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The Boarding of Lady Irene

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  • #1

    The Boarding of Lady Irene

    In 1991, a Royal Marine boarding party (possibly SBS) attached to the mine sweeper (colloquially known in north Louth as 'the gun boat') patroling the northern jurisdiction of Carlingford Lough entered Irish waters and boarded the yacht The Lady Irene. One of the marines took the helm of the craft but aparently had no idea how to sail it - or knew exactly what he was doing - and as the result of a jibbing manoeuvre swung the boom around and knocked one of the occupants unconcious. She was later taken to a hospital in Newry and a report was made to the RUC.

    If this is the incident I am thinking of - as there were many such incidents - the government's response was to send a Naval Service ship to patrol Carlingford. At the time it was a bizarre and fascinating sight to see the two ships patroling their respective jursidictions; does anyone on IMO know anything further or can anybody tell me what two ships (RN and NS) were involved?
    Cannon to right of them,
    Cannon to left of them,
    Cannon in front of them
    Volley'd and thunder'd;
    Storm'd at with shot and shell,
    Boldly they rode and well,
    Into the jaws of Death,
    Into the mouth of Hell
    Rode the six hundred.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    The Irish vessel was L.E Aoife not sure what the RN one was.
    Im pretty sure it was one of the Ton class .

    Comment

    • #3
      Originally posted by eelmonster
      One of the marines took the helm of the craft but aparently had no idea how to sail it - or knew exactly what he was doing - and as the result of a jibbing manoeuvre swung the boom around and knocked one of the occupants unconcious.


      Hmmmm, not so sure about that comment!!!

      Comment

      • #4
        What part are you not sure about: that the occupants of the yacht claimed it looked like he didn't know what he was doing; or, that I inferred he knew exactly what he was doing; or, that the occupant - Mrs. McGrady - wasn't knocked unconscious?

        I'm not so sure about the 'jibbing manoeuvre', Dermot was probably jazzing up the story.

        http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0408/D.0408.199105090084.html
        Cannon to right of them,
        Cannon to left of them,
        Cannon in front of them
        Volley'd and thunder'd;
        Storm'd at with shot and shell,
        Boldly they rode and well,
        Into the jaws of Death,
        Into the mouth of Hell
        Rode the six hundred.

        Comment

        • #5
          Originally posted by eelmonster
          What part are you not sure about: that the occupants of the yacht claimed it looked like he didn't know what he was doing; or, that I inferred he knew exactly what he was doing; or, that the occupant - Mrs. McGrady - wasn't knocked unconscious?
          http://historical-debates.oireachtas...105090084.html

          Yeah, checked out the Oireachtas report, it seems that according to the report the crew were uncooperative and so the skipper has to accept at least some responsibility for any inuries incurred, I mean deciding to repel boarders when they are Royal Marine Commandos/SBS and your vessel is crewed by unarmed civilians has gotta be one of the stupidest decisions ever made.

          I'm sure that they "CLAIMED" all sorts of things like he didn't know what he was doing (I'm pretty sure part of his training would have included small boat handling but maybe not yachts) or may have deliberately assaulted Mrs McGrady (we can guess as to his intentions but only that marine will ever know what he was thinking) although to manoeuvre the boom to hit someone coming from below decks would have taken a lot of skill and timing. Was she knocked unconscious?
          I wasn't there but I'm sure that the McGradys milked the injuries sustained to the full extent.

          Comment

          • #6
            Originally posted by Lt McCarthy
            The Irish vessel was L.E Aoife not sure what the RN one was.
            Im pretty sure it was one of the Ton class .
            I'd have thought one of the Hunt class - when were the Ton class decommissioned? i think most were out of service with the RN well before 1991. Great pic of Eithne by the way.
            Cannon to right of them,
            Cannon to left of them,
            Cannon in front of them
            Volley'd and thunder'd;
            Storm'd at with shot and shell,
            Boldly they rode and well,
            Into the jaws of Death,
            Into the mouth of Hell
            Rode the six hundred.

            Comment

            • #7
              "[...] it seems that according to the report the crew were uncooperative and so the skipper has to accept at least some responsibility for any inuries incurred"
              Yes, i can see that the skipper is obviously to blame, after all they were in the republic of ireland, why shouldn't they have been more cooperative with british royal marines demanding their identities and taking control of their vessel.

