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.