Chapter 1 Page 2 Excerpt  http://www.tallrite.com/oneill/

Whilst with the Irish Marine Service I met “My Most Unforgettable Character.” I became friendly with a Chief Petty Officer, Charlie McGuinness.

Charlie was certainly a larger than life character. A Derryman, at the age of 15 he ran off to sea and survived shipwreck in the Pacific and 18 days in an open lifeboat before being rescued. He fought with both the British Army and British Navy in the First World War.  He later joined the IRA and fought against the Black and Tans. As a result, he had to leave Ireland. He participated in two South American revolutions. A spot of gun running followed, after which he became involved in conveying liquor by boat from Canada to the U.S. during Prohibition. He was caught by the U.S. Coastguard on one of his trips, and did a spell in Sing Sing. He volunteered for Admiral Byrd’s expedition to the Antarctic and he fought on both sides in the Spanish Civil War, followed by voyages on a Soviet icebreaker.

He was accepted back into the British Navy as an instructor, but joined the fledgling Irish Marine Service as a Chief Petty Officer on its formation. His style of life at Haulbowline was peculiar. He refused to live ashore with the other Petty Officers, and insisted on living alone aboard a sailing vessel, the “Isaalt”, which was used as a training ship for recruits, moored alongside one of the quays on the island and commanding a fine view of all ships movements in the harbour.

I spent most of my evenings sitting on a box at the foot of his bunk, listening with awe to stories from his colourful past. He possessed two large scrap books, which contained features from newspapers, photographs, etc., relating to some of his exploits.

After I left the Service, I lost touch with Haulbowline and Charlie. About two years later I visited Haulbowline and my first thought was for my old friend, Charlie. There was a strange silence when I mentioned his name and I could get no information about him. It was only after the war, when I had made exhaustive enquiries, that I uncovered the full story of Charlie’s downfall.

At the time when Charlie and myself were in the Service there was considerable seagoing traffic in and out of Cork, passing by Haulbowline. The headquarters of Western Approaches based at Liverpool, became concerned by the large number of British merchant vessels being torpedoed and sunk shortly after leaving Cork harbour.  The situation became so alarming that investigators were surreptitiously sent over to the Cork harbour area and listening devices were set up at points like Passage West, Monkstown, Raffeen, Shanbally and Ringaskiddy, on the west side of the harbour and Rushbrook, Cobh, East Ferry, Aghada and Whitegate on the east side.

Radio signals, in code, were picked up at all points and after a logistical plotting exercise, it became evident that the signals emanated from Haulbowline, in the middle of the harbour and headquarters of the Irish Marine Service.  With some trepidation, the Irish authorities were informed of the situation. At first they refused to believe the allegations that signals were being transmitted from Haulbowline.  However, they eventually carried out several internal searches on the island, with no success.

I could never discover what finally transpired. All I can surmise is that somebody must have “blown the gaff” on Charlie. A further search revealed that Charlie had a radio transmitting set concealed in his cabin, in the very box that I used to sit on. He regularly sent out messages in code to German submarines lurking outside Cork harbour, concerning movements and times of vessels leaving the port.

Charlie was arrested and court-martialed. He was interned in the Curragh but quietly released after the war. He bought the old “Isaalt” and engaged in coastal trade between Ireland and the U.K. The vessel was wrecked off the Wexford coast on December 3rd 1947, with the loss of six of the crew of eight. Charlie went down with his ship.

I met Charlie again before his ship was lost and drank with him in the North Star Hotel in Amiens Street, a favourite meeting place of seafaring men. I never referred to the spying, nor did Charlie. I would like to have questioned him as to whether he became involved with the Germans for financial gain, or just for the excitement.

SailorOfFortune.com publisher's note:  Consider the above.  Now ask yourself this question?  How does a man, who has fought on EVERY side in every war (World War I, Irish Revolution & Civil War, Spanish Civil War, World War II), been a pirate, a gunrunner, served Stalin in Russia, killer English and Irish, won an American Congressional Gold Medal serving under a U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and done time in an American Jail? - how does a man do all of that - and the English still accept him back into their services as well?  Almost all of this documented in his own books!  Then is allowed to buy the very vessel he spied on for the Germans, and then mysteriously disappears?  Perhaps the answer is as obvious, perhaps we are seeing a man of extraordinary stealth, who was either the wildest rogue, or a man to rival James Bond?  We may never know.  Yet, there is a strange chain of connection with intelligence services in all of these events.  Perhaps, the Brittish MI5 or MI6 will one day clarify these questions for us!

What seems clear is this:  Charles McGuinness was one of the most competent seaman to ever sail the 7 seas!  (and indeed, he sailed all 7 oceans, and most seas).  He was also a very skilled soldier, fighter, had a miraculous nose for conflict, and a sense of theater and drama!  In this man, who was my grandfather, was a character far more complex and accomplished than any character of fiction! (take that Dirk Pitt!)

Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. 2006 - Adventurer, Archaeologist, Scientist, Technologist, Artist, and Author!