James Greenway, his brother Thomas

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VIA: Kinsale Advertiser & What's On In Kinsale



At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, despite the dreadful weather conditions, Gerard O'Connor and his cousin Comdt. Declan Greenway (Retd) laid a wreath at the war memorial at the World's End in memory of their grandfather, James Greenway, his brother Thomas who perished at sea, and all the Kinsale people who lost their lives in wars.

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On this day we remember the loss of our Captain William Thomas Care of the SS.Tregenna.

We further remember: Ships of The British Merchant Navy Captains, Crew and loved ones. Including the lesser well known, yet not forgotten.

Her name was SS: She was a lady of the waves, named Daybreak, Tregenna, Dudley Rose, City of Beneras, Crown Arun etc, whatever her title she was not designed intentionally to face enemy action. She was generally a Steamship born or rather built to serve her masters, carry safely her crew, passengers and cargo and supply a Nation. Those who sailed upon her, leaving families and loved ones ashore, at home, behind them and often during conflict alone and forever. Many that promised to remember them, are here no more, re-united possibly as time has gone by. The ships, travelers and crews, sail on in a different world now and loved ones hopefully passage eternally with those brave men and voyagers once more.

It was a hard way to earn a crust, especially during Wartime, with so many vessels seeking safe haven. With often her journeys end, not reached and a final resting place, the Ocean bed and no known grave but the sea, for the men, women and boys or children that sailed these graceful steel ladies. “We must remember them all”. The many that survived attacks by those that would do them harm, haunted forever by the sights and sounds of ships and fellow men of the sea becoming extinct in such a horrible way and those that escaped the hunters time and time again, with no thought of giving in will always remember “These men that died to save us all”.

We, as an island race, are steeped in Maritime history and owe so much to so many, the Merchant Navy have until recently seemed to be the forgotten service, the backbone of our country’s Navy, yet a distant relative when the honours are bestowed. These good men worked for a living, for bread and butter and maybe a love of the sea, others just to work, as times were hard. Whatever reason seamen sail, they expect at some time to go home. Faced with the hardships of life at sea, many would be deterred from such a life. To sail knowing that any voyage could be the last, facing war time dangers and a watery grave, did not deter these brave men and our Maritime life line was kept open by these sailors from many homes and ports.
Many sail what can be a “Cruel Sea”, not always in times of conflict, we ask that our God will “Bless this Ship and all who Sail In Her” at a launch and many pray for a safe voyage and early return for vessels leaving harbour. All ships and crew from liners to fishing vessels, rowing boat to super tanker, require safe passage, a flag to fly under and protection from danger. Safe harbour to rest in and when tragedy occurs a lifeboat to help them. We pray for the safety, support those that may rescue and ask our god to guide and protect. But we must also remember, LEST WE FORGET.

In Memory of : James Greenway and fellow crew members.

Those Good Men and the women and children, still not Home From The Sea and those of all lost from this world with “No Known Grave but the Sea”. We shall Remember Them.

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Christmas Eve 1917.

From the Memorial Card of Thomas Greenway (of Kinsale)

One sad year has passed away
Since our great sorrow fell,
But in our hearts we mourn the loss
Of those we loved so well.
We think of him in silence,
And his name we oft recall:
But there’s nothing left to answer,
But his picture on the wall.

Sacred Heart of Jesus
HAVE MERCY ON THE SOUL OF:
THOMAS GREENWAY
Who lost his life off “SS. Daybreak”.
On 24th December, 1917.
Aged 45 years.
RIP

Most merciful Jesus, lover of souls we beseech Thee,
by the agony of Thy Most Sacred
Hearth and by the sorrows of Thy immaculate
Mother, cleanse in Thy blood the soul of Thy servant – Amen.
Roll on, Roll on, on Western deep,
That loved my lovely boy to sleep.
Were I to know Lough Swilly’s shore
Would be your grave for evermore,
I’d clasp you to my loving heart,
And never would I let you part.

The SS Daybreak was sunk as a result of a torpedo fired without warning by a
German submarine on Christmas Eve 1917 near South Rock Lightship, Strangford Lough, off
the Ards Peninsula, Co Down. Previous records stated that the vessel was sunk at Lough
Swilly and this is even mentioned in the memorial card of Thomas Greenway.

Although a British ship registered in West Hartlepool on the North East coast of England, she
was defensively armed due to the state of hostilities and actually survived a U-boat attack in the Arctic Ocean on November 1, 1916.

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Quote Kinsale Mayor, Tomas O Brien : "Many a young Kinsale man left to go to Barry, which to them was the gateway to the world. For some it was the first time they had left their native town, and their families survived on the money they sent home. "Some settled in Barry and have families there today. Many others died in the wars while serving in both the Royal and Merchant Navies." This is Barry. Thursday 1 September 2005

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The Tregenna poem.

Picture yourself in a convoy on a wild September day,
Astern of a ship named Tregenna – just three cables away,
She’s steaming along at eight knots, with a cargo of steel in the hold,
Pitching heavy in head seas, into the spray and the cold.

When all of a sudden a U-boat dodging the escort screen,
Fired a salvo of tinfish, tracking through fast… unseen,
This lethal spread of torpedoes became Tregenna`s death knell,
Just as her bow descended, headlong into the swell.

It was a fatal plunge that the ship was in,
Breached below her deck-line, through the plates so thin,
Her freight stowed heavy and low, beneath an empty space,
Quickly led to foundering, when water took its place.

The ocean rushed in so quickly, leaving no time to prepare,
She dived on her nose and kept going, stern shot high in the air,
The watch on the bridge jumped clear, perchance or not to drown,
Only four abandoned her - as the ship went down.

