Qualla: SS Libau https://qualla.com/ss-libau en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/4/n/ss-libau-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: SS Libau https://qualla.com/ss-libau SS Libau: Introduction https://qualla.com/ss-libau/ Photo credit Chrischerf, CC BY-SA 4.0. She set sail from Lubeck on 9 April 1916 with 22 men, 20,000 rifles, a million rounds of ammunition, ten machine guns and a hold full of explosives stacked under camouflage timber. Her papers said she was the Norwegian trawler SS Aud. Her actual name was SS Libau, and she was a captured British cargo ship sailing under a German captain through waters patrolled by the Royal Navy, headed for Tralee Bay with a cargo intended to arm an Irish revolution. Twelve days later, on Good Friday, she scuttled herself at the entrance to Cork Harbour rather than let her cargo fall into British hands. The Easter Rising would begin in Dublin two days later. Without her guns.

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Image: Chrischerf | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/4/n/ss-libau-wp/gc4n-ss-libau-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full SS Libau: The Ship That Wasn't Norwegian https://qualla.com/ss-libau/ Photo credit Chrischerf, CC BY-SA 4.0. She was built in Hull in 1907 as the SS Castro, a 1,062-ton steamer running cargo for the Wilson Line - 220 feet long, modest, the kind of ship that crossed the North Sea without anyone looking twice. In August 1914, when the war broke out, the Imperial German Navy caught her in ...

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Image: Chrischerf | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/4/n/ss-libau-wp/gc4n-ss-libau-the-ship-that-wasnt-norwegian.mp3 0:06 2 full SS Libau: Twelve Days, the Long Way https://qualla.com/ss-libau/ Photo credit Chrischerf, CC BY-SA 4.0. The route was almost absurd. To avoid the British 10th Cruiser Squadron patrolling the southern North Sea, the Libau ran north - up past the Arctic Circle, through fierce storms off Rockall, then down the west coast of Ireland and around to Tralee Bay. She had no radio. She arriv...

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Image: Chrischerf | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/4/n/ss-libau-wp/gc4n-ss-libau-twelve-days-the-long-way.mp3 0:06 3 full SS Libau: Good Friday https://qualla.com/ss-libau/ Photo credit Chrischerf, CC BY-SA 4.0. On Good Friday, 21 April, three Royal Navy destroyers approached the Libau. British intelligence had unmasked her cover. Spindler tried to leave the bay; he was cornered. He allowed the destroyers to escort his ship toward Cork Harbour, accompanied by a sloop. Then, before the Br...

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Image: Chrischerf | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/4/n/ss-libau-wp/gc4n-ss-libau-good-friday.mp3 0:06 4 full SS Libau: What the Sea Returned https://qualla.com/ss-libau/ Photo credit Chrischerf, CC BY-SA 4.0. The wreck of the Libau lies about 27 metres down, near where she scuttled herself. In 2012 a licensed salvage operation raised her anchors; after conservation and desalination, they went on public display. Other artefacts surfaced too: rifles recovered before the sinking are scat...

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Image: Chrischerf | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/4/n/ss-libau-wp/gc4n-ss-libau-what-the-sea-returned.mp3 0:06 5 full SS Libau: The Counterfactual https://qualla.com/ss-libau/ Photo credit Chrischerf, CC BY-SA 4.0. Historians have argued ever since about what would have happened if the Libau's cargo had reached the rebels. The Mosin-Nagant has often been dismissed as 'outmoded' - this is a misunderstanding. The Allies actually produced great quantities of them during the First World War; th...

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Image: Chrischerf | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/4/n/ss-libau-wp/gc4n-ss-libau-the-counterfactual.mp3 0:06 6 full