Memorandum by Joseph P. Walshe

This memorandum should be read in conjunction with Mr. Boland's, also attached to this file.¹

At 1.30 a.m. on the morning of the 1st January, Sir John Maffey rang me up at my home telling me that his Office had received a telegram which was being decyphered. It was already clear from that telegram that the 'Kerlogue'² was coming into an Irish port with a large number of German survivors from the Biscay battle on board. Maffey was very excited and somewhat dictatorial in his attitude. He said he understood how awkward it would be for us to have to deal with these sailors, and he considered that we ought to give instructions to the 'Kerlogue' to proceed at once to Fishguard and to avoid coming into an Irish port. Failing that, she should be told to hand the men over to a British destroyer, which could be sent to meet her whether she was in port or not. I replied that the 'Kerlogue' was probably already in port. I had not yet learned the nationality of the survivors, but I should be very much surprised that the 'Kerlogue' should have picked up a lot of German sailors and brought them such a distance without the knowledge of a great many British destroyers and 'planes. As for his suggestion that we should ask the boat to go on into Fishguard, it seemed to me to be quite impossible. We had been told quite definitely that the survivors were in a very exhausted condition and that neither they nor the crew of the 'Kerlogue' had any food or water for a considerable time. Moreover, as he could well understand, there was not covering enough for all these men on such an extremely tiny boat. I also felt that the suggestion to send them on to Fishguard, which would involve another ten hours agony could hardly be entertained. It would not redound to the credit of either his Government or ours if we treated these victims of a sea battle with such cruelty, and I thought that if he asked for detailed instructions from the Admiralty they would prefer to see the ordinary chivalry of the sea exemplified in this case than to risk being accused of what would be unnecessary cruelty. However, I said I would do my best to find out further information and would talk to him later on in the night.

At the end of our conversation, Maffey asked me for an assurance that they would be interned if they were landed on our territory. I replied that I felt certain that that was the intention of the Taoiseach.

I then spoke to Colonel Bryan, told him of my conversation with Maffey and asked him to inform his Minister who doubtless would immediately give to my Minister all the information at his disposal up to that moment. Immediately after talking with Colonel Bryan, Norman Archer, Secretary of the British Legation, called me up (2.50 a.m.) and read me the text of the telegram. The main point in the telegram was, textually, the 'Kerlogue' was putting into Dun Laoghaire (sic) with 126 survivors from German destroyers. That message, Archer said, had been received from the 'Kerlogue' at 12.30 a.m. Archer asked me to find out the latest position and to let him know. He said he hoped very much the men would be sent on to Fishguard. Having repeated more or less what I had said to Maffey, I promised to give him news later.

About 3 a.m., Colonel Bryan rang me back and told me that the survivors were actually being landed and that his Minister had given the fullest information to the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach had given instructions that everything possible should be done through the Army and the Red Cross to succour the survivors on landing. I then rang Archer and told him that the men had landed.