The Capture of the Upnor

Introduction from Chronology

Forces under Sean O'Hegarty - Commandant Cork No. 1 Brigade - capture British ship Upnor which had a cargo of military supplies which it was bringing back to England and land them at Ballycotton pier. 

More Detail

According to Hart, some 400 rifles, 700 revolvers, 30 machines guns and 25,000 rounds of ammunition were got from the Upnor.    Neeson gives much larger figures (and a quite detailed account of this escapade).    Curran says that Collins was extremely upset over this incident as he thought the British were trying to ferment a civil war for their own purposes.  (Sean O'Hegarty would remain neutral during Civil War but, at this point, he was on the anti-Treaty side.)

On April 4th, Churchill told the British cabinet that “The Queenstown episode clearly shows that we are in contact with revolutionaries who will stop at nothing, who are capable of brilliantly conceived operations”.

Tom Mahon has written a detailed account of this incident in his book The Ballycotton Job (published in 2022).  As well giving a detailed account of the incident itself, he also gives background information on key members of the Cork No. 1 Brigade of the IRA.

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