An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 29 over by the Admiralty in March 1915, she became the HMY Helga (the 'II' was dropped), an armed steam yacht serving as an anti-submarine patrol vessel as well as undertaking escort duty in the Irish Sea. In April 1918 she sank a submarine off the Isle of Man and was awarded a star on her funnel for this achievement. In October 1918 RMS Leinster was torpedoed off the Kish and 600 lives were lost. The Helga, fuelling in Dun Laoghaire at the time, managed to rescue 90 passengers. However, it was for her shelling of Dublin in April 1916, mainly Liberty Hall, that she is best known. Most of the shells aimed at Liberty Hall missed, due, it is suggested, to firing at an extremely high trajectory in order to avoid hitting the Loopline railway bridge. While the Helga's shelling caused limited destruction it played a significant role in the psycho- logical battle of the Rising. She was later used to transport Black and Tans around the coast when many of the roads were rendered impassable by Irish forces in the War of Independence. The Helga was handed over to the Irish Free State in August 1923 and renamed Muirchú (Hound of the Sea); the only ship in the state's newly established Coastal and Marine Service. In the following year she was returned to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to carry on her task of fishery protection. The Coastwatching Service took over Muirchú on 12th December 1939. In July 1942 this became the Marine Service, which in 1946 was incorporated into the new Naval Service. The follow- ing year the Muirchú was sold to Hammond Lane Foundry, and while on passage to Dublin on 8th May 1947 she sank off the Saltee Islands, but not before her entire crew got off safely. She now lies at a depth of 48m. Having been wire swept, all that remains of her is a boiler and some large sheets of metal. On Tuesday 19th April (recce day) two boats arrived at HM Yachts Cross- haven and quickly prepared for launching. Following a detailed briefing by Coy Sgt Kenneth Murphy the boats left the marina and headed south. With good sea conditions the boats were on site quite quickly where a quick sonar scan located the familiar wreck of the Aud. The shot line was dropped to mark the location and kitting up began. At 33m the dive was a dark one but torches cut through the darkness to reveal the ammunition-strewn bottom and large sheets of metal. A few short minutes of ferreting around and it was time to ascend along the shotline. The recce had been a success and the shot would be left on the wreck for the night to speed things up for the next day when the main party arrived for the main dive. With the kit stowed we departed for Collins Bks to refill cylinders and get some sleep. The following day three boats and 12 divers were ready to go in warm, bright sun. Leaving the marina we could see that conditions were less than favourable and our cox'n's rough-weather handling skills would be put to the test. The trip out to the site was ardu- ous but when we arrived the breeze died down and presented us with a chance to dive. However, the buoy marking the wreck was gone! (A fair bit of "Who tied the buoy to the line?" banter followed!) Another sonar search allowed us to place the spare shot on the wreck. When the divers reached the bottom the visibility was even worse than the previous day with torches penetrating less than 1m into the gloom. On returning to the surface the general opinion was that the recce dive had been by far the better experience. A week later the group was back in action, heading to Kilmore Quay in Wexford. This time the recce was even more important as was the group's first dive at this site. Not only had we never dived the Muirchú/Helga but we didn't know anyone who had. We had co-ordinates for the wreck from charts and shipwreck websites, but no two sets of co-ordinates were the same. Once the two boats had been launched and the brief had been given, we departed for the dive site, approximately 13kms away. The shot was dropped on the most likely spot and we put two very experienced extended-range divers into the water. It was supposed to be slack water but the current was so strong that the shot was being dragged at quite a rate. This may have seemed The Helga The Muirchú/Helga

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