Centenary of the Death of the Author of "Riddle of the Sands"

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Attached is an in-depth article by sailing writer Winkie Nixon on the life and times, and untimely death, of the author of one of the English-speaking yachting world's favourite books:
Centenary of Erskine Childers’ Execution In Dublin On Thursday, November 24th Will Evoke A Complexity Of Responses

 

[NealB]

Thank you.

One of my absolutely all-time favourite novels (and films).

From the OP's link, I definitely relate to this: "As for sailing folk, we simple sons and daughters of the sea and the lakes, we much prefer to think of Erskine Childers only as a brilliant seaman and an eloquent writer".

Thank you Mr Childers.

 

[FWB]

Thank you for posting that.

 

[Tradewinds]

Winkie Nixon has a way with words too. Always a good read.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Thank you.

One of my absolutely all-time favourite novels (and films).

From the OP's link, I definitely relate to this: "As for sailing folk, we simple sons and daughters of the sea and the lakes, we much prefer to think of Erskine Childers only as a brilliant seaman and an eloquent writer".

Thank you Mr Childers.

I do not think of Erskine Childer just as a sailor, though the book Riddle of the Sands moved me. He was much more and his passion and efforts for Ireland stand out. His quite dignity at the time of his execution stand out and presaged the peace and truce that enabled the republic to prosper

 

[steve yates]

Centenary of his execution is more accurate than death.

 

[Daydream believer]

Whoever wrote the music score to the film deserves recognition.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Centenary of his execution is more accurate than death.

He was stitched up as the firearm he was found with was mere souvenir but he still died (as a gentleman) asa result of his execution

 

[Capt Popeye]

He was stitched up as the firearm he was found with was mere souvenir but he still died (as a gentleman) asa result of his execution

Maybe so , but a quick dlick through utube states that he was involved in 'gun running' activities

Never could understand the Irish Internal Problem and the various sides plus political and religious ferver involved over there

 

[Slowtack]

It was not just an internal problem you know...

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Maybe so , but a quick dlick through utube states that he was involved in 'gun running' activities

Never could understand the Irish Internal Problem and the various sides plus political and religious ferver involved over there

Simples; the Home Rule Bill was passed in 1914, the Unionists expressed their objection by forming armed militias (involving gun-running). The Nationalists responded by forming the Irish Volunteers. Childers, Conor O'Brien and other yachtsmen were involved in clandestinely, or in the case of Childers , barefacedly, importing guns from Germany to arm them.( The Volunteers took the train to Howth, unloaded the guns and openly marched back to the city with them!)
The Nationalist (i.e. "moderate") Irish Volunteers were infiltrated by a fanatically republican Fenian faction who hijacked the movement and fomented an armed insurrection in 1916, which went off at half-cock and resulted in the execution of most of the leaders. The moderate, Home Rule-favouring leadership of the Volunteers encouraged their members to join the British Army in the hope that Lloyd George and his Government would follow up on his promise of Home Rule after the War.
The executions turned public opinion, which had initially scorned the Rising, in favour of the Republicans and in the 1918 General Election Sinn Fein
gained a landslide majority. Instead of taking their seats in Westminister they set up an alternative government in Dublin. Guerilla warfare against the Crown forces commenced in the ensuing years and the rebels succeeded in making the country all but ungovernable.
In 1921 a Truce was declared and a Treaty signed that effectively granted Home Rule, but allowed the ( largely Protestant) Unionist majority in the North-East to vote for Partition and remain in the Union. The former Sinn Fein/IRA rebels split into two factions, the de-facto government favouring the Treaty, which allowed Dominion status, and the more extreme Republican element who would be satisfied with nothing less than a full Republic, including the whole 32 counties. Their armed elements occupied prominent buildings in Dublin in an effort to enforce their aims.
The British Government threatened "total war" if the terms of the Treaty were not adhered to. The new Free State government formed the National Army, which was armed by the British government. A bloody and nasty civil war followed. The rest is history.

