transported Irish cargoes, before the war, were soon unavailable.
The Otto, an Estonian ship, was in Cobh when the Republic of Estonia was suppressed by the USSR. In October 1941 trustees for the absent owners leased her to Irish Shipping. She was renamed Irish Willow, (7) She made 18 voyages to Saint John, New Brunswick, returning with wheat. She also exported food to Britain and imported coal. Initially Irish ships sailed in British convoys. In the light of experience they chose to sail alone, relying on their neutral markings. German respect for that neutrality varied from friendly to tragic.
11 June 1940: Violando N Goulandris of Greece, with wheat for Waterford, was torpedoed and sunk, with the loss of six lives by U-48.
19 June 1940: Adamandios Georgandis of Greece with a cargo of wheat for Cork was torpedoed by U-28. One died.
29 June 1940: Frangoula B Goulandris of Greece Outward Cork to St Thomas in ballast to collect a cargo of sugar, was torpedoed and sunk by U-26.
10 July 1940: Petsamo of Finland with 4477 tons of maize and 1523 tons of grain (36) for Cork was torpedoed and sunk by U-34, within sight of the Irish coast, off Baltimore, County Cork. Four died.
11 July 1940: Ia of Greece with a cargo of wheat for Cork was torpedoed and sunk by U-99. Three died.
14 July 1940: Thetis A of Greece with grain for Limerick was torpedoed and sunk by U-52. Nine died.
17 September 1940: Tanker Kalliopi S of Greece bound for Limerick was bombed and sunk by Luftwaffe in Sheephaven Bay.
[/note] Against this background, the government founded Irish Shipping (39) and sought ships which it could charter or purchase. (40) (41) The Irish Willow was one of those ships.
Ivan Maisky, the Soviet Union’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, applied to the High Court in Dublin for possession of the ships Their owners could not be contacted. The Soviet case was supported by a letter from John Whelan Dulanty, the Irish High Commissioner in London, who explained that when the ships had been instructed to go immediately to the USSR three had been carrying cargoes destined for Ireland, that he had asked if they could first deliver their Irish cargo, and that Maisky had agreed on behalf of the Soviet Union, provided that the Irish government guaranteed that after discharging their cargo they would be given food sufficient for the journey to a Soviet port. A. K. Overend K.C., acting for Maisky, said that this established that his client was recognised by Ireland as “the proper person to give instruction to the ships”, (43) and that his client was the only claimant.
John McEvoy was the honorary consul[note 7]In the high court record John McEvoy is described as “vice consul”, the speech by the current President of Estonia used the title “honourary consul”.[/note] of the Republic of Estonia in Dublin. (44) He opposed the Soviet claim along with Estonian representatives in Switzerland. Even though they lacked diplomatic status, the court recognised the right of Herbert Martinson, described as “an Estonian national, resident in Switzerland” to join with John McEvoy in vindicating the rights of the absent owners.
"Eire High Court: Zarine v. Owners, etc. S. S. Ramava, McEvoy & Ors. v. Owners, etc. S. S. Otto, McEvoy and Veldi v. Owners, etc. S. S. Piret and S. S. Mall, Eckert & Co. v. Owners, etc. S. S. Everoja". The American Journal of International Law. vol 36. (July 1942) American Society of International Law. page:490–504; "> (45) The court recognised John McEvoy and Herbert Martinson as trustees for the owners. The High Court considered five ships: three from Estonia, Otto, Piret and Mall, and two from Latvia, Ramava and Everoja. McEvoy acted for the various owners of the Estonian ships. On 16 May 1941 the High Court rejected the Soviet claim. The Soviet authorities appealed against the decision to the five-judge Supreme Court. On 3 July 1941 the appeal was unanimously dismissed with costs.
On October 1941, in Cobh, the Otto was chartered by Irish Shipping. She was brought to Dublin for extensive repairs. On 5 December 1941, she made her first voyage as the Irish Willow: She went from Cobh to Dublin under Captain G.R. Bryan, from Rathfarnam, previously captain of the City of Dublin. H. Cullen, previously of the Irish Elm, was first officer. H. Jurgenson was chief engineer; he was an Estonian national, and had been the chief engineer when she was the Otto (51). As some engine components were not available in Ireland, the repairs had to be completed in Canada. On 5 December she went on her first commercial voyage, under Captain R Shanks of Belfast, as the Irish Willow. She went to Troon for fuel and then joined convoy ON-47. The convoy departed on 15 December 1941. (52) Around this time, Irish crews were refusing to travel in convoy. The Irish Willow “lost” her convoy. (17B) She arrived in St John on 12 January 1942 and on 22 January loaded her cargo of wheat. Repairs delayed her a further two weeks. She was scheduled to return in convoy SC-68.[note 9]According to this: http://convoyweb.org.uk/sc/index.html she was in the convoy. Cleare p. 62,63 and Higgins p. 7 say she was alone. Since she saw a submarine on 3 February 1942 and there is no mention of the convoy seeing it, we can assume that she was out of convoy[/note] Returning alone, a submarine was spotted on 3 February. (0) There was no contact. She unloaded her cargo of wheat in Waterford on 2 March and then went again for a further wheat cargo from St John for Waterford. (54) During the war, she completed 18 such voyages.
