by J. Michael Finn
Failure to communicate could have served as the motto of the 1916 Easter Rebellion. Communication before and during the rebellion was either non-existent or contradictory. No one knew exactly what was going to happen or when. Even some of the leaders were confused. You could make the argument that the lack of communication was one of the reasons the rebellion failed. At the very least it was a contributing factor.
One of the biggest lapses of communication was the mix up over the German arms shipment that was supposed to arrive to save the day and ended up at the bottom of Queenstown (Cobh) Harbor. On the evening of April 20, 1916 (Holy Thursday) a German freighter, the Libau, disguised as the neutral Norwegian freighter Aud, made its way into the Bay of Tralee. It paused, just off the island of Inishtooskert and then sailed into Tralee Bay. The ship began signaling the coastal village of Fenit using two green lanterns.
The Aud’s illicit cargo was an estimated 20,000 rifles, 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition, ten machine guns, and explosives. The majority of the rifles were the Russian Mosin-Nagant 1891. The Germans had captured these rifles from the Russian army at the Battle of Tennenberg. The shipment was carefully disguised on the ship’s manifest as “pots and pans.”
The Aud’s captain, Karl Spindler, a lieutenant in the German Naval Reserve, had been instructed to look for two green lanterns from the shore in reply. Upon this signal a pilot boat would arrive and guide them into the harbor where the Aud’s cargo of guns and ammunition would be landed. Sadly, the two green lanterns on shore were hanging unused in the hall of the Irish Volunteers in Tralee. The Volunteers on shore had been told to look for the ship’s signal on the evening between Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.
What went wrong? Because of the war there was no direct communication between Germany and Ireland. German communications regarding the arms shipment and the plans for German aid had been transmitted through the German embassy in New York and given to John Devoy, the exiled Fenian and head of Clan na nGael in America. 
It was decided that Devoy would communicate with the IRB leaders in Dublin via couriers due to the likelihood that the British might intercept any electronic communication. This method was safer but required an ocean voyage between each message.
Through a courier Devoy was instructed to advise Berlin that the arms shipment should arrive sometime between dusk on Holy Thursday and dawn on Easter Monday. This Devoy communicated to Berlin and gave them the date of the Rising as Easter Sunday at 6pm.
But, around the first week of April, Patrick Pearse changed his mind regarding the shipment, reasoning that a Holy Thursday delivery was too early. He feared the arms shipment would be spotted and give away the Easter Sunday plans. Pearse sent a courier to Devoy advising the Germans not to arrive until sometime between Holy Saturday evening and Easter Monday. The courier arrived in New York on April 14; five days after the Aud had already left Germany. Since the Aud had no wireless equipment the Germans decided there was nothing they could do to stop the shipment and advised Devoy accordingly.
The Germans had also sent a submarine, the U19, containing Roger Casement, the IRB’s man in Berlin and the person who coordinated the shipment. The submarine was supposed to rendezvous with the Aud. Casement and several companions were to be landed on the beach near Tralee along with the arms. The submarine arrived on time, but the captain of the sub made no attempt to contact or signal the Aud. He noticed the ship, but thought it was a British destroyer. Instead he continued to look for the green lantern signal from shore, which never appeared. Disgusted, with the whole affair and fearful of discovery, the sub captain landed Casement and his companions on the beach, where they were discovered and soon taken into custody.
Meanwhile, Captain Spindler decided he had waited long enough. The Atlantic was starting to fill up with armed British ships and he was getting nervous about his ability to continue to bluff his way out of trouble.
On the evening of Good Friday, Spindler decided to weigh anchor and he set a course for Lisbon. An armed British trawler, Lord Heneage, began pursuing them, but Spindler opened his boilers and soon left the slower ship in his wake.
The Lord Heneage radioed ahead to the other ships that a suspicious vessel was headed south west. The armed British sloops Zinnia and Bluebell joined the pursuit. The Zinnia stopped the Aud and for a while it looked as though Spindler would talk his way out of this problem.
It was finally decided that the Aud would sail to Queenstown Harbor, escorted by the Bluebell. There the Aud would be searched, and if nothing was found, it would be released. The Aud began following the Bluebell. At the entrance to the harbor Spindler suddenly brought the Aud to a full stop. The captain of the Bluebell noticed that Spindler was lowering his lifeboats and all of the crew had changed into German naval uniforms. A German battle flag had replaced the Norwegian flag on the mast.
As Spindler and his men were boarding the life boats explosives were set off below decks where charges had been placed in case of such an occurrence. It took only ten minutes for the Aud and its cargo to sink below th
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