 

[Old Thady]

Childers' yacht, Asgard, is on display in Collins Barracks in Dublin.



https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Art-and-Industry-Collections/Art-Industry-Collections-List/Easter-Week/Discover-the-historic-Asgard-yacht#:~:text=Since%20August%202012%20the%20Asgard,the%20turbulent%20events%20of%20191

 

[Daydream believer]

Sam Llewelyn's "The shadow in the sands", which is written as a "sequel"to the book, is a good read, not to be missed.
Link

 

[Blueboatman]

Simples; the Home Rule Bill was passed in 1914, the Unionists expressed their objection by forming armed militias (involving gun-running). The Nationalists responded by forming the Irish Volunteers. Childers, Conor O'Brien and other yachtsmen were involved in clandestinely, or in the case of Childers , barefacedly, importing guns from Germany to arm them.( The Volunteers took the train to Howth, unloaded the guns and openly marched back to the city with them!)
The Nationalist (i.e. "moderate") Irish Volunteers were infiltrated by a fanatically republican Fenian faction who hijacked the movement and fomented an armed insurrection in 1916, which went off at half-cock and resulted in the execution of most of the leaders. The moderate, Home Rule-favouring leadership of the Volunteers encouraged their members to join the British Army in the hope that Lloyd George and his Government would follow up on his promise of Home Rule after the War.
The executions turned public opinion, which had initially scorned the Rising, in favour of the Republicans and in the 1918 General Election Sinn Fein
gained a landslide majority. Instead of taking their seats in Westminister they set up an alternative government in Dublin. Guerilla warfare against the Crown forces commenced in the ensuing years and the rebels succeeded in making the country all but ungovernable.
In 1921 a Truce was declared and a Treaty signed that effectively granted Home Rule, but allowed the ( largely Protestant) Unionist majority in the North-East to vote for Partition and remain in the Union. The former Sinn Fein/IRA rebels split into two factions, the de-facto government favouring the Treaty, which allowed Dominion status, and the more extreme Republican element who would be satisfied with nothing less than a full Republic, including the whole 32 counties. Their armed elements occupied prominent buildings in Dublin in an effort to enforce their aims.
The British Government threatened "total war" if the terms of the Treaty were not adhered to. The new Free State government formed the National Army, which was armed by the British government. A bloody and nasty civil war followed. The rest is history.

Your concise erudition much appreciated here, thank you .

Funny how politics can be such a fluid thing , Riddle being written as an anti German wake up call to the Brits .
And then there he was running ex German guns..
And made an example of .

But the single biggest nautical eye opener to me is that Asgard had a counter stern and not the classic Archer canoe one !
For years the film replica of the Dulcibella sat on a Solent swinging mooring when I were a lad, and jolly pretty it looked too.

 

[Motor_Sailor]

But the single biggest nautical eye opener to me is that Asgard had a counter stern and not the classic Archer canoe one !

Only 50% of Colin Archer's yacht designs were double enders. Also, he was over 70 when he designed Askgard, so could well have learnt the error of his ways by then.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Your concise erudition much appreciated here, thank you .

Funny how politics can be such a fluid thing , Riddle being written as an anti German wake up call to the Brits .
And then there he was running ex German guns..
And made an example of .

But the single biggest nautical eye opener to me is that Asgard had a counter stern and not the classic Archer canoe one !
For years the film replica of the Dulcibella sat on a Solent swinging mooring when I were a lad, and jolly pretty it looked too.

"Made an example of.." Yes, but not by the UK Government, for gun-running.
Erskine Childers and Conor O'Brien were officers of the RNR and signed up for War Service soon after their gun-running adventures. After the War they resumed their part in the Independence struggle, Childers becoming Minister for Propaganda for the unofficial Dublin Government, and O'Brien using his yacht to act as a Republican Fisheries Inspector on the West Coast. Childers was part of the delegation which went to London for the Treaty negotiations, but did not agree with the outcome and joined the Anti-Treaty side in the Civil War.
The Free State Administration passed a War Emergency Powers Resolution, which imposed Martial Law under which seventy-seven Anti-Treaty prisoners were executed, including Childers, who was charged with possession of an unauthorised weapon, ironically, a .32 automatic which had earlier been given to him by Michael Collins, who by this time was Minister for Defense in the Free State Government.