Now you have the story when in the vessel astern,
Two minutes it took to reach there, horrified to learn,
There was no sign of Tregenna - just Atlantic waves,
Thirty three men within her, bound to deep sea graves.

Sinkings were so frequent on a convoy’s run,
But our merchant seamen still defied the Hun,
One reason why our monument stands there to remember,
Is for the likes of these men, who died here that September

J.S.Earl Bristol M.N.A. Nov. `05

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The Daybreak is remembered in a poem by Captain Joe Earl.

The S.S. DAYBREAK

Nineteen seventeen it was – during perilous days,
The freighter S.S. Daybreak loaded deep with maize,
Steamed along on Christmas Eve near the Southern Rock,
Off the coast of County Down abeam of Strangford Lough,

No notice or forewarning, a torpedo found its mark,
It came and blew the nose right off – plunging all in dark
The vessel’s screw rotating during its descent,
Her boilers then exploding as underneath they went.

U – Boat Eighty Seven had loosed her lethal load,
To meet this helpless target on a winter’s ocean road,
One and twenty brave men - the total of her crew,
Murdered in the Irish Sea by folk they never knew,

It was seen by witnesses or perhaps we’d never know,
What occurred to brave men dragged down far below,
Entombed there now forever, thirty fathoms deep,
Akin to unsung mariners in Davy Jones’s keep.

Joe Earl

Honoured also at Tower Hill is James Greenway, Brother to Thomas who was
boatswain on the SS Tregenna, built at West Hartlepool in 1919 but registered in St. Ives,
Cornwall when it was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-65 while in convoy North
West of Rockall in the Atlantic Ocean while on a return voyage from Philadelphia to
Newport, Monmouthshire, with a cargo of 8,000 tons of steel during World War II on
September 17, 1940. Thirty-three died and four survived. James Greenway was aged 62.
Another Irishman to perish was ordinary seaman Michael O’Brien from Arklow.

[Administrator]

In Memory of: JAMES AND THOMAS

GREENWAY Boatswain, James, S.S. Tregenna (St. Ives) Merchant Navy
17th September 1940. Age 62

Son of the late James and Mary Greenway of Kinsale, Co Cork, Irish Republic

Remembered with Honour:

GREENWAY, Boatswain, Thomas, S.S. Daybreak (West Hartlepool), Mercantile Marine
24th December 1917. Age 47

Son of the late James and Mary Greenway of Kinsale, Co Cork, Irish Republic

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We remember James Joseph Greenway
of Kinsale, Barry and the high sea's.

One sad year has passed away
Since our great sorrow fell,
But in our hearts we mourn the loss
Of those we loved so well.
We think of him in silence,
And his name we oft recall:
But there’s nothing left to answer,
But his picture on the wall.
OH FOR A GLIMPSE OF
THE GRAVE WHERE YOU’R LAID
ONLY TO LAY A FLOWER
AT YOUR HEAD, MOTHER

[Administrator]

James Joseph Greenway lost his life in 1938, He was a Merchant Seaman, born in 1907, he was too young to have made any impact or even be part of World War One. His father Thomas was a seaman, his Grandfather is described by records simply as a Kinsale Fisherman. No doubt, James Joseph Greenway was born to the sea.

His Father, Thomas was lost via or due to enemy action, his ship the SS Daybreak was sent to Davey Jones and his Locker with the aid of a torpedo and this on Christmas Eve. No thought I guess, from the Herr. Kapitan as he locked in and pressed a button of the U Boat led destruction.

All loss of life is hopefully, if not recalled or recorded, more generally and increasingly remembered, but little is said on the devastation and impact on family etc. This is just one tale from the many.

The loss of “Daybreak” 1917, was obviously devastating for the family and loved ones of her Master and crew, hopefully, one day we will be able to tell the tale of all. On Christmas Eve, she was lost to this world and again hopefully sails on in the next.

With the loss of his father, news would have taken some time to filter through. But, when it did changes occurred immediately. As the wife of Thomas had passed away, his income alone had cared for the welfare of his children. This would end abruptly.
Fortunately James Joseph was or would be cared for by an aunt in Cork, I still work on the fates of possibly two sisters, although I know that another the youngest Nora, was to be looked after by either nuns or entered a poor (Work) house.
His aunt had aspirations of him joining the priesthood, he was faced with the question “Should I stay or should I go” and went..............

At sixteen or as soon as was permissible Nora left Kinsale and travelled to Barry to be close to her supportive and much loved and needed brother. This also was to be short lived, as in 1938 he was also lost in a tragic accident.
Fortunately, I hope! Nora may have found some comfort with her new family in South Wales. James Joseph had sailed much from Barry Dock and had both met and married my future Grand Mother. I obviously knew and loved my Grand Mother, but, would never have had an opportunity to meet my Grand Dad.

Nora worked much as a bar maid in Barry and through her work eventually met and married Bill Davies, they eventually married and moved to Mooroopna in Australia. Sadly both Nora and Bill have passed on and are survived by our newly found Australian rellies.

James Greenway was a son of James and Mary of Kinsale, a brother to Thomas and an uncle to James Joseph. James, my Great uncle survived WW1, but perished himself during WW2 – SS Tregenna. The family of James still reside in Kinsale.

James Joseph will not be mentioned in dispatches or be entitled to medals, lost to soon to be deemed a hero. Had his life not been taken away from him then, no doubt it may have occurred a little later. Like the many, I am certain – the thought of death would not have deterred him.