Libau was a merchant steam ship. In 1916 it masqueraded under the cover name of Aud in an attempt to carry arms from Germany to Ireland as part of the preparation for the Easter Rising.
Vessel
SS Castro was a 1,062 ton steam cargo transport built for the Wilson Line of Hull, England in 1907. Castro measured in length with a beam and a draught of. The ship was captured by the Imperial German Navy in the Kiel Canal, at the beginning of World War I in August 1914. Renamed Libau, she remained inactive until 1916, when designated as the vessel to carry a cargo of arms to Ireland, to aid the Easter Rising, and given the name Aud.
Smuggling operation
Masquerading as — an existing Norwegian vessel of similar appearance — Libau set sail from the Baltic port of Lübeck on 9 April 1916, under the command of Karl Spindler, bound for the south-west coast of Ireland. Under Spindler was a crew of 22 men, all of whom were volunteers. Libau, laden with an estimated 20,000 rifles, 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition, 10 machine guns, and explosives, evaded patrols of both the British 10th Cruiser Squadron and local auxiliary patrols. After surviving violent storms off Rockall, Libau arrived in Tralee Bay on Holy Thursday, 20 April. There they were due to meet with Roger Casement, who had negotiated the arms transfer, but as they had no radio on board the ship, they were unaware that the Kerry volunteers had been told to meet the ship on Easter Sunday off Fenit pier. On Good Friday, 21 April, the Libau was approached by three British destroyers and attempted to leave the area, but was cornered. Captain Spindler allowed himself to be escorted towards Cork Harbour, in the company of the sloop. The German crew then scuttled the ship to keep the weapons from falling into British hands. Spindler and crew were interned for the duration of the war. Although Casement had been landed by the submarine in Banna Strand that Friday, he was captured and arrested, without ever meeting the Libau. Four months later he was tried and hanged as a traitor by the British government.' One of the two car-loads of volunteers who were supposed to meet Spindler had crashed into the River Laune, many miles away, at Ballykissane pier, Killorglin. So there had been no possibility of an organised transfer of arms.
Artefacts
"''Aud'' rifles"
A number of rifles were recovered from Libau before the vessel was scuttled. Several examples exist in various museums in Britain and Ireland. Among these are the Cork Public Museum in Fitzgerald's Park in Cork, a museum in Lurgan County Armagh, the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, and the Imperial War Museum in London. The majority of them are the model known as the Mosin–Nagant 1891, or "three-line rifle", captured in the German rout of Russian forces in the Battle of Tannenberg. The different calibre of these rifles meant they were not attractive for issuing to German troops, for logistical reasons, and through the misunderstanding