Sir,—With the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War recently, I was pleased to see Daire Brunicardi’s article (HI 23.3, May/ June 2015) about the important role of Irish Shipping in keeping neutral Ireland going during the war. It brought great pleasure to me as the proud daughter of an Irish seafarer. However, the article praised ‘enthusiastic and imaginative’ government officials: wrong, in my humble opinion. Our government failed to set up a proper merchant navy before the war, and this sealed the fate of many brave and heroic men who served in (and went down with) the substandard ships of one which was set up too late. Historians like Bryce Evans have said as much in their books. Irish seafarers of the Second World War were heroic. The Irish government, I am afraid, was less so.—Yours etc.,
FIONNULA SMYTH (née Lyons)
Manchester
