When I started writing this story (September 2013), I hoped
that people with knowledge and/or memories of lightships in general and
Cormorant in particular, would get in touch and add to the story. I post each
chapter on this blog and on three nautical-type websites.
Over 1,000 people view each weekly chapter on the four sites and the 21 month total
has passed 74,000. In spite of this
interest, the feedback has been rather sparse, but then I suppose that people
with knowledge and/or memories of lightships prior to WWII must also be very
sparse! I am very grateful to those who have responded. However, researchers
and historians are continually delving into the past and unearthing previously
lost or forgotten facts, which may or may not be relevant to their field. I did
wonder when I found the Trinity House record of Winston Churchill being fined
one shilling for smoking at a board meeting, whether any of his biographers
knew of the incident.
Well, out of the
blue, I have been contacted by Dr Eoin Kinsella of the University College
Dublin. He is currently working for the Commissioners of Irish Lights, putting
together a history of the Commissioners during the revolutionary decade in
Ireland (c.1912-22). It seems that, in 1916, Cormorant was requisitioned by the
Royal Navy to temporarily house some rebel prisoners. It was for only one night
and they were taken off to Dublin the next day. It does seem a lot of trouble
to go to and I wonder if they were rebels of importance. The documentation
found by Dr Kinsella was in the very formal style of the time – I wonder if
anyone today uses the phrase “I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant” !
Photo 101 shows one of the original
documents and as it is quite faded I have transcribed it below.
Irish
Light Stores
Kingstown
Co.
Dublin
Date 3rd May 1916
Sir,
I
beg to report
that on the
afternoon of 1st inst, I
received a visit
from the Naval Commander here stating
that the Captain
in Charge of
the Naval Base
at Kingstown required
the use of
one of our
Lightships in the
Harbour here for
purposes of their
own services.
I took
the Officer over
to the “Petrel”
and “Cormorant” and he
decided on the latter vessel and asked
that a
few small matters
such as securing
latches and putting
some loose material
away should be
carried out which I
had done. Some few
men were sent
on board during the night in charge of a Guard from the
Naval ship in the Harbour,
and next day the
Prisoners were removed
and the vessel
was not further
required as will
be seen by the
enclosed letter.
I am,
Sir,
Your
obedient Servant,
Superintendent
The
Secretary,
Irish Lights Office,
Dublin.
The enclosed letter referred to by Mr
Foot is a letter from the Navy saying they have no further use for Cormorant as
the prisoners have been moved to Dublin (Photo 102).
Next year is the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising and there will no
doubt be a great deal of interest in that era which, I hope, will yield further
revelations on Cormorant’s past. I intend to approach the Admiralty to see
whether any records of that period still exist and whether the names of those
special prisoners can be ascertained. A long shot? Yes it is, but who would have thought that I
would be able to find out the name of the tugboat skipper who towed Cormorant
from Dublin to Belfast in 1943 ? (Mr
John Cooper).
David
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