The Irish Beech
The third ship acquired by the company was also by far the oldest vessel
in the wartime fleet. Built in 1884 at Hamburg and named Hungaria,
the Cetvrti was originally designed as a sailing ship but was
completed as a steamship by her German builders, Reiherst 'g Schiffan.
She had a deadweight of 3,150 tons and was trading under the Yugoslav
flag when purchased in April, 1941. The vessel was on passage from the
Faroe Islands to Bilbao in Spain in December, 1940, with a cargo of
2,000 tons of dry salt cod fish when she came under air attack. Her
crew abandoned the ship off the south coast of Ireland where she was
sighted by the Irish Marine Service patrol vessel Fort Rannock and
a boarding party was sent to examine the drifting ship.The Cetvrti
was taken in tow by the Fort Rannock and brought to an anchorage
in Valentia Harbour. In the meantime, the Yugoslav crew had landed safely
in Valentia and in nearby Ballinskelligs.
Following the salvage of the Cetvrti the Jugoslav owners of the
ship were ordered by the High Court in Dublin to pay £5,000 in settlement
of claims made by the Master and crew of the Fort Rannock and by
the Minister for Defence and the Attorney General.
The Chief Engineer on the Fort Rannock on that occasion was Tom Barry of Dublin, who joined Irish Shipping Limited in January, 1949 and was Chief Engineer on the second Irish Plane for her maiden voyage in December, 1949. Subsequently, he served as Chief Engineer on the coastal tanker, Irish Holly, for a number of years prior to his retirement in 1968.
The Cetvrti was purchased from her Yugoslav owners for £58,000 and renamed Irish Beech, (Pictured right).in May, 1941. She underwent extensive repairs at Liffey Dockyard Ltd., at a further cost of £38,000, prior to going into service for the company. She eventually sailed from Dublin on 15th October, 1941, for St. John to load grain and paraffin scale for Dublin where she arrived on 20th December to complete her first round voyage for Irish Shipping Limited.
The Irish Beech made several voyages to St. John, New Brunswick to load wheat, tea and other essential supplies for Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Limerick. In September, 1942, she brought tobacco to Sligo from St. John with Capt. Tom Templeton of Belfast as Master and with Nicholas J. Healy as Chief Engineer on that particular voyage. The vessel spent eleven days discharging at Sligo before proceeding to Rushbrooke for repairs which were completed in a further twenty-six days. Despite the age of the ship and her frequent visits to the dockyards for repairs, the Irish Beech completed eighteen voyages to St. John and ten cross-channel voyages for coal during her four years' service with Irish Shipping during the war.
In carrying out research for his excellent book on the wartime history
of the Irish mercantile marine, The Long Watch, Capt. Frank
Forde discovered details of an amazing escape for the Irish Beech
in an attack by a German U-Boat in March, 1943. The incident was recorded
in the U-Boat war diaries held in London and described the firing of a
torpedo by the German submarine at the Irish ship which was on passage
from St. John to Dublin. Most fortunately the torpedo passed under the
vessel's hull and those on board knew nothing of their very lucky escape.
The Irish Beech continued to trade in the immediate post-war years to British and Baltic Sea ports. In November, 1945, she was grounded for a short while on a mudbank in the Shannon on passage from Wales to Limerick with coal. However, she was re-floated without sustaining any material damage.
In January, 1948, major problems with the ship's boilers led to the decision to sell the vessel to the Hammond Lane Foundry where she was scrapped after sixty-four years of distinguished service. Capt. Tom Donohoe of Dungarvan was Master of the Irish Beech on her final voyage.