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Irish Mercantile Marine during World War II

For a timeline of these events, see Irish maritime events during World War II.

Seaman's Memorial, Dublin

The Irish Mercantile Marine during World War II continued essential overseas trade in the conflict, a period referred to as The Long Watch by Irish mariners.[1][note 1]

Irish merchant shipping saw to it that vital imports continued to arrive and exports, mainly food supplies to Great Britain, were delivered. Irish ships sailed unarmed and usually alone, identifying themselves as neutrals with bright lights and by painting the Irish tricolour and EIRE[note 2] in large letters on their sides and decks.[2] Nonetheless, twenty percent of seamen serving in Irish ships perished, victims of a war not their own: attacked by both sides, though predominantly by the Axis powers. Often, Allied convoys did not stop to pick up survivors,[3][4] while Irish ships regularly answered SOS signals and stopped to rescue survivors, irrespective of which side they belonged to. Irish ships rescued 534 seamen.[note 3]

At the outbreak of World War II, known as "The Emergency",[note 4] Ireland declared neutrality and became more isolated than ever before.[9] Shipping had been neglected since the Irish War of Independence. Foreign ships, on which Ireland's trade had hitherto depended, were less available; neutral American ships would not enter the "war zone". In his Saint Patrick's Day address in 1940, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera lamented:

"No country had ever been more effectively blockaded because of the activities of belligerents and our lack of ships..."

Ireland was a net food exporter. The excess was shipped to Britain. The Irish Mercantile Marine ensured that Irish agricultural, and other, exports reached Britain, and that British coal arrived in Ireland. Some foods such as wheat, citric fruits and tea were imported. Ireland depended on, mainly, British tankers for petroleum.[note 5] 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.

"Cross-channel" trade, between Ireland and Britain, was from both national perspectives, the most important Irish trade route. Irish ships crossed the Atlantic on a route defined by the Allies: a line from Fastnet Rock to the Azores and then along the line of latitude at 38° North.[10] Ships on the "Lisbon-run", imported wheat and fruits from Spain and Portugal, as well as goods transhipped from the Americas. They followed the line of longitude at 12° West, while Allied convoys to Gibraltar were 20° West.[11]

There were never more than 800 men, at any one time, serving on Irish ships in the war.[12]

  1. ^ Forde, (1981). The Long Watch.
  2. ^ Fisk, (1983). In Time of War, page 273, "Up to four huge tricolours were painted on the sides of each ship together with the word EIRE in letters twenty feet high".
  3. ^ Gleichauf, (2002). Unsung Sailors, page 115.
  4. ^ Sinclair, (2001). Blood and Kin, page 561: "… or we're sitting ducks. So we sail past all these drowning sailors, and they call up to us, and we must sail on. I remember one crying, 'Taxi! Taxi!'. We didn't stop."
  5. ^ Fisk, (1983). In Time of War, page 276.
  6. ^ Forde, (1981). The Long Watch, page 143.
  7. ^ "Roxby". Ships hit by U-boats. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  8. ^ "Existence of National Emergency". Dáil debates. 77. Government of Ireland: 19–20. 2 September 1939. Retrieved 2 April 2010.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Ferriter, (2006). What If?, page 100: (Quoting Garvin) "Irish isolationism was a very powerful cultural sentiment at that time".
  10. ^ Spong, Irish Shipping Limited. 1982, page 10.
  11. ^ Forde, (2000). The Long Watch, page ii.
  12. ^ Forde, (2000). The Long Watch, page 129.


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