Page 19 - COBH EDITION 15th MARCH DIGITAL VERSION

February. Early in the afternoon of that day his body draped in the Stars and Stripes was put
aboard the Dutch salvage tug Zwartee Zee which was stationed in Cobh at the time and was
taken to the selected place of burial outside the harbour. Flags flew at half-mast from all the
shipping lines throughout the town and all along the foreshore people gathered to bid their fi-
nal farewell; it was indeed a very poignant scene. Proceeding to the vicinity of the Daunt Rock
and with his immediate family and close friends watching his body, now stitched in a canvas
sack, in the manner of sea burials and having prayers recited for the dead by the Captain of
the Zwartee Zee was committed to the deep.
It appears his family left Cobh and returned to America shortly after the tragedy.
Credit, Irish Newspapers online
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Sunday March 24th will see the return of the ‘Moon Car’ to the scene
of a crime it was involved in 1924, some 95 years after the event first took place. The bright
yellow Rolls Royce silver ghost was used in an attack on British forces and became the subject
of Ireland’s largest ever manhunt. Author of’ Death on the Pier’ John Jefferies will give a talk
on Spike Island at 3pm Sunday March 24th, with visitors on boats at 1pm and 2pm able to
view the car on Kennedy pier Cobh before travelling for the talk.

Kennedy pier Cobh was the scene of the deadly ambush on British soldiers who were return-
ing from their station on Spike Island, which had been retained by the British after the forma-
tion of the Irish Free State. As they disembarked the pier a bright yellow Rolls Royce silver
ghost containing 5 men in Free State uniforms opened fire with two Lewis machine guns,
killing 1 and injuring 18 others, including civilians. The British soldier killed, PT Herbert
Aspinall from Rochdale, was just 18 years old and the entire party were unarmed. The car
then drove up the town and opened fire on a British war ship that was docked in the harbour
before disappearing from sight.
The attack was described by then President William T Cosgrave as a “dastardly outrage in its
deliberation and its savagery”, with many suspecting the attack was aimed at reopening up
the conflict between Britain and Ireland. What followed remains perhaps the biggest manhunt
every seen in Ireland which included a reward of £10000, as the event made national news
and prompted furious comment in the British Parliament. The car would not be seen again for
59 years, when a dogged historian discovered the car in a scrap yard near Bweeng in Cork,
and the car was eventually restored. The car was found to have machine gun emplacements
and armoured sides, making it a fearsome weapon in disguise. It had earned the nickname
the ‘moon car’ for its use in late night patrols looking for enemies of the IRA’s Cork number 1
brigade during the War of Independence and the Irish Civil war.

The car will return to Kennedy pier Cobh at 12.30pm on Sunday March 24th where visitors to
Spike Island can view the car before embarking for a talk on the island at 3pm by author John
Jefferies, author of ‘Death on the Pier’ which elaborates on the infamous tale. Mr Jefferies will
give a 30 minute talk in Spike Islands Mitchel hall at 3pm on the subject at no extra cost for
a regular island visit. Those wishing to attend are asked to book the 1pm and 2pm ferries on
that date to attend the talk.