Roger Casement
Roger Casement was born in Sandy Cove, Dublin in 1864, his parents were from both a Protestant and Catholic faith, they both died when he was young and an Aunt became his guardian. Part of his education was spent attending the Ballymena Academy. He would frequently stay with relatives on the north coast where he discovered Murlough Bay and this became one of his favourite locations. He refers to in a letter to his cousin Gertrude Bannister while awaiting execution in Pentonville prison and his wish to be laid to rest there. Roger Casement was tried and convicted of treason, sabotage and espionage against the Crown and sentenced to death by hanging which was carried out on August 3rd, 1916 after losing his appeal. In the context of history, his story connects to many events that happened around our shores during the late 19th and early 20th century.
He served a long and distinguished career in the British Foreign Service which he joined in 1882 and retired from due to ill health in 1912. During his career, he became British Consul for Mozambique (1895-98), Angola (1898-1900), Congo (1901-04) and Brazil (1906-11). He was internationally recognized for his Foreign Office work in exposing the exploitation of brutal labour slavery in the 'Congo Free State' by King Leopold of Belgium. The subsequent paper he published on the subject led to a restructuring of Belgium rule, similar work with the Putamayo Indians in Peru led to him receiving a Knighthood from the Queen in 1911. How he came to be tried and hung for treason surrounds his involvement with the Irish Volunteers which he joined shortly after his retirement in 1912, this would lead him to negotiate with officials of the German high command and place him in a stratigic role in the events leading up to the 1916 Easter Uprising in Dublin.
The start of the First World War in 1914 saw the issue of 'Home Rule' in Ireland being shelved for the duration of the war. The the Ulster Volunteer Force under the command of Sir George Richardson and the Ulster Unionist leader Edward Carson were instructed to join up and support Britain in its fight against Germany. John Redmond, the Nationalist leader, pledged his support for Britain in the war against Germany and urged the Irish Volunteers to join up and fight against Hitler. At the time the Irish Volunteers were under the Command of Eoin MacNeill (born in Glenarm), the call by Redmond to join up and fight Hitler with the Britain led to a split in the Irish Volunteers. A group numbering around 10,000 under Eoin MacNeill broke away from the estimated 200,000 membership. This breakaway group adhered to more hard-line principles and objectives, they were opposed to any support for Britain in any way.
Operating within the Irish Volunteers were a smaller group known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood, they had an inner army council whose members included Pearse, Plunkett, MacDiarmada, Ceantt and Clarke who were actively planning the Easter uprising in secret without consultation. It is widely believed that the leadership of the Irish Volunteers were unaware of the full extent of the Irish Republican Brotherhood's plans. Eoin MacNeill became aware of this shortly before the event and went along with it based on the knowledge that substantial support and arms were arriving from Germany. The IRB had devised an ambitious plan to involve Germany in the fight for Home Rule in Ireland, they hoped to persuade Germany into supplying arms and military officers to train the Irish Volunteers.
The Germans were not convinced by the overall plan or the ability of the IRB to undertake what they intended, they also had doubts Irish POW's in German prisons volunteering in substantial numbers to form an Irish Brigade to fight against Britain in Ireland. Roger Casements skills as a diplomat were crucial in these negotiations and through them he gained access and addressed hundreds of Irish POW's in Limburg Lahn prison camp where he outlined the proposals of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The Germans were cautious but realized the strategic potential an uprising in Ireland would have and how it could benefit their overall plans, effectively opening a back door and another front of attack. Casement succeeded in securing a token gesture from the Germans of 20,000 guns, ten machine guns and several million rounds of ammunition, a fraction of the 200,000 guns requested, he also recruited around 60 prisoners from Limburg Lahn.
The arms were dispatched to County Kerry aboard the ' Libau', this ship was originally named the 'Castro' and had previously belonged to a Hull company before being captured by a German torpedo boat at the outbreak of the war, it was renamed the 'Libua' and was docked at Hamburg. Captain Karl Spindler was selected for the mission and met in Berlin with Roger Casement and his companions to learn the objective of the voyage. The 'Libau' sailed from Hamburg to Luebeck where it was was loaded with the arms and ammunition then disguised to the finest detail as a Norwegian merchant ship (sea charts, maps, logs, bed linen and even canned food). Under the cover of darkness her name was changed to 'Aud Norge' and 'Bergen' was painted on her stern as her home port, the crew were recruited from the German Navy and sworn to secrecy, they too were disguised as Norwegian merchant sailors.