On the morning of 16 March 1942, U-753 sighted a lone ship, south-west of the Rockall Bank (the Irish Willow), and prepared to sink her until they saw her neutral markings (the Irish tricolour and the word EIRE) At 2 pm U-753 (55) surfaced and signaled “send master and ship’s papers”. As Captain Shanks was born in Belfast and could be regarded as British, this was considered unwise. (56) Chief Officer Henry Cullen, with four crew as oarsmen went instead. (17C) In the conning tower he explained that his captain was too elderly[note 10]Captain Shanks was 39 years old.[/note] for the small boat. He spoke about Ireland’s neutrality. He reminded them that the next day would be Saint Patrick’s Day. He sensed that he was making progress when tumblers of schnapps were produced in honour of Saint Patrick. (57) But then the Germans, who seemed embarrassed and apologetic, said that they were awaiting instructions whether or not to sink the ship; they would, however, fire a red flare five minutes beforehand if they were to sink the Irish Willow. Cullen and the oarsmen returned to their ship. They were given a bottle of cognac, to take back “for the crew”. (57A) There was an anxious wait until eventually the U-boat fired a green flare.
36 hours after the attack they sent another SOS. The Irish Willow heard this SOS, she responded and headed towards the scene. (71) The Irish Willow replied, asking how long they could hold out. Captain Thomson of the Empire Breeze estimated six hours. Captain Shanks of the Irish Willow replied “Coming to you – with you in about five hours”. The fog became denser and visibility reduced to zero. Rather than plotting locations, (dead reckoning) the Irish Willow was using direction finding equipment; (70A) she was travelling towards the SOS signal: It was dangerous for the Irish Willow. They knew the direction to take, but did not know the distance. Travelling in fog, they could collide with the Empire Breeze, or endanger survivors in the water. Extra look-outs were posted along her bow and whistles were sounded every two minutes. The repeating SOS messages could attract U-boats, seeking to “finish the job”, (72) and if such a U-boat found the Irish Willow at the scene, its attitude could be quite different to that encountered on 16 March.
On 4 September 1942, the Munster Express, newspaper published an interview with Captain Thomson “We are very pleased to land in Eire, and we certainly could not have found a better landing”.
There were some fortunate or “lucky” crewmen on the ”Irish Willow”.
James Brown of Arklow had served on the City of Waterford. She was on the “Lisbon run”.[note]This route arose from the American neutrality act. American ships would not go to Ireland. Irish cargoes, such as: fertiliser, machinery and tobacco, were brought to Lisbon. it was up to the Irish to collect.[/note] She was in convoy OG-74 and collided with the tug Thames and sunk.
James Brown was on the companion way with Captain Thomas Aplin and Edward Kearney. They both died. James was thrown into the sea and was rescued by HMS Deptford. He was transferred to the convoy rescue ship Walmer Castle. Then the Walmer Castle was bombed and sunk, 31 died including 5 survivors from the City of Waterford. James Brown survived. He was then assigned to the Kyleclare, also on the Lisbon run. The Kyleclare traveled out-of-convoy. He made eight “Lisbon runs”. He fell off a ladder and fractured bones in his hand. He was not aboard when U-456 fired three torpedoes sinking the Kyleclare and killing all 18 aboard. Kapitanleutnant Max Teichert claimed that he did not see Kyleclare’s neutrality markings until it was too late as she was so low in the water, listing to starboard and his periscope was awash.
Lawrence Burke was a regular member of the crew of the Irish Pine but he was not on her final fatal voyage. He was then a regular member of the crew of the Kyleclare, but again he was absent from her last tragic voyage.
Guy Travers Lee, Chief Officer on the Willow, had been chief officer on the Pine. He also missed that final voyage. He had been sitting exams to obtain his Master’s ticket.
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