Ceann Trá a hAon (Ventry One)
by
Bearnard Ó Lubhaing (Bernard Long)
1998
Translated from Irish into English by the author
On a foggy evening in October 1939 an event took place
which brought the War to our doorstep when a German U-Boat sailed into Dooneen
at the mouth of the harbour at about 4 O'clock in the afternoon. The news
spread wildly and following on my father's reporting of the arrival of a
submarine on our doorstep to the superintendent of the Garda Siochana in Dingle
we children raced along the road in the direction of Stephen's Point about one
mile to the east. The U-Boat was anchored about 30 yards from the rocky shore
and the crew of the Greek cargo ship, the Diamantes, was being ferried ashore,
four at a time, in a rubber dinghy. The U 35 had sunk the Diamantes by firing 3
torpedoes into her having first rescued the crew of 28 who had abandoned ship.
Because it was still early days in the War the German
sea-captains were chivalrously rescuing the crews of sunken vessels and putting
them ashore at convenient neutral points. This was how it came about that U 35
sailed unconcernedly into Ventry Harbour and landed its captive crew in broad
daylight. The whole operation was completed in an hour and before the Garda
arrived to investigate the U-Boat had already sailed a few hundred yards out
the mouth of the harbour and submerged in full view. The Greek sailors were brought
to the Dingle District Hospital and we collected empty cigarette packs and
chocolate wrappings that were left on the rocks as souvenirs of the occasion.
Before the valiant captain bade goodbye to the Greeks
the story later circulated that he advised them that Michael Long of Dingle
would look after them. Michael had a pub at the head of the Quay where Máire de
Barra's Pub is today and he was also Lloyd's Agent in Dingle. The story goes
that the German captain had holidayed in Dingle before the War when he had
become acquainted with Michael, hence his parting message to have a pint of
Guinness in the Pub and tell Mikey Long that he was asking for him. A Dingle story!
Those were early days as I said. With the passage of
time, as the War in the Atlantic deepened in ferocity and ruthlessness all that
came in on the tide were the corpses of the drowned sailors picked clean by the
seagulls. The noble captain and crew who sailed their submarine to within a few
yards of that dangerous and savage coast returned to Ireland some years ago and
re-visited the scene of his humane and courageous act. He quaffed a few pints
in Mikey Long's Pub and visited the hospital where a memorial plaque had been
unveiled by a grateful Greek Government in memory of the kind deed and the
sailors whom he had rescued from the sea on that Winter day of long ago.