Battleship - Unfortunate Limerick Patchs Beach, New South Wales, Australia
By G3oCurious on 30-Jul-21. Waypoint GA23365

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The Unfortunate Limerick

The MV Limerick was a general cargo ship built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1925 for the Union Steamship Company, New Zealand. During World War II, the Limerick was sailing in convoy from Sydney to Brisbane protected by Royal Australian Navy corvettes HMAS Colac and Ballarat. As the largest and fastest ship in the convoy, the Limerick zig zagged behind the slower ships and presented a big target. The Limerick was struck by a torpedo at 1 am on the night of Anzac Day, 26 April 1943, when most of the crew were asleep. A newly arrived Japanese submarine I-177 is credited with sinking the Limerick. The ship immediately developed a sharp list to the port side with crew unable to keep their feet and many dived overboard when the lifeboats jammed. Two crewmen, the third and fourth engineers, went down with the ship. The remaining 70 survivors spent eight hours in the water blowing whistles on their lifejackets to attract attention until they were rescued by HMAS Colac.

Finding the Limerick

The location of the MV Limerick remained a maritime mystery for 70 years. It was believed that the shipwreck lay about 30 km east of Cape Byron. Three fishermen unknowingly found the wreck five years prior to discovery. They found what they thought was a rocky reef and kept their fishing spot secret until another runabout came close. The Ballina fishing community were soon using the ‘reef’ to catch quality fish. One fisherman reported seeing an oil slick in the vicinity.  A sample of oil sent to the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage confirmed that the ‘reef’ might be a wreck. 

In 2013, the team onboard the CSIRO Australia’s Marine Facility research vessel, Southern Surveyor, discovered and mapped the wreckage 18 km east of Ballina. Damien Siviero, professional diver and photographer, was the first to explore the wreck descending 107 m to find the Limerick upside down with a large torpedo hole. The shipwreck has been heritage listed to protect the site.

Limerick Survivors’ Stories

Donald Stewart

‘When the Limerick, the largest of the ships lost, was sunk off Cape Byron in April 1943, the silvery wake of the torpedo was seen by two crew members about 500 metres off. As was commonly the case the torpedo struck at night, around midnight when most of the crew were asleep. As also often seemed to be the case, there was a card game in progress among some who were not asleep. One of the players, Donald Stewart, rushed to his cabin for a lifejacket. On the way back he scooped up the money lying on the card table and this reminded him that he had 36 pounds in his cabin so he rushed back and got that too, before getting into a lifeboat’

Allan Wyllie

‘Well, there was a beautiful moonlit night that night, and so I went – I was sharing with a mate a two-berth cabin, my mate was in there – so when I went to go to bed, I said, 'I don't like the look of tonight.' He said, 'Get into bed you windy bastard!' So I did, and when I heard 'bang' in the [early] morning, I jumped out of bed and lost my pyjama pants, and when I looked for my pants on the settee there, they weren't there, my trousers. My mate had jumped out and grabbed them, and he had them on. So I went out, and a joker said to me, 'Get back inside and get some strides on!' So I went to go in, but all the bulbs had got blown out, the lights in the passageway, and I walked in glass. So I thought, no way. So I went out. Anyhow, when the corvette picked me up the next day, a sailor gave me a pair of shorts. That's the shorts I've got on there, you can see there, that's the ones the sailor gave me.

That's the life jacket I've got there, see, it's like a waistcoat. My mate's got his life jacket rolled up there. He was the second cook, [Len] Malmo. My hands are wrapped up there. My little mate, Andy Gilligan, he was hanging over the side, and he said, 'Come on sport, you'd better jump.' He said, 'The screw's still going around.' One screw, we had twin engines, you see, one propeller was still going around – so I said, 'All right'. So I got on the rope, and I see him drop off, and I went down and I held on too hard, so I never realised [about rope burn] until later on’

The Limerick Limerick

There sailed a ship named Limerick
In convoy slow ships held her quick
Night fell sub fired blast
Leave now sinking fast
Room mate grabbed me strides, I’ll get stick

History

Name: Limerick
Owner: Union Steamship Company, New Zealand
Builder: William Hamilton & Co, Glasgow
Yard number: 389
Launched: 12 March 1925
Out of service: 26 April 1943
Official number: 148634

Specifications

Type: Cargo ship / Steamer screw
Construction: Steel
Gross tonnage: 8,724
Length: 140.21 m
Beam: 19.05 m
Draft: 11.51 m
Installed power: 6000 bhp
Propulsion: 2 x Brown Sulzer diesel engines
Speed: 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h)

Lost event

When lost: 26 April 1943
Where lost: 18 km east of Ballina
Location: S28 56.292 E153 47.420
Fate: Sunk by torpedo
Crew: 72
Crew deaths: 2

References

• Brown, J 2013, ‘Torpedoed wreck brings back night WWII came to North Coast’, Northern Star, 6 February, viewed 16 June 2021, https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/lismore/torpedoed-wreck-brings-back-night-wwii-came-to-north-coast/news-story/1f1ce8a42b95ad614bd43ba5e8f0e127
• CSIRO 2013, Haunting photos of the shipwreck of MV Limerick, blog, viewed 16 June 2021, https://blog.csiro.au/haunting-photos-of-the-shipwreck-of-mv-limerick/
• Lollback, R 2013, ‘Heritage protection for Ballina shipwreck’, Northern Star, 26 April, viewed 16 June 2021, https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/central-queensland/heritage-protection-for-ballina-shipwreck/news-story/d0764f5198ffbfdb6f67e964512d1922
• McPhedran, I 2013, ‘MV Limerick found in ocean grave off NSW’, News Corp Australia Network, 5 February, viewed 16 June 2021, https://www.news.com.au/national/mv-limerick-found-in-ocean-grave-off-nsw/news-story/86e94424976dad00897b77a25ed4097f
• ‘MV Limerick (1925)’ 2020, Wikipedia, viewed 16 June 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Limerick_(1925)
• Ministry for Culture and Heritage 2014, 'Sound: the sinking of the Limerick, 1943' 2014, viewed 16 June 2021, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/sound/unseen-enemy-survivors-of-the-limerick
• NSW Department Office of Environment & Heritage 2021, Limerick, viewed 16 June 2021, https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/maritimeheritageapp/ViewSiteDetail.aspx?siteid=990
• NSW Department Office of Environment & Heritage 2021, War Casualties and the Merchant Navy, viewed 16 June 2021, https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/maritimeheritageapp/research.aspx?id=51
• ‘NZ ship found after WW2 sinking’ 2013, NZ Herald, 6 Feb, viewed 18 June 2021, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nz-ship-found-after-ww2-sinking/H4GRITTPNYQNQ54ERV2EHKZHDA/
• Siviero, D 2013, New Wreck Dived – MV Limerick, blog, viewed 16 June 2021, https://damiensiviero.com/new-wreck-dived-mv-limerick/

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