              i have heard of several incidents and incursions along the border (BA interpretation, 2 miles inside the irish republic in real terms) where members of the gs and irish army have had to escort heavily armed soldiers back to the UK. in the 80s a BA helicopter landed in the grounds of PJ Carrolls tabacco factory (which must be at least 15 miles from the border) and deposisted a number of insurgents - all of which was captured on security camera - then took off, leaving said 'visitors' behind. i don't think they were simply out of fags. just before christmas a BA helicopter landed on the irish side of the border and again unloaded a number of well-armed security personnel, a crowd gathered telling them they were in the south, when the soldiers told them to feck off a few locals began throwing stones. the helicopter was recalled and they all climbed back on, then flew further south hovered over a known republican's house who's wife said - and this is the best part - that she could see a soldier giving her the finger; the helicopter then flew back across the border. can you imagine the unionist uproar if a platoon of irish soldiers 'mistakenly' wandered into warrenpoint or the outskirts of newry! or if the naval service sailed over to the northern side of carlingford lough, and boarded wee jeff's pleasure cruiser and demanded that he sing them a few daniel o'donnell songs!
              Last edited by eelmonster; 19 January 2006, 14:17.
              Cannon to right of them,
              Cannon to left of them,
              Cannon in front of them
              Volley'd and thunder'd;
              Storm'd at with shot and shell,
              Boldly they rode and well,
              Into the jaws of Death,
              Into the mouth of Hell
              Rode the six hundred.

              Comment

              • #8
                Quote- can you imagine the unionist uproar if a platoon of irish soldiers 'mistakenly' wandered into warrenpoint or the outskirts of newry! or if the naval service sailed over to the northern side of carlingford lough, and boarded wee jeff's pleasure cruiser and demanded that he sing them a few daniel o'donnell songs!

                Actually such an incident did occur back in 1976 when members of the 5th/35th battallion football team who were on their way from monaghan to castleyblaney in an army truck,having got lost accidently crossed over in to the north.The red phone boxs were a giveaway and they were spotted by some locals.I recall it was reported on the RTE evening news that evening.Just as well they were not wearing Combatt gear.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Originally posted by eelmonster
                  I'd have thought one of the Hunt class - when were the Ton class decommissioned? i think most were out of service with the RN well before 1991. Great pic of Eithne by the way.
                  What pic of Eithne?
                  Where?

                  I remember Charlie Haugheys Yacht was also once boarded by the RM from the same vessel which was at the time permanently located in Carlingford Lough.

                  Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    i meant niamh.

                    it must have been the boarding of charlie's yacht, rather than the lowly irene, which sparked the ns intervention in carlingford.

                    just googled "royal marines" carlingford, and found that the RN (in their Hunt class vessel) are leaving their mooring at Carlingford as a permanent presence can no longer be justified. also saw that CH's yacht was boarded in 1990. so when did the naval service head north?
                    Last edited by eelmonster; 19 January 2006, 21:05.
                    Cannon to right of them,
                    Cannon to left of them,
                    Cannon in front of them
                    Volley'd and thunder'd;
                    Storm'd at with shot and shell,
                    Boldly they rode and well,
                    Into the jaws of Death,
                    Into the mouth of Hell
                    Rode the six hundred.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      IMO Discussion Board
                      http://irishmilitaryonline.com/board/showthread.php?t=742



                      SUPPORT THE SEARCH FUNCTION
                      Cannon to right of them,
                      Cannon to left of them,
                      Cannon in front of them
                      Volley'd and thunder'd;
                      Storm'd at with shot and shell,
                      Boldly they rode and well,
                      Into the jaws of Death,
                      Into the mouth of Hell
                      Rode the six hundred.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        That's copyrighted bud..

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          If it was the early 90's I think it would have been one of these. They were then replaced by River Class Minesweepers until their sale to Brazil. I don't think the Hunt class were converted for NI duties till about '96.

                          http://www.btinternet.com/~warship/Postwar/Patrol/bird.htm



                          The book 'Bandit Country' makes mention of Hms Cygnet being fired on by the barrett .50 whilst in Carlingford Lough. Unfortunately, I have given the book to someone, that would have dated when the ship was operating over here.

                          www.navyphotos.co.uk has a couple of photographs.
                          'History is a vast early warning system'. Norman Cousins

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            the profile/silhouette of the bird class is about right, if i can remember correctly - i was very young - and the river class looks very familiar. I had no idea the raf had their own boats/vessels, that's nuts.
                            Cannon to right of them,
                            Cannon to left of them,
                            Cannon in front of them
                            Volley'd and thunder'd;
                            Storm'd at with shot and shell,
                            Boldly they rode and well,
                            Into the jaws of Death,
                            Into the mouth of Hell
                            Rode the six hundred.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              They used to have a 'Marine Craft Unit' which operated small vessels to undertake search and rescue, target towing etc. It was disbanded about '86 and the target towing contacted out to civies.

                              Theres an association website, gives a bit of background. I knew an old fella who was in it, hence my interest.
                              'History is a vast early warning system'. Norman Cousins

                              Comment

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