 

[Blueboatman]

"Made an example of.." Yes, but not by the UK Government, for gun-running.
Erskine Childers and Conor O'Brien were officers of the RNR and signed up for War Service soon after their gun-running adventures. After the War they resumed their part in the Independence struggle, Childers becoming Minister for Propaganda for the unofficial Dublin Government, and O'Brien using his yacht to act as a Republican Fisheries Inspector on the West Coast. Childers was part of the delegation which went to London for the Treaty negotiations, but did not agree with the outcome and joined the Anti-Treaty side in the Civil War.
The Free State Administration passed a War Emergency Powers Resolution, which imposed Martial Law under which seventy-seven Anti-Treaty prisoners were executed, including Childers, who was charged with possession of an unauthorised weapon, ironically, a .32 automatic which had earlier been given to him by Michael Collins, who by this time was Minister for Defense in the Free State Government.

Oh my goodness . Thanks

 

[Frogmogman]

Attached is an in-depth article by sailing writer Winkie Nixon on the life and times, and untimely death, of the author of one of the English-speaking yachting world's favourite books:
Centenary of Erskine Childers’ Execution In Dublin On Thursday, November 24th Will Evoke A Complexity Of Responses

A sombre anniversary.

As a footnote, in 1916, Erskine Childers (who had been an observer in the RN Air Setvice), was seconded to the newly formed CMB torpedo boats with a view to assessing their use for attacking the German fleet in a reverse Riddle of the sands. 16 of the 40 ft CMBs were built, of which my 20 yr old Grandfather, Lt (at the time) WS Green RN, was the captain of CMB1. He is the fresh faced lad marked with a red spot.

This is a photo of the original crews of the 40 foot CMBs from that period, and I’m trying to put names to those present. I’m not sure if Childers was in the photo, but wonder if he might be the chap third from the left in the seated row. He’d obviously be one of the older men present (he’d have turned 46 in the summer of 1916), and I think by that stage a Lt Cdr RNVR.

In 1917 Childers was relieved of his Naval duties, and sent to work on Lloyd George’s Irish Home Rule Commission. The second photo is of Childers as a Naval officer.

 

[Capt Popeye]

Many thanks for the explanations of that 'Irish Problem' , I still find it difficult ro understand it though , understand in the sense of seeing the logic or reasoning behind it all , so understanding it

Suppose only those who lived the experience can really understand it all ? just maybe , eh

Guess its Folk Law has been handed down through the generations , so any Ryme or Reason is long forgotten

Years ago a family friend , of deep entrenched Irish (Eire) Origins , used to suddeny burst out with anti British rhetoric , usually ove a TV programme , I found it very strange as She moved to Britain to get out of Eire , brought up her family over here , had some sort of family connections with Eire nobility /or politics , given a Country House with land in Eire , moved back there as a Villiage Squire , seemed all very very strange to me

My guess is that her anti British outbursts were well ingrained into her from an early age , ah well its a story that I will never live to understan at all

Many thanks though for the explanations , must take an evening or two to go over them

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Many thanks for the explanations of that 'Irish Problem' , I still find it difficult ro understand it though , understand in the sense of seeing the logic or reasoning behind it all , so understanding it

Suppose only those who lived the experience can really understand it all ? just maybe , eh

Guess its Folk Law has been handed down through the generations , so any Ryme or Reason is long forgotten

Years ago a family friend , of deep entrenched Irish (Eire) Origins , used to suddeny burst out with anti British rhetoric , usually ove a TV programme , I found it very strange as She moved to Britain to get out of Eire , brought up her family over here , had some sort of family connections with Eire nobility /or politics , given a Country House with land in Eire , moved back there as a Villiage Squire , seemed all very very strange to me

My guess is that her anti British outbursts were well ingrained into her from an early age , ah well its a story that I will never live to understan at all

Many thanks though for the explanations , must take an evening or two to go over them

Having worked in Dublin I can confirm that as an englishman Iwas well received and felt at home. The Irish do not dislike the English, they dislike the English/British state that think oppressed them for centuries and colluded in their exploitation.

So a woman could well leave Ireland for England to avoid some horrendous circumstance (family??) but still hate the English Imperialism that she belived had blighted her land of birth.

Anyway enough of such stuff - its a nice boat