A Naval obituary from 2001: Captain Brian de Courcy-Ireland

[Jonathan Saunders]

I was involved in a thread on another Forum that resulted in a link to this obituary being posted. An eventful and full life - this obituary is well worth the 10 minutes needed to read it through:

Captain Brian de Courcy-Ireland

The Independant Thursday, 29 November 2001 (by Max Arthur)

Stanley Brian de Courcy-Ireland, naval officer: born Doncaster, Yorkshire 5 May 1900; married 1927 Ruth Rhys Jones (one son, two daughters); died Badgeworth, Gloucestershire 11 November 2001.

Stanley Brian de Courcy-Ireland, naval officer: born Doncaster, Yorkshire 5 May 1900; married 1927 Ruth Rhys Jones (one son, two daughters); died Badgeworth, Gloucestershire 11 November 2001.

Brian de Courcy-Ireland was in action at the Battle of Jutland, saw the Vanguard blow up with the loss of over 800 lives; witnessed the surrender and scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet in 1919; flew as an observer in Swordfish with the Fleet Air Arm, commanded one of their stations and in 1947 found himself part of an international incident when, as captain of Ajax, he had the fraught task of intercepting and seizing the Exodus as she tried to enter Palestine with 4,500 Holocaust victims.

The role of the British Naval Force, based in Haifa in 1946-48, was to stop the illegal flow of Jewish immigrants into Palestine. De Courcy-Ireland, in command of Ajax, was aware of how determined the survivors of the Holocaust were, but when the former American lake steamer President Warfield, renamed Exodus, approached with half-starved and seriously ill refugees aboard he was ordered to prevent it from landing its human cargo.

De Courcy-Ireland advised his accompanying destroyers to keep close to the Exodus and for the next three hours the situation was critical, as she was being steered from a concealed position on the boat deck and not from the bridge. She was jerking violently and de Courcy-Ireland, concerned that the overladen Exodus could flounder, gave the order "Hands to Boarding Station". With extreme difficulty his men boarded the ship but soon realised that it was an impossible task to control the thousands of refugees. Fighting broke out, in which four refugees were killed and a number wounded. Sensing the danger of the situation de Courcy- Ireland took the risk and brought his heavily armoured cruiser to bear down on the Exodus, which had no option but to raise a white flag.

He directed the Exodus into Haifa Harbour where the exhausted refugees were disembarked and then, to their disbelief, transferred to three chartered merchant ships. Those aboard assumed that they were going to camps a short distance away in Cyprus but to their horror found themselves en route to France. Eventually they were disembarked and put into displaced-persons camps in Hamburg, ironically returning them to the country responsible for their condition. This incident captured the attention of the world's press and, for many years after, de Courcy-Ireland received unwelcome calls from Israeli agents who made it clear that they had long memories.

Brian de Courcy-Ireland was born 101 years ago in Aldwick-le-Street, Doncaster, where his father was a rector. In 1913 de Courcy-Ireland entered the Royal Naval College at Osborne on the Isle of Wight and joined Grenville Term in January 1913 and was there at the outbreak of the First World War. In the summer of 1914 he was on Centurion for the Royal Review of the Grand Fleet at Spithead. His high spot was being allowed to man one of the six-pounders. He recalled many years later: "It was the last great moment of the British navy. Sheer power and might. We will never see its like again."

After Dartmouth he joined Bellerophon as a Midshipman on New Year's Day 1916. At the age of 16 he went into action at the Battle of Jutland, where he was positioned in one of the ship's 12in turrets working the dumaresq course and distance calculator. During a lull he came out of the turret to see bodies floating around the ship. They were the crew of Invincible and his first sight of death. For the night action he had the excitement of being on the bridge. The Bellerophon suffered no casualties, but he recalled how the ship was cast into depression when it learned that the Royal Navy had suffered over 6,000 deaths in the battle.

A year later the Vanguard was anchored next in line to his ship in Scapa Flow when it exploded. A large chunk of metal fell on his turret and a packet of pound notes from the ship's safe was found a mile away on Flotta Island. Of a crew of 800 only two survived and, along with other members of his ship, de Courcy-Ireland had the grim task of walking the beach on Flotta with buckets picking up the remains.

Only a few days after this he was lucky to survive when his ship was torpedoed by a U-boat. Further excitement was ahead when he joined Westcott. On 21 November 1918, the British fleet sailed out to take the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet. He was to recall:

Out of the mist on that sunny day, it really was quite a sight to see them coming towards us. Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty had made the general signal: "The German flag will be hauled down at sunset." They did so to the sound of the bugle call "Making Sunset". It was a memorable moment.

On 21 June 1919, with the rest of the Fleet at sea on exercise, Westcott was one of the few ships guarding the German fleet at Scapa Flow. De Courcy-Ireland was having a gin before lunch when an officer shouted that the Germans were abandoning ship. He rushed on deck to see the entire fleet being scuttled.

Westcott immediately steered towards the fast-disappearing German navy and fired across the bows of one of the cruisers. The Germans simply reacted by jumping overboard. Westcott then steered for the battle ship Hindenburg. With 20 men, de Courcy-Ireland climbed aboard to find that all watertight doors had been left open by her crew. De Courcy-Ireland and his men worked desperately to try and close them, but became anxious when they felt her sinking rapidly. He and his men made it up to the bridge and then realised there was nowhere else to go, and that they were likely to drown. Fortunately the Hindenburg settled in shallow waters and de Courcy-Ireland and his crew gasped a sigh of relief when they were taken off by whaler. He looked around at the almost deserted waters in which an entire fleet of 71 ships had been scuffled. De Courcy-Ireland was the last surviving of the naval officers who witnessed this event.

