Three Irish Vessels are sighted from LOP63, SS Kyleclare, SS Moyalla and the Muirchu.

Below are recorded sightings from the LOP63 Logbooks.

SS Kyleclare.

incident 168, 30/07/40, 14.20 hrs. sighted Steamship Kyleclare 1 mile NW of post towing a yellow life boat Eastbound

The yellow lifeboat is from the Clanmenzies, Nationality British, ref website U-boat.net

At 02.15 hours on 29 July 1940 the unescorted Clan Menzies (Master William John Hughes) was hit aft by one G7e torpedo from U-99 sank sank by the stern after one hour about 150 miles west of Loop Head, Co. Clare. The ship had been spotted five hours earlier and missed with a first G7e torpedo at 02.03 hours. Six crew members were lost. The master and 87 crew members landed at Enniscrone, Co. Sligo.

SS Moyalla.

incident 763, 20/11/40, 14.25 hrs. Sighted SS Moyalla 2 miles NE of Post going in a westerly direction, Nat Irish, Vis Moderate, reported C.I.O.

Weather cloudy, sea rough, Fresh wind W. Visibility Moderate .

Murichu, patrol vessel.

incident 100, 29/06/40, 11.45 hrs. Sighted Muirchu 5 miles N of Post.Eastbound Nat. Eire Visibility poor. Informed C.IO. Weather fine, sea rough, Fresh west wind, Visibility Moderate.

Helga /Murichu was originally built for the Department of Agriculture in 1908 in a Dublin Dockyard and was pressed into war service as an armed yacht during the First World War, serving as an anti-submarine patrol and escort vessel. In 1915 it was taken over by the British Admiralty and became known as HMS Helga, classified as an ‘armed auxiliary patrol yacht’. Infamously involved with the shelling of Dublin City during the 1916 Rising.

After 1923, the Helga was renamed the Muirchu (Seahound) and taken over by the new Irish Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, followed by the Marine and Coastwatching Service in 1939. During WW2 Muirchu would patrol the three miles of coastal territory surrounding Ireland.

Documents courtesy of Military Archives, Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin.