Good Friday, 1916. The Aud and her cargo of rifles was scuttled off Daunt’s Rock, near Cobh, at 9:28am. Roger Casement who had travelled from Germany on board a German submarine U-19, was captured when he arrived ashore in Kerry on Good Friday. Here’s a thread on the story:

Casement was never on the Aud. However he did meet the Captain, Karl Spindler in Berlin on 7 April 1916. The first undersea boat that Casement attempted to travel to Ireland on was U-20 on 12 April. A day and a half out to sea, the crank actuating the diving fins broke.

U-20 was forced to return to dock in Helgoland (a small island 29 miles off the German coast). She arrived at 5am on 15 April. Casement and his colleagues Robert Monteith and Daniel “Beverly” Bailey boarded another submarine U-19 which set off from Helgoland at 1:26pm on 15 April

U-19 weighed 650 tons, was 64 meters long and could travel at 15 knots at surface and 9.5 knots when submerged. She could only travel 80 miles undersea before having to surface so most of the journey to Kerry was at surface level.

U-19 was commanded by Raimund Weisbach. When he was an officer a year before, he fired the torpedo from U-20 (commanded then by Schwieger) that sunk the Lusitania in 1915. An event that cemented which side the US would take in WWI.

On 21 April, at 2:15am Casement, Monteith and Bailey disembarked U-19 onto a semi-collapsible dinghy. They rowed two miles to shore. They were capsized at the last minute and struggled ashore walking south on Banna Strand. Alas a local farmer witnessed the event....

The farmer told his nephew that it might be a “German invasion” and his nephew went to the RIC in Ardfert to tell inform them of the strange events. The police arrived around 1pm and arrested Roger Casement at McKenna’s Fort at Carrahane Strand (beside Banna Strand).

Now if you’re still with me here’s some information on The Aud. She had three names in her time. She was built in England in 1911 and was named the Castro and was owned by Thomas Wilson and Co. She was 250 feet in length and could travel at just under 10 knots, weighing 1,228 ton

When war broke out in Europe in 1914 The Castro was captured by the Germans in Kiel Canal. The ship was was converted into an auxiliary naval cruiser by the Germans and renamed SMS Libau.

Captain Robert Monteith of Casement’s Irish Brigade was responsible for packing the rifles for the Libau. 20,000 Russian Mosin-Nagant M91 rifles in total. These had been captured by the Germans after the Russian surrender at the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914.

The rifles were packed into wooden crates, five in each box complete with bayonets, belts & ammunition pouches. 750 rounds (150 per rifle) were packed into each box. So 20,000 rifles and 3 million rounds of ammo. In addition ten machine guns and ammo for the Howth Mausers!

The Libau left Lübeck at 6pm on Sunday 9 April. Her crew of German seamen numbered 21 plus her Captain Karl Spindler. At sea she was name the Aud after an existing Norwegian ship of similar class. The German crew used ropes and planks to lower themselves over the side of the ship

The crew painted letters six feet high by torch light in the dark: AUD - NORGE. Norway was a neutral country and the ship would have to break through the British Naval Blocade of the North Sea so that’s why she was disguised as The Aud.

The orders for Captain Karl Spindler of the Aud were: “Leave port in such time that the vessel arrives in Fenit Harbour in the days from April 20th at the earliest and April 23rd at the latest” So she should arrive between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday.

The arms deal was organized by Casement in Germany. Of course in those days it was impossible to contact Dublin from Berlin during the War. So the German Embassy in Washington would contact John Devoy in New York who would send a trusted emissary to Dublin by sea with a message.

The IRB Military Council wanted the weapons to arrive just as the Rising broke out on Easter Sunday 23 April. However the German Foreign Office sent a message on 1 March 1916 sayi they would land the weapons between 20 and 23 April. John Devoy In New York replied “Irish Agree”

Then Devoy relayed the message to Dublin by passenger vessel. Pearse, Plunkett, Clarke and MacDiarmada decoded to send Philomena Plunkett (Joe’s sister) to New York with a message: “Arms must not be landed before the night of Sunday 23rd. This is vital. Smuggling impossible”

But by the time that message arrived in Berlin via the US, The Aud had already left for Ireland with the original orders. The Aud had no radio and Capt Spindler assumed all was well and arrived bang on time at 4pm on Holy Thursday 20 April off the coast of Kerry.

Meanwhile Con Keating, Daniel Sheehan and Charlie Monaghan, Colm O’Lochlainn and Denis Daly had traveled from Dublin to Kerry by train. They were picked up by two cars and driven towards Cahirciveen. Their job was to dismantle a wireless transmitter and reassemble it in Tralee.

They would then contact The Aud. But remember there was no radio receiver on The Aud. Anyway it was getting dark when the two cars lost each other. The second car stopped for directions which were misinterpreted. Sadly the driver Tom McInerney crashed Ballykissane Pier.

The driver managed to swim to safety but Con Keating from Caherciveen, Kerry, Dan Sheehan from Ballintubrid, Newcastle West, Limerick and Charlie Monaghan from the Market in Belfast we’re all drowned where the River Laune enters the sea at Ballykissane Pier.

So what of the Aud. Well she waited around until a naval trawler the HMT Setter II approached. Some of the crew boarded the Aud but Spindler convinced them they were just Norwegians and had some engine trouble. He invited the British for drinks and in fact left a little merrier.

Later HMT Heneage, 420 tons and armed with a 12 pounder and two machine guns came bearing down on the Aud as she manoeuvred around Tralee Bay. Spindler gave the order to steam doubts at full speed. For hours the Heneage kept up the chase and broadcast coordinates to the Navy.

The HMS Zinnia 1,200 tons capable of 16 knots and the HMS Bluebell (similar class to the Zinnia) fired a shot across the bow of The Aud. Spindler knew he was defeated and the British Navy escorts The Aud towards Cobh Harbour. But Spindler has other plans.

Karl Spindler Captain of the Aud abandoned ship on the morning of Good Friday 22 April. The crew of the Aud changed into their German uniforms. Spindler set some explosives to explode in the hull of the Aud and at 9:28am she was scuttled. I hope that clears things up for you!