Records shed light on first 1916 casualties

IT was not always recognised, but the first casualties of the 1916 Rising occurred in Kerry - three days before the real action got under way in Dublin.

Three men whose mission was to make contact with the German arms ship the Aud drowned after their car took a wrong turn and plunged into the sea near Killorglin. A fourth man survived the accident.

Witness statements made to a coroner’s court following the death of one of the victims, Con Keating, a farmer’s son from Caherciveen, give an insight into what happened on that fateful Good Friday night in Kerry on April 21, 1916.

The hand-written statements, which have recently come into the possession of Tralee local historian and antiques dealer Maurice O’Keeffe, are to be given to the National Library.

It is believed the plan was to use the equipment to set up a temporary station near Tralee to make contact with the Aud - which was scheduled to bring arms into Tralee Bay, but was intercepted by the British naval vessel and escorted to Queenstown (Cobh).

One of the cars travelling from Killarney took a wrong turn in Killorglin before going over the pier at Ballykissane.

Keating and two others - Donal Sheehan and Charles Monaghan, drowned - but the driver, Thomas McInerney, from Limerick, managed to get out and scramble ashore to the farmhouse of Timothy (Thady) O’Sullivan, about 60 yards from the pier.

In a statement to Coroner John O’Connell, O’Sullivan told how he was sitting at his fireside at about 9.45pm when he heard a motorcar passing and going towards the pier at what he thought was an average speed.

He heard splashing in the water and something like a moan. He lit a candle and went in the direction of the splashing.

A man (McInerney) in the water kept shouting for help and O’Sullivan kept shouting at him.

“The candle quenched and I saw the man soon after getting out of the water. He was out of breath and fell and was not able to speak for a few minutes. He appeared to be moaning,” he recalled.

Though it is not mentioned in the statement, when McInerney’s overcoat was recovered from the water a fully loaded revolver was found in the pockets.

The bodies of Keating and Sheehan were found the following day, Monaghan’s body was not found until October 1916, on an island near the pier.