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.