|
|- |} 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.〔Forde, (1981). ''The Long Watch''.〕 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〔Éire is the Irish name for Ireland. From 1937 "Ireland" was the correct name for the country. Prior to that it was the "Irish Free State". British documents of the time, tended to use the word "Eire" while the USA used "Irish Republic". Churchill said "Southern Ireland".〕 in large letters on their sides and decks.〔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".〕 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 could not stop to pick up survivors,〔Gleichauf, (2002). ''Unsung Sailors'', page 115.〕〔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."〕 while Irish ships always answered SOS signals and stopped to rescue survivors, irrespective of which side they belonged to. Irish ships rescued 534 seamen. At the outbreak of World War II, known as "The Emergency", Ireland declared neutrality and became isolated as never before.〔Ferriter, (2006). ''What If?'', page 100: (Quoting Garvin) "Irish isolationism was a very powerful cultural sentiment at that time".〕 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 (Prime Minister) 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.〔As the Dublin registered Inver tanker fleet had been transferred to the British register.〕 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.〔Spong, ''Irish Shipping Limited''. 1982, page 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.〔Forde, (2000). ''The Long Watch'', page ii.〕 There were never more than 800 men, at any one time, serving on Irish ships in the war.〔Forde, (2000). ''The Long Watch'', page 129.〕 ==Background== Following independence in 1921, there was no state encouragement to develop the mercantile marine.〔McIvor, (1994). ''A History of the Irish Naval Service'', page 16: "Despite the decades of neglect by an agriculturally-oriented political establishment in Dublin, the Irish navy managed to function".〕 ''"Our new leaders seemed to turn their backs upon the sea and to ignore the fact that we are an island"''. Each year the fleet declined. In 1923, the merchant fleet consisted of 127 ships. This number dropped every year until 1939 when, at the start of World War II, the fleet numbered only 56 ships.〔Forde, (1981). ''The Long Watch'', page 1.〕 Only 5% of imports were carried on Irish flagged vessels.〔McIvor, (1994). ''A History of the Irish Naval Service'', page 85.〕 There were several reasons for this decline:〔Share, (1978). ''The Emergency'', page 94.〕 a consequence of the war of independence, a policy of self-sufficiency, the economic depression, the lack of investment〔Coogan, (2003). ''Ireland in the Twentieth Century'', page 251.〕 and government neglect.〔 Foreign ships, on which Ireland had hitherto depended, were withdrawn. "In the period April 1941 and June 1942 only seven such ships visited the country".〔Spong, (1982). ''Irish Shipping Ltd.'', page 11.〕 The war of independence (1919–1921), and the civil war (1921–1922) which followed it, left the country in near economic collapse. There had been destruction of industry and infrastructure.〔O'Halpin, (2008). ''Spying on Ireland'', page 27: "widespread destruction of roads, bridges, and railway lines".〕 Many industries relocated abroad. It was often cheaper to transport by sea, within Ireland, rather than using the poor road〔Wills (2007). ''That Neutral Island'', page 34: "Ireland's roads were amongst the most dangerous in Europe".〕 and rail networks. To take advantage of this commercial opportunity, new coasters〔Coaster: as the name implies, these ships were suited to travelling close to shore, between ports on the same island. They were suited for shallow waters, unsuited for the oceans. The assumption was that if a storm threatened they could promptly reach the safety of a harbour.〕 were acquired in the 1930s, intended to ply between Irish ports. These ships would be invaluable once hostilities began. Many of these small coasters were lost, particularly on the "Lisbon run", a voyage for which they were never intended.〔Somerville-Large (2000). ''Irish Voices'', page 201: "the heaviest losses occurring among the coasters who made the Dublin-Lisbon run".〕 The then Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Éamon de Valera advocated a policy of self-sufficiency. Foreign imports were discouraged. "It was an important status symbol in the modern world for a country to produce her own goods and be self-sufficient."〔Dwyer, (1982). ''de Valera's Finest Hour'', page 81.〕 The global economic depression of the early 1930s impacted upon Ireland less because of the partial recovery following the civil war and because industry was protected behind tariff barriers established in the Anglo-Irish Trade War (1932–1938). The need for extra sea capacity was readily met by British and other foreign ships. Foreign ships were used, rather than preserving the home fleet. Banks were reluctant to lend to Irish industry,〔Ó Gráda, (1997). A rocky road: the Irish economy since the 1920s, page 66: "In the post war period much of the criticism centred on the assets held by the bank in British government paper. Why could not the banks invest this money in creating jobs in Ireland instead?"〕 preferring British government gilts. Although there was state support for many industries, this did not extend to shipping. In 1933 de Valera's government established the Turf Development Board, turf became Ireland's primary source of fuel during the emergency years and was stockpiled as imported coal was in short supply. In 1935 civil servants in de Valera's own department warned him of the consequences a war would have on the importation of fuel. He ignored that warning.〔Coogan, (2003). ''Ireland in the Twentieth Century'', page 247.〕 Earlier, in 1926 the Ports and Harbours Tribunal was initiated.〔 The tribunal received "abundant evidence" of "inefficient, uneconomic and extravagant management". It submitted a report in 1930 with recommendations which were not implemented until after the war. The tribunal observed "the public generally do not, we fear, appreciate the importance of our harbours ...".〔Gilligan, (1988). ''A History of the Port of Dublin'', page 166, "a further factor extended responsibility for this situation to the government, namely its tardiness in dealing with the recommendations of the tribunal, since a bill such as proposed did not come before the Oireachtas for another fifteen years".〕 Vickers-Armstrongs liquidated their subsidiary Vickers (Ireland) Ltd. on 15 November 1938; their Dublin Dockyard had ceased operation in 1937.〔Sweeney, (2010). ''Liffey Ships'', page 197.〕 On 2 September 1939 the ''"realisation dawned on Ireland that the country was surrounded by water and that the sea was of vital importance to her"''.〔Gray, (1997). ''The Lost Years'', page 33.〕〔McIvor, (1994). ''A History of the Irish Naval Service'', page 71.〕〔Share, (1978). ''The Emergency'', page 94:attributed to Captain T. MacKenna.〕 By this point, however, British wartime restrictions on shipping were already in place. Historian Bryce Evans has shown that the critical failure of Sean Lemass and others to establish an Irish mercantile marine in the 1930s would exacerbate Irish supply problems in the Second World War.〔Bryce Evans, Ireland's Accursed Seablindness: the early lack of a Merchant Marine accessible at history hub.ie, Evans, 'Sean Lemass Democratic Dictator (2011)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Irish Mercantile Marine during World War II」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|