Eoin Hahessy: de Valera and Mannix forged an unlikely bond that helped shape Ireland
Daniel Mannix, the Charleville-born Archbishop of Melbourne, was swamped by well-wishers on his return by train to Cork in 1925, in contrast to five years earlier when two naval destroyers were sent to prevent his arrival during the War of Independence. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive
On August 8, 1920, in the midst of the War of Independence and just over two years before the outbreak of the Civil War, the British government sent two naval destroyers to prevent an Irish-born archbishop from landing at Queenstown, now Cobh, in Cork.
The Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix was on board the White Star liner, the Baltic, which had departed from America on July 31. Mannix was so close to the Irish coast that he could see the flames of huge bonfires welcoming him home. He would not land in Ireland.
