Seventy years ago this week, 15 survivors from the Langleeford, a British Merchant Navy Vessel, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat (U-26) off the west coast of Ireland, landed at Fodry, Kilbaha.

The Langleeford was torpedoed without warning on the morning of February 14, 1940, and the ship, with a crew of 34, sank within 13 minutes, approximately 70 miles northwest of Fastnet Rock.
The vessel was carrying 6,800 tons of wheat from Boston via Nova Scotia to Newcastle, England. It was part of a convoy of 43 ships plus five escorts but the Langleeford was straggling behind and was alone when it was attacked.
Of the 30 survivors who landed in Ireland, 15 came ashore on a single lifeboat at Fodry on Friday, February 16, 1940, at 5.45pm.
Four British sailors died in the incident. A memorial to the dead sailors and the ship still stands in Tower Hill, London.
Paddy O’
Brien, from Limerick but whose mother, Margaret O’Gorman, is from Fodry, has researched the sinking of the Langleeford in recent months. The incident was reported in detail in The Clare Champion edition of Saturday, February 24, 1940.
“As a young boy, I remember my mother Margaret telling me about a lifeboat coming in to Fodry Bay during the Second World War,” Paddy explained.
“But, like all young boys, I never wrote down what she said until I happened to meet PJ Magner of Ross in 2009 and I mentioned the story. PJ surprised me by remembering that the name of the survivors’ ship was the Langleeford. I followed up by asking my uncle John O’Gorman of Fodry if he remembered anything about the lifeboat and he was able to tell me he remembered one of the survivors said ‘the ship was bound for Newcastle from Boston’.”
“With these two pieces of information I resolved to find out exactly what had happened,” he said.
Following his research, Paddy discovered that the lifeboat that landed in Fodry was commanded by Chief Officer Hugh Thompson from Sunderland. The 15 people in the lifeboat had been at sea for 56 hours fighting hunger, wind, tides, rain and hail.
John Carmody of Fodry remembers that “the sea was mighty rough that evening”. All survivors were suffering from exhaustion and exposure while the one fit man in the lifeboat was seaman C Connelly of Cape Clear, Cork. One of the survivors, Stewart A Williams from Cardiff, was just 15 years old.
“I’m finished with the sea and I’ll get a job on land and stay there,” he is reported to have said at the time.
The survivors were brought to Haiers pub in Kilbaha (now the Lighthouse Inn) by car, where they received food and clothing organised by Stephen Haier.
Five of the survivors, under the care of Doctor R Counihan, were taken to Kilrush hospital suffering from exposure and frostbite.
Other survivors were taken to the Stella Maris Hotel, Kilkee, and later returned to England.
The survivors appreciated the help received in Fodry, Ross, Kilbaha, Loop Head, Carrigaholt, Kilkee and Kilrush, while the ship’s owners sent a letter of thanks to The Clare Champion.
Before leaving Kilkee, Chief Officer Thompson expressed their appreciation of the treatment afforded to them since their arrival in Clare.
Paddy O’Brien says that the lifeboat was brought to Carrigaholt but he is not certain what became of it subsequently.
“My mother told me that a request was brought to her father Martin O’Gorman (Rock) by a Carrigaholt policeman, sent from official authorities, authorising him to hire a crew under his command to row the British lifeboat from Fodry around Loophead via Kilbaha to Carrigaholt,” he said.
“My mother, who was only 18 at the time, said she jumped into the lifeboat and her father allowed her to stay as a “water bailer”, Paddy said.
Martin Fennell was also in the lifeboat but Paddy is unsure who else was aboard for the trip to Carrigaholt. The local crew were paid £3 for their work.
“PJ Magner said when the lifeboat pulled in to Carrigaholt pier it was like the Queen Mary had arrived, such was the shouting and cheering of the local townspeople.
“I cannot confirm if the lifeboat was passed on to the Irish receiver of wrecks. Maybe it was sold. I guess there is another story involved and perhaps some of the readers might know what happened to the lifeboat,” Paddy said.
As for the German U-Boat, from September 1939 to July 1940 during eight patrols it was responsible for sinking 10 ships and damaging two others.
However, its luck ran out when it was bombed by an Australian Sunderland bomber plane.
The U-boat commander and crew decided to surface, scuttle and sink the damaged U-26 south-west of Ireland on July 1, 1940, as they did not want the boat to be captured by the Allies.
The commander, Heinz Scheringer, and complete crew of 48 were picked up by British forces and taken prisoner. They were held as prisoners of war for the remainder of WWII spending time in Scotland and England before moving to Canada early in January 1941 as part of the transfer of prisoners to help conserve food supplies in England.