An Cosantóir

21 that year). The Dainty, 3 Motor launches, 2 Drifters 6 Mersey Class armed trawlers 6 Canadian (Castle) class armed trawlers. They were also five chartered motorboats for river patrol. Joe Vize, promoted to Major General in June 1923, commanded the new service and he brought with him fourteen army officers as a staff. Initially quartered at Portobello, Vize believed that the service should take over the former premises of the coastguard in Dun Laoghaire Harbour as headquarters of the new service. With four operational bases, nineteen armed seagoing vessels and plans for a new headquarters, the Coastal and Marine Service of the Irish Free State had got off to a good start. Apart from General Vize, the key person in establishing the new service was Capt Eamonn O'Connor, a Master Mariner, who was appointed Marine Superintendent. He was responsible for accepting delivery of the twelve trawlers, supervising any necessary repairs and ensuring that they were seaworthy. He was also responsible for training the seagoing personnel. These new recruits were almost all ex merchant seamen. Basic training in gunnery, musketry and footdrill was given before they embarked for sea going duties. Each trawler had a crew of captain, two officers, five deck Petty Officers, three engine POs and twelve ratings. The trawlers and the Dainty were soon operational with an emphasis on protection of Ireland's fisheries. The patrols also countered gun running and smuggling along Ireland's coasts. At times discipline was a problem as the ratings had to leave civilian habits behind. When TR 24 put in to Killybegs to refuel in July 1923 there was no stock of coal available. TR 27, also on patrol in the area, was ordered into the harbour and to transfer coal to her sister ship. The ratings on TR 27 refused to do the work and were subsequently paraded and fined. In another incident, Capt O'Connor had no difficulty in boarding M L 4, moored in Waterford. No sentry had been posted and the crew did not notice him coming aboard. Clearly instruction in naval discipline had not been adequate. Nevertheless, the service was making progress. By September 1923, the new service appeared to be settling in well. That month it featured prominently in the army magazine, An t-Óglach. The cover illustration was a fine photograph of the Tricolour being hoisted on board the Dainty. Inside featured a well-illustrated article 'A day with the Coast Patrol' which described 'a dash on the M L - 1' and a 'voyage on the Dainty from Haulbowline to Dublin'. The October issue followed with 'exclusive pictures of Haulbowline'. It seemed that the service was now an essential part of the Defence Forces of the state, but all was not what it seemed. The Department of Finance had not been happy with the expenditure of £87,000 on the purchase of the trawlers and with further expenditure on rearming the ships and some necessary repairs. In response to the Department of Finance, the Minister for Defence, Richard Mulcahy responded very defensively: 'We would never have suggested purchasing twelve trawlers and setting up a Naval establishment such as we now have, if it were not for the necessity and special circumstances of controlling the coast and dispatching troops by water to the different parts of the coast. … it would be a great mistake to keep on a costly service not very pointedly applied to definite and required work. It would be more satisfactory and more administratively healthy to get rid of all these vessels, even if we had to start in two or three years time to rebuild the service. We would probably save much more in the meantime than would purchase boats for a well thought out service subsequently.' That was the death knell of the Coastal and Marine Service. Vize did not accept the Minister's proposal, he argued strongly for the retention of a smaller service with four sea going patrol vessels – the Dainty and three Mersey class trawlers. But it was in vain. In November he was informed that the service would be disbanded. The Muirchu was returned to the Department of Agriculture and all the trawlers laid up pending disposal. That month the service had only one ship at sea – the Dainty - before it too became a civilian vessel, sold to a Canadian salvage company. The officers and men of the service were either laid off or redeployed. Major General Vize, his rank now reduced to colonel, was sent to Limerick as OC 4th Brigade. Apart from one solitary fishery patrol vessel, the Irish Free State now had no ships to control its seas or to enforce its laws. Even that vessel, the Muirchu would soon lose its armament. In the words of Commodore Thomas McKenna: 'So it would appear, that the first Irish navy lasted only ten months and 27 days from 4 May 1923 to 31 March 1924.' Article 6 of the Anglo Irish Treaty. Photograph: National Archives COASTAL AND MARINE SERVICE

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