military equipment. Plans were made right away to ''pirate" the ship, called the "Upnor" on the high sea. Consequently, and first of all, a tender under the command of Captain Collins was commandeered in Cobh. Leaving at the appointed time, the tender carried, amongst others, Dan Donovan, O.C. Operations, Cork 1 Brigade, Michael Murphy, O.C., 2nd Battalion, Tom Crofts, Vice O.C., 1st Battalion, and Corney Sullivan. They overtook the "Upnor" which was hailed and ordered to "heave-to", and which was then boarded. Throughout this manoeuvre, a machine gun, as well as some rifles had been kept trained on the sloop. The British Captain protested and promptly called our action "piracy on the high seas" but after Mick Murphy jabbed a .45 colt automatic right under the Captain's chin, there were no further protests from him. The sloop was ordered to turn around and we then escorted her to Ballycotton, the harbour we had previously agreed upon. Transportation of the arms by lorries had also been previously arranged, and I was given instructions by Sean Hegarty to take charge of the operation. That day we commandeered eighty lorries and four steam lorries in all for the transport. [85] Our convoy proceeded along East Cork, and at 3 a.m. while we were giving out the meagre rations of bread and cigarettes, we got the great news that the "Upnor" had been intercepted, so, right away, we set off for Ballycotton. The sloop was quickly unloaded of all the useful munitions and equipment stored on board and, after she was emptied, the lorries were sent on their way back with an armed guard of at least four men to each lorry. Tim Hobbs then took me back to Cork on his motor cycle but, suddenly, it was discovered that Captain Collins of the tender had left his Pipes after him, of all places at the Ballycotton Hotel! It was Tim and I who were singled out to turn right round, go back, and get those pipes, as it was felt that we could do much better than the Captain who might run into a British patrol on the way! Good soldiers we were, we accepted that order without a word of complaint but the choice little epitaphs we expressed in our minds remain better unrepeated! As can be imagined, the capture of the "Upnor" created big newspaper headlines and was much criticised by the Provisional Government's Free State Party members. Some of them even tried to give the impression that the British had actually handed the sloop over by previous arrangement. (Some time before this De Valera had withdrawn from the Dáil. He stated his reasons for doing so and proclaimed his opposition to the Treaty and that, because of it, he could not recognise the Provisional Government. Sad to say, he was back in the same Dáil and in Leinster House, in 1927, when he fully recognised that same Treaty he had previously rejected. One often wonders what course history might have taken, had he and his party stayed on in Leinster House in 1922?) In the ranks of the Provisional Government there was only the one party which recognised the Treaty, that was the Labour party and some Unionists, consequently the whole criticism about the capture of the "Upnor" were obviously strongly biased. It was around that time that severe pogroms were being carried out in Belfast by Orange gunmen, and Catholics were being openly, and secretly, murdered in the most shocking manner. Just to mention one family, the McMahon’s, I knew the father very well, and he and five of his sons were murdered in cold blood right in his own home and all at the same time. Sir Henry Wilson, one of the five men responsible for sending the Black and Tans to Ireland, was [86] also one of the instigators of these vicious pogroms. Furthermore, he was one of the men who helped to organise the infamous "Cairo gang" of British officers who were sent to Ireland to assassinate our Leaders. Lucky for us, and unfortunate for them, Michael Collins caught up with them and wiped them out on Bloody Sunday, November 1920 Wilson had, what can at only be termed the hatred of a paranoid fanatic of all things Irish. When in London in February 1921, I heard from two men whose complete confidence I had and, who were in charge of the operation, of the plan to eliminate Wilson. Later, in December I again met the O.C. as also Reggie Dunne and Joe Sullivan. I knew Reggie from my previous visit. It appeared to me then, as it still does now, that Reggie Dunne and Joe Sullivan were so deeply enraged at the murders being committed in Belfast and all over the North, and at the dastardly actions of Wilson “the driving force behind the scenes" that they decided then and there to deal with him. Well, they did, and most effectively so! In this connection I must mention here that, many years later, I read a book by the author Rex Taylor, dealing with the elimination of Wilson and the action of Reggie and Joe. I was shocked to see published in that book, the last letter, allegedly written by Reggie Dunne.
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