SS Dundalk Sinking 1918

By 3 August 1914, Britain was at war, and John Redmond encouraged enlistment by the Irish Volunteer Force to defend the Home Rule Bill, then completing the parliamentary process. Recruitment in Louth was slow until November 1914 when soldiers’ pay was improved, but by the end of 1915 enlistment had dried up and never recovered. Approximately 3,000 men from Co Louth participated in the Great War, of whom 850 were killed, the dead included about 60 merchant seamen. The crew of SS Dundalk fought off a U-boat attack in December 1917 but on 12 October 1918, she was torpedoed and sunk while on a voyage from Liverpool. Twenty members of the crew, mostly Dundalk locals, were killed, and twelve survived.

The contribution of merchant seamen to the war effort was recognised by the British Admiralty and campaign medals were issued to those who voyaged through ‘dangerous waters’ during the war.

SS-Dundalk-Sinking-1918