An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir January / February 2026 www.military.ie/magazine 28 | An Cosantóir January / February 2026 www.military.ie/magazine T he ferry departed from the naval pier in Cobh, Co. Cork, shortly after 1800hrs on the evening of 7th November 2025. It was a crisp, cool Friday, with a bright full moon rising over the town from the east. On board the ferry was a group of invited guests, all retired divers from the Naval Service and Garda Síochána. Meanwhile, at the Naval Base in the Wardroom Mess, another smaller group of divers awaited the arrival of their colleagues. After an eight-minute journey across the harbour, the ferry berthed alongside the Naval Base, all guests disembarked safely and made the short walk to the Wardroom Mess. When the two groups finally met, it marked the beginning of a unique night for the Naval Service, the Garda Síochána, and the Defence Forces. This gathering marked the first time in 46 years that this group of divers would be together in the one place at the same time. Bantry Bay and the Betelgeuse Early on the morning of Monday 8th January 1979, the large bulk oil tanker, Betelgeuse, lay alongside the offshore jetty of the oil storage terminal on Whiddy Island, located at the eastern end of Bantry Bay, West Cork. The previous day, the tanker finished discharging a portion of its cargo of Arabian crude oil, amounting to around 120,000 tonnes. To rebalance and properly trim the ship following the discharge, ballasting operations had been ongoing throughout the day and had just been completed. Shortly after 00.30hrs, a catastrophic buckling event occurred in the hull. This buckling broke the ships back, ripped apart some cargo tanks, causing internal explosions that initiated fires both onboard and in the waters beside the ship. Shortly thereafter, at approximately 0108hrs, a colossal explosion took place, ultimately leading to the ship's utter destruction. In the aftermath of the explosions and the resulting fires, fifty individuals lost their lives. This included all forty-one crew members of the ship, the ships baker's wife, seven Irish Gulf Oil employees on the terminal jetty, and an English cargo inspector. Following the subsequent search for survivors: 21 people were recovered from the waters around the stern of the ship and the north shore of Whiddy Island, while 29 remained missing. Two diving teams would be dispatched to the scene. The Garda diving team arrived on the Tuesday 9th, with the Naval diving team arriving the following Tuesday, 16th January. Diving operations commenced in earnest. The two teams comprised of six divers each. The Garda team was led by Sgt Paddy Morrissey, and the Naval team by Lt (NS) Dan O'Neill. For the next 21 days, two teams would dive in the waters surrounding the last berthing dolphin, Dolphin 22, to locate and recover any remaining missing bodies. These 12 divers would push themselves to their limits, both physically and mentally, in extremely dangerous conditions with insufficient equipment. As one diver aptly described the task, it was "deep, dark, dirty, and dangerous". The diving depths often approached the limits of their training 28 | A SENSE OF DUTY BANTRY 1979, front cover of the book.

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