De Courcy-Ireland was then sent to Hamburg. After a period in Heligoland, Westcott was sent to Finland but en route ordered to call in to a port in Latvia. What should have been a relatively simple post-war evaluation turned into a traumatic event. As they secured the ship a small group of men appeared, one of whom spoke English. He explained that the Germans had recently occupied the port and then systematically raped every woman between 15 and 40. This sickened de Courcy-Ireland and his crew. A few days later they were informed that the same German army force of around 4,000 men were still scrounging food in the area.

When ordered to return to German territory they refused and threatened Westcott, who opened fire. Having got them in their sights it seemed that every man on board was firing, in particular one gunner who de Courcy-Ireland knew had lost his brother, a cabin boy, killed after surrendering at sea. De Courcy-Ireland was to write later. "The crews were working like demons, sticking rigidly to their drill. I could clearly see the terrible carnage on shore."

Westcott remained in Finland but de Courcy-Ireland saw the loss of more friends on Verulam when she was mined. By the end of the conflict de Courcy-Ireland had lost 20 of his term of midshipmen out of a compliment of 80. What followed for him was a slightly unreal period of six months at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. After this period he joined Venomous as an acting lieutenant, but soon became bored and was seconded to the Australian Navy.

In Melbourne he was appointed Gunnery Instructor. When he protested that he knew nothing of guns, he was told they didn't have any. So he became Gunnery Instructor to a gunless depot, a post which appealed to his humour. But in 1924 he was back in England on the cruiser Frobisher. On her he toured the Mediterranean and later the Balkans.

Returning to the UK in 1926 he volunteered to be trained as an observer in the Fleet Air Arm and carried out carrier landings. He then formed a squadron at Leuchars in Scotland before becoming an instructor. In 1929 he joined Hermes, where he did photo reconnaissance over China. There, because of the weight of the camera, and being only of slight frame, he suffered a heart attack and was ordered home by the surgeon, who promptly had a heart attack himself.

De Courcy-Ireland joined the aircraft carrier Courageous in 1934 and became senior observer. He left her in 1936 to be Senior Officer Operator on another aircraft carrier, Glorious, before joining the Air Ministry.

At the outbreak of the Second World War he was second in command of Newcastle. He then returned to the Air Ministry before taking command in 1942 of RNAS Fearn. Because of his vast experience he was called in February 1944 to be part of the Staff Combined Operations HQ, where he remained until the end of the war.

In 1946 he took command of Ajax for two years. He was to see out his remarkable time in the Navy at the Admiralty, where he was Deputy Director of Naval Equipment. He was placed on retired list in 1951 and became ADC for six months to King George VI.

In retirement he was active in the community and spent his last years most happily in Painswick, Gloucestershire, with his wife Ruth, with whom he spent 74 very happy years. In 1990 he recorded his full and active career in A Naval Life.

[michaeldr]

At the risk of drifting slightly off topic here Jonathan,

it may be of interest that Captain de Courcy-Ireland's opposite number from back in 1947, died only late last year:

see http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/captain-of-exodus-dies-at-86-1.1511

regards

Michael

[Jonathan Saunders]

Hi Michael,

I had the good fortune to stay at Erol's last month . . . the gun pits with the old French guns are now somewhat overgrown!

All the best,

Jonathan S

[michaeldr]

So, not the deep ponds that they were back in March this year then?

It was when photographing there that I picked up (was picked up by [?]) three ticks,

who were quickly despatched I am glad to say.

I trust that the wild life, including snakes, was not so lively during your recent stay

All the very best

Michael

[Jonathan Saunders]

So, not the deep ponds that they were back in March this year then?

It was when photographing there that I picked up (was picked up by [?]) three ticks,

who were quickly despatched I am glad to say.

I trust that the wild life, including snakes, was not so lively during your recent stay

All the very best

Michael

Not one snake. The first time in 5 trips. My luck was in! Birds abounded but I still havent seen the elusive Golden Oriel!

[simonharley]

The "Independent" would have done well to copy from "The Times"'s obituary. The impression I got from the obituary Jonathan posted was that de Courcy-Ireland was torpedoed when in "Bellerophon", when in fact he apparently escaped being caught in a flooding compartment when serving in the destroyer "Pellew". "The Times" ascribes this to a torpedo, but in the absence of evidence of "Pellew" being torpedoed (anybody know if she was?), I'd say it was more likely he was aboard "Pellew" when she was the only survivor of a convoy destroyed by the Germans on 12 December, 1917, and was holed at the waterline by German gunfire.

Simon

[Jonathan Saunders]

Hi Simon - have you read his book? I am forming the impression it would make a very interesting read.

Jonathan S

[simonharley]

I can't say I have, Jonathan. I have a vague recollection of having looked him up years ago, which is why I have a copy of his "Times" obituary handy. For the life of me I can't remember why I looked.

Simon

[michaeldr]

Jonathan,

You could always pop along to King's for a bit of a read:

see http://137.73.2.2/lhcma/summary/de25-001.shtml

[David B]

What a career. I particularly liked the bit being appointed chief gunnery instructor to a training establishment without any guns. That would probably have been HMAS Cerberus, the main Aust navy training depot.

David