She was renamed Irish Willow,[7] She made 18 voyages to Saint John, New Brunswick, returning with wheat.

[1] Lake Sunapee served as a U.S. Army transport, based in Cardiff, Wales, bringing coal to France.

Gray to change the name of the vessel from Lake Sunapee to Frank Lynch,[18] In November 1922 a note states that the USSB sold the ship to W. J.

[21] The conversion was done by the Union Construction Company of Oakland with work and trials completed on 27 February 1923.

[23] In 1937, she was sold to the Greek company George D. Gratsos' Sons,[note 3] who renamed her Nestor.

[24] In 1938 she suffered a total engine failure and was towed to Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands,[25] where she was converted back to a steamship.

[20] The Irish government had pursued a policy of autarky or self-sufficiency,[27] so international trade was discouraged and the mercantile marine[note 4] ignored.

At independence in 1923 there were 127 Irish ships, but by September 1939 there were only 56, including 7 which did not carry cargo.

[28] Irish imports such as wheat, maize, timber and fertilizer were carried on foreign, mainly British, ships.

Peter Kolts, a crewman of Pirer, another Estonian ship at Dublin south quays, hoisted the hammer and sickle and prevented Captain Joseph Juriska from removing it.

Following a court appearance before Justice Michael Lennon the sailor spent a week in jail.

August Torma, the last Estonian envoy in London, presented their case to the Foreign Office and said that they needed reassurances if they were to stay in Britain.

[52] Following the verdict of Justice Michael Lennon, the ships in Irish ports choose to remain.

Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to the United Kingdom, applied to the High Court in Dublin for possession of the ships.

The Soviet case was supported by a letter from John Whelan Dulanty, the Irish High Commissioner in London.

[note 9] Though he lacked diplomatic status, the Court recognised the right of Herbert Martinson, described as "an Estonian national, resident in Switzerland", to vindicate the rights of the absent owners;[55] McEvoy and Martinson were recognised as trustees for the owners.

The High Court considered five ships: three from Estonia, Otto, Piret and Mall, and two from Latvia, Rāmava and Everoja.

[56] Martinson leased the three Estonian vessels to Irish Shipping for the duration of the war plus three months.

[57] [note 10] Everoja was torpedoed and sunk on 3 November 1941 by U-203[58] while in convoy SC-52 on passage from Canada to Dublin with 6,400 tons of wheat.

[59] John McEvoy was acting at his own expense, but the court directed that he was to be reimbursed from the income earned by Otto (Irish Willow).

Among other things, one of his good deeds was helping to protect the interests of the Estonian shipowners ..."[60] In October 1941, in Cobh, Otto was chartered by Irish Shipping.

On 5 December she went on her first commercial voyage, under Captain R Shanks of Belfast, as Irish Willow.

On the morning of 16 March 1942, U-753 sighted a lone ship, south-west of the Rockall Bank (Irish Willow), and prepared to sink her until they saw her neutral markings (the Irish tricolour and the word EIRE) At 2 pm U-753[65] surfaced and signalled "send master and ship's papers".

He sensed that he was making progress when tumblers of schnapps were produced in honour of Saint Patrick.

[note 14] The convoy retreated into a fogbank, with visibility less than 300 metres (330 yd), probably saving further loss.

[77] A serious problem was that there had been fog for the previous few days, astronomical observations had not been taken, so no ship in the area knew their exact location.

As they rounded Hook Lighthouse they were met by the RNLI lifeboat Annie-Blanche-Smith from Dunmore East[83] with an advance party of doctors and Red Cross volunteers.

It was decided to land the survivors at Dunmore East, while Irish Willow continued to Waterford.

Throughout the war, Irish ships answered SOS calls and stopped to rescue, irrespective of nationality, and frequently – as in this instance – at risk to themselves.

On 16 May 1945, a week after VE Day Éamon de Valera addressed the nation:[note 19] To the men of our Mercantile Marine who faced all the perils of the ocean to bring us essential supplies, the nation is profoundly grateful ...In June 1946 a contract was signed with John Redhead and Sons, shipbuilders of South Shields to construct a new Irish Willow.