Ireland, the Soviets, and a battle over merchant ships

MvN

A story I thought was interesting while researching Irish shipping during the Emergency. It concerns five foreign vessels which the Irish courts succesfuly protected from being sent back to the Soviet Union after it's annexation of the Baltic states.

Excerpt from Wikipedia article on SS Irish Willow:

"In June 1940 the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic states and on 6 August 1940 Estonia was annexed as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. Industry was nationalised and Estonian ships were instructed to go a Soviet port. There were several ships from the Baltic states in, or heading to, Irish ports. All ignored that instruction...

...Ivan Maisky, the Soviet Union's ambassador to the United Kingdom, applied to the High Court in Dublin for possession of the ships, but their owners could not be contacted. The Soviet case was supported by a letter from John Whelan Dulanty, the Irish High Commissioner in London, who explained that when the ships had been instructed to go immediately to the USSR three had been carrying cargoes destined for Ireland, that he had asked if they could first deliver their Irish cargo, and that Maisky had agreed on behalf of the Soviet Union, provided that the Irish government guaranteed that after discharging their cargo they would be given food sufficient for the journey to a Soviet port. A. K. Overend K.C., acting for Maisky, said that this established that his client was recognised by Ireland as "the proper person to give instruction to the ships", and that his client was the only claimant.

John McEvoy was the honorary consul of the Republic of Estonia in Dublin. He opposed the Soviet claim along with Estonian representatives in Switzerland. Though he lacked diplomatic status, the Court recognised the right of Herbert Martinson, described as "an Estonian national, resident in Switzerland", to vindicate the rights of the absent owners; John McEvoy and Herbert Martinson were recognised as trustees for the owners. The High Court considered five ships: three from Estonia, Otto, Piret and Mall, and two from Latvia, Ramava and Everoja. McEvoy acted for the various owners of the Estonian ships. On 16 May 1941 the High Court rejected the Soviet claim. The Soviet authorities appealed against the decision to the five-judge Supreme Court. On 3 July 1941 the appeal was unanimously dismissed with costs. The Soviet Union made a 'most emphatic' protest."

Apparently:

"...the court had asked the government whether the USSR could be recognised as a sovereign independent authority over the states of Latvia and Estonia. The Minister for External Affairs intimated that the government of Éire did not recognise the USSR as the sovereign government of Latvia and Estonia;...since the sovereignty of the USSR had not been established, the vessels were not the property of the USSR and the orders given by radio telegram to the various masters must be treated as being without legal authority;"
(Liffey Ships and Shipbuilding, Pat Sweeney, 2010)

Additionally the ships had all been private property rather than state owned by Latvia or Estonia, so the Soviet's claim that they were government property was rejected. In this way the vessels and their crews were saved from having to return to a homeland occupied by Russia.

Just thought it was great reading about little old neutral Ireland giving two fingers to the Soviets. Sweeney's book mentions Russia placing "full responsibility for the decision in question and their consequences on to the Éireann government, and reserves its right to draw the necessary conclusions and take what measures it may deem necessary..." but it seems they never did anything else about it.

The_Valeyard

Interesting read OP,

Didn't know that, cheers

BowWow

I think these ships formed the basis of the "Irish Shipping" fleet...

MvN

BowWow wrote: »

I think these ships formed the basis of the "Irish Shipping" fleet...

I think the Latvian ones were transferred to Britain (Everoja was sunk by a Uboat while in an Allied convoy) but yes the Estonian ones were put to use in Ireland's fleet.

Glad you liked the post Valeyard.