The Irish Poplar

The first vessel to be acquired by Irish Shipping Limited was the Greek ship, Vassilios Destounis, and her purchase for £142,000 from her owners, represented by Mr. E. P. Panas, was sanctioned at the company's first Board meeting on 21st March, 1941. The difficulties and frustrations experienced in the acquisition of this ship were typical of those encountered by the company in the case of almost all the vessels of the wartime fleet. She had been found abandoned off the coast of Spain by fishermen who brought her back to their home port of Aviles in northern Spain and were subsequently awarded £80,000 for the salvage of the ship. It transpired that the vessel had been attacked by a German aircraft before she was evacuated by her crew, leaving her cargo of 5,000 tons of grain still on board. The Vassilios Destounis had a deadweight of 6,050 tons. She was built at Hull in 1912 by Earles & Co. Ltd. and she was originally named " Withernsea"
Irish Poplar (Pictured left)
Capt. Matthew Moran of Wexford with two other Officers travelled to Aviles and took delivery of the vessel on 9th April, 1941. On examination they found that the ship had been plundered of all moveable objects and also that the ship's radio had been confiscated by the Spanish government. Eventually the necessary repairs were carried out and the equipment installed. Capt. Moran cabled the company to confirm that she was ready to sail. She only needed her Irish crew to take her to Lisbon where she was scheduled to load grain for Dublin. The crew were sent to Lisbon on the Palgrave Murphy vessel, City of Dublin, but they were not allowed to proceed on to Aviles because of Spanish doubts about Irish neutrality. A Spanish crew was signed-on to bring the vessel to Lisbon but further delay followed when the ship had to divert to Corunna for engine repairs and she did not arrive in Lisbon until 21st August, 1941.
Even then the vessel had to be drydocked for further repairs including repairs to the mainmast which had collapsed during loading operations.
When the ship was finally ready, the crew refused to sail as part of a British convoy because of fears of a German attack.. They eventually sailed out of convoy with clearly identifiable national markings which were floodlit at night. The Vassilios Destounis left Lisbon on 9th September, 1941, and arrived in Dublin on 8th October, 1941, to commence discharge of her grain cargo, exactly six months after the vessel had been delivered to Capt. Moran at Aviles.

Acting Chief Engineer on that first voyage for the company was Charles Hawkshaw of Bray, Co. Wicklow, her Chief Officer was Leo G. Kirwan of Dublin and P. J. Hennessy of Dalkey, Co. Dublin was Second Officer. A well-known crew member on that historic voyage of the first company ship was Desmond Branigan who is still very actively involved in maritime affairs and in the Maritime Institute of Ireland.

Following discharge and, having been re-named Irish Poplar, she sailed for St. John, New Brunswick on 20th December, 1941, on her first North Atlantic voyage for the company. She was still under the command of Capt. Moran and suffered severe deck damage on passage to her loading port where she had to undergo extensive repairs. She eventually sailed from St. John on 18th February, 1942, with grain, tobacco and general cargo for Cork where she arrived on 2nd March, 1942.

The Irish Poplar made several further voyages to St. John as well as one voyage in April, 1943, to Georgetown, Guyana, and St. Kitts in the Leeward Islands for sugar, arriving back for discharge at Cork on 11th June, 1943.

Pat Walker was third Engineer on that historic first voyage by an Irish Shipping vessel to the Caribbean Sea. The vessel also made a voyage from Cork to Lisbon in November, 1942, with Red Cross parcels and loaded grain in Lisbon for the return passage to Cork. Capt. J. F. Taylor was Master of the vessel for both of those voyages.

On 12th December, 1942, the vessel was involved in a tragic accident in Cork Harbour whilst proceeding to drydock at Rushbrooke. Two launches, a pilot launch and an examination launch, collided at the stern of the ship and became locked together. They were dragged under the stern, struck by the ship's propeller and sunk. Five men were lost as a result of the accident. They were William Duggan, Frank Lloyd, Frank Powell, Patrick Wilshaw and John Higgins, all from Cork

The Second and Third Officers on the Irish Poplar at that time were Dermot Murphy of Dublin and Horace Curtis of Cork. Sadly, Horace Curtis was later to lose his life in another tragic accident in Cork Harbour, whilst serving on an oil tanker.

The Irish Poplar completed eighteen transatlantic voyages during the war years to May, 1945, and continued in service until October, 1949. She was then sold to Turkish owners and renamed Taskopru and resold to other Turkish owners in 1952 changing her name to Mehmet. In April, 1961, she was scrapped at Split, in Yugoslavia, thus ending almost fifty years of eventful seagoing service.