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Ulster on the Brink Part 3 - landing the guns

It begins
After the Berthe made successful rendezvous with the Clydevalley in Loch Laxford, the most difficult task still remained – getting the weapons into Ulster and distributed to the various units of the UVF. Here again, the combination of Crawford and Craig proved highly effective, especially in combination with Lord Roberts Chief of Staff, Lt Col. Sir George Richardson. Roberts although willing to throw his huge prestige behind the Ulster cause was not well enough to be much more than a figurehead. Richardson however proved well up to the task and within the limits of the resources available had brought the UVF to a high state of efficiency. In one area he was in fact well ahead of most thinking, even in full time professional armies, in the creation of a highly organised Motor Corps. This unit was to prove decisive in the successful landing and distribution of the weapons.

Security was tight. Very few people knew that the Clydevalley had successfully taken on board the weapons. Most of those believed that the landing was to be made in Belfast. However, late on the evening of September 4th the Berthe sailed openly into Belfast Lough, sending dummy signals by lantern to the shore. At the same time Clydevalley put into the Harbour at Larne while the Larne Queen, which had had by now picked up another consignment of the Birmingham arms, put into Bangor, and the Cabinet Minister, which had been forced to return to Barrow with engine problems, into Donaghadee about six miles from Bangor.

On September 1st all units of the UVF had been told to report to their normal drill location without arms on the evening of 4th September and to be prepared to stay there all night. The Belfast Division were to stand by for further instructions. Despatch riders were sent to watch the police and military barracks and report all movements. Others were to go to various locations on the main roads from Belfast to Larne and Bangor to watch for movement of police or army. Members of the Motor Corps were instructed to report to Larne at 11.00 pm on 4th September, with an extra driver, fuel and warned not to drive at speed or draw any attention to themselves by the blowing of horns etc. On arrival they were to obey the instructions of Marshals. Some two dozen members of the Corps were given similar instructions to report to Bangor and Donaghadee.

The landings
At 8.30 on the 4th, 500 men of the East Belfast Regiment of the UVF arrived on the Quayside in Belfast, soon followed by a large force of vehicles of all sorts including horse drawn carts, coal wagons and motor lorries where they were all marshalled into a waiting area. By 9.00 pm 1,000 men of the North Belfast Regiment marched to the Midland Railway station where they proceeded to place a guard around the station and to occupy the departure platform (for Larne) with a large force. The aim was not to despatch these men to Larne, but to frustrate any attempt by the army or police to do so. At the same time, the remaining Belfast regiments moved into their sectors across the city where they occupied key locations and carried out patrols. These men were under orders to avoid Nationalist areas and to refrain from creating any disturbances. By 9.30, the UVF HQ in Belfast Old Town Hall was under guard by some 200 specially picked men.

Across Ulster the rest of the UVF stayed in their drill halls, although sending out frequent partols along main roads, again with instructions to avoid Nationalist areas, but otherwise to be as obvious as possible.

At about 11.00 pm, the Berthe finally docked in Belfast. Customs officials immediately boarded demanding to inspect the ships papers and the cargo. The ship's Captain however offered only vague and obstructive responses, claiming to have mislaid his keys and saying he could not open the ship's hatches without instructions from the owners. He continued to play this game throughout the night to the increasing frustration of the police and customs officers attempting to search the ship. At one point the senior customs officer ordered the hatch covers to be removed only for the captain to immediately have them replaced.

While this cat and mouse game was going on in Belfast, the other ships were getting ready to unload their cargoes. At 10.30 the Clydevalley tied up in Larne, followed soon afterwards by the Larne Queen into Bangor and the Cabinet Minister into Donaghadee. By 11.15 all three ships were busily off loading into waiting motor vehicles which once they had received as many bundles as they could carry drove off into the darkness to deliver them to several secret locations just outside Larne and Bangor before returning for another load. By 1.00 am the Larne Queen and Cabinet Minister had both discharged their entire cargoes and were loading coal ready to put to sea. By 2.30 am the Clydevally was also clear and the quayside deserted. At about 3.15, the Customs men were finally allowed to take off the hatch covers of the Berthe where of course they found nothing but coal.

The next morning in London Carson received a one word telegram – LION – the code for full success.