Seizure of drug-smuggling ships shows value of security

THE setting-up of a maritime task group in the Army Ranger Wing, which will be based at the naval base on Haulbowline Island, is a further reflection of increasing concern about marine security.

The Army Ranger Wing is considered to be the most elite unit of the Defence Forces.

A decision has been made to restructure and develop it, under the new name of a Special Operations Force.

The maritime sphere is just one aspect of planned changes, but an important one in times of world turbulence and a future in which the protection of maritime resources, particularly for this island nation at the extremity of Europe, will be essential. This in addition to increasing challenges such as the use of shipping to move drugs into and through Ireland.

Under the changes to the Army Ranger Wing there is expected to be a land-based specialist group and an air task one in addition to maritime.

The operation to capture the cocaine-carrying bulk carrier, MV Matthew — still detained at Marino Point in Cork Harbour — underlined the necessity for maritime security. The proposed new maritime task group will also be trained in underwater security and protection systems.

While this is a welcome development, Government attention should also be paid to urgently dealing with the continuing problem of personnel shortages in the naval service itself. From contacts and discussions, it is quite clear that, even with promised improvements, service in the maritime sphere must be made more attractive to increase recruitment.

Contacts of mine in the shipbroking world (those who sell ships) estimate that the value of the MV Matthew could be as much as €8m.

AMAZING ASPECTS OFCORK PORT HISTORY

This is a time of the year when there is a tendency to recall past times, one of which it is hard to envision is that there were 300-400 foreign fishing boats in Blackrock.

In the history of Cork Port, there is a record that a plea was made from local people to the Council of Edward VI, who was King of England and Ireland from 1547 until 1553, for “the building of a strong bulwark at Blackrock for the protection of cod and an end to the practice whereby foreign fishermen could work off Kinsale and Youghal as well as Cork.” The historian/writer FH Tuckey is quoted from The County and City of Cork Remembrancer 1837 as referring to a certain “John Dee who claimed to have seen in his time, Blackrock fished by three or four hundred sail of Spaniards and Frenchmen”.

Walking the pleasant location of Blackrock, it is hard to image that!

Mary Leland wrote That Endless Adventure: A History of the Cork Harbour Commissioners (2001) which I have been reading over the holiday period. It has fascinating accounts of aspects of the harbour’s history which I had not known, such as the ‘Flight of the Wild Geese,’ a term used to describe the departure of some of Patrick Sarsfield’s Irish Jacobite forces from Ireland after the signing of the Treaty of Limerick in October 1691.

I didn’t know that they left from Cork, in ships which were at a then quayside at the Lower Road on the entrance to the city.

The book describes scenes there as Sarsfield’s troops were boarding ships to go to France under the terms of the Limerick Treaty: “The wives, mothers and children who followed their march from Limerick clustered desperately around the ships, holding onto the hawsers, clutching the rope ladders and gangplanks in wild and futile efforts either to get onboard or to prevent departure. The last boat shifted from the quay, dragging with it screaming women still clinging to the ropes. Others had cast themselves distraught into the river and were dragged under by the ship’s wake … all in the view of men on the decks whose last view of Ireland was clotted by shrieks of terror and anguish.” That is quite a memory of Cork to recall on the Lower Road!

The ‘Flight of the Wild Geese’ should not to be confused with the ‘Flight of the Earls in 1607.’

THE RESCUE YEAR

The ‘Year in Figures’ issued by the Irish Coast Guard for 2023 shows that August was was the busiest month for emergencies. Other notable figures include that:

44 Coast Guard units were mobilised on 1,278 separate occasions;

Coast Guard helicopters conducted 796 missions;

RNLI lifeboats were called out 850 times;

Community inshore rescue service boats were tasked on 76 occasions;

Critical assistance was provided to 665 people;

Coast Guard helicopters conducted 174 air ambulance flights in support of offshore island communities.

A NEW PODCAST

On Friday I launched a new podcast. The first interview is with the new chief executive of the Marine Institute, the State research agency, Rick Officer who takes up duty this month. He outlines the approach he will take as CEO.

Also on the podcast, which is available on all major podcast platforms, Cork sailor David Dwyer told me about his yacht Swuzzlebubble — recovered from being a wreck in Greece, and 10 years later brought to Leeside and winning the top sailing award of ‘Irish Boat of the Year’ — and why young sailors were crucial to its success.

• Tom MacSweeney’s podcast will be released on the first Friday of every month and will also be available on the network of local community radio stations around the country.