Casement had misgivings about sailing on the 'Aud Norge' so the German officials arranged a submarine to take him, Robert Monteith and Sgt. Daniel Bailey (a POW recruited at Limburg Lahn) back to Ireland. U20 under the command of Capt. Schweiger who had sunk the Lusitania off Kinsale on May 7th, 1915 had been scheduled to take them to Ireland and rendezvous with the 'Aud Norge' off Kerry, then steam into Tralee with the arms. However U20 developed rudder problems and the assignment was handed over to Captain Weissbach and U19. Incidently, Captain Weissbach had served under Captain Schweiger aboard U20 as a Torpedo Officer and was the man responsible for launching the torpedo that sank the Lusitania. Both were experienced submariners with excellent knowledge of the Irish coast. Captain Weissbach later commanded U80 and survived the war.
Flying the Norwegian flag, the 'Aud Norge' sailed around the north of Scotland and although seen by Royal Navy they passed unchallenged through the blockade between the Faroe Islands and Iceland. After a stormy voyage which saw them sheltering off Rockall, they finally arrived and anchored off the rendezvous point of Inishtooskert, County Kerry. Failing to find any shore contact, Captain Spindler moved slowly into Tralee Bay and then back to Inishtooskert. They then had direct contact with the Royal Navy auxiliary ship HMS Shatter whose Captain came aboard the 'Aud Norge', they had a drink and brief chat but their presence did not on the surface appear to raise any concerns - British intelligence was said to have known of the plan in advance and perhaps this was a ploy, on the other hand, the description of the 'Aud Norge' had not reached the patrols off Ireland, who were on the lookout for a well-armed and much larger ship.
The 'Aud Norge' had arrived off Kerry with no radio and was waiting for land signals - the reason no contact was made is often attributed to the fact that three IRB men had drowned when their car crashed off the pier at Ballykissane, apparently on their way to make this vital contact. Spindler waited until his fear of arousing suspicion led him to move offshore again, he was then intercepted by HMS Bluebell who immediately ordered him to follow them into Queenstown (Cobh, Cork). Knowing the game was up Captain Spindler gave the order for a pre-arranged plan which would scuttle the 'Aud Norge'. Charges were set, the crew put on their German naval uniforms, the German ensign was hoisted and the charges detonated off Daunt's Rock, all the crew surrendered and the 'Aud Norge' complete with cargo went to the seabed.
U-19 on failing to find the 'Aud Norge' eventually landed Casement, Monteith and Bailey by dingy in Ballyheige Bay, two nautical miles from where they finally came ashore. The dingy had a rough time coming in, it drifted until it eventually overturned in the surf on Banna Strand, Tralee. Casement who had been ill for some time before and was too weak to travel or run took refuge in McKenna's Fort while Bailey and Monteith tried to make contact with the local IRB. A local Constable discovered Casement and he was arrested and shortly afterwards Monteith and Bailey were arrested. Casement was taken to London where he was subsequently tried and convicted of treason, sabotage and espionage against the Crown. His appeal was unsuccessful and he was hung.
A petition had been made by many influential people in both England and the US including W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Arthur Conon Doyle, on the grounds of his distinguished career. The timing of the trail and nature of the charges combined with the horrendous loss of life British and Irish soldiers on the Western Front meant that public opinion was not in his favour, ever town in Ireland had lost young men. Before sentencing, copies of diaries appeared and were circulated, allegedly belonging to Casement and graphically recording homosexual practices. The authenticity of them is questionable and controversy still surrounds them, some experts believe them to be forgeries planted in his belongings to discredit him, others believe them to be authentic.
During his interrogation Casement had asked to be allowed to make a public appeal for the Easter Uprising to be called off, this was refused. Inspector Parker who was present at the interrogation supported this by saying "Casement begged to be allowed to communicate with the leaders to try and stop the rising but he was not allowed'. On Easter Sunday he once again asked and was refused. This would indicate that the government wanted the uprising to go ahead so they could be seen by the public to act against a conspiracy between the Germans and Irish Nationalists. On hearing the news that the 'Aude Norge' had been scuttled and no weapons were coming ashore, Eoin MacNeill countermanded his force of 10,000 men which had the effect of confining the Easter Uprising to Dublin.
In 1965 Roger Casement's body was exhumed and returned to Dublin where it was interred in Glasnevin Cemetery, he is remembered locally for his involvement in founding first Feis Na nGleann festival at Waterfoot in 1904, and chartered a ship to bring Rathlin islanders to the festival. The submarine U19, after taking Roger Casement to Kerry would pass by Murlough Bay several times on active patrol under Capt. Johann Speiss. Records show that on On 25th February 1918 she sank the 5,383 ton Santa Maria off Lough Swilly, on 26th February 1918 she sank the 4,880 ton Tiberia off Black Head near Larne and on March 1st, 1918 sank the 17,500 ton HMS Calgarian off Rathlin Island.