On the friday night prior to Easter 1916, Sir Roger Casement, an English born Irish patriot attempted to land at Banna strand on the southwest coast of Ireland with a load of german rifles. The IRB had been working on a deal for the rifles and had arranged for the landing a few days prior to the uprising. There was a mix up on the dates and no one was there to meet the ship.The ship carrying the rifles, the Aud, I believe, was captured and brought into Cobh (Queenstown). The german captain sank the boat rather than having it brought into the harbor. At roughly the same time casement was put to shore from a submarine to go see what the hang up was. He obviously had no idea about the ship being captured. Casement was captured by the local police, (he lied about his name, unlike what the song says.) He was executed and buried in England. In 1965, his body was returned to Ireland and buried with honors. There is a last verse to the song about his return that is not usually included in most versions. I'll check the data base and see if it there. If it isn't I'll print it here.

Tiocfaidh ar la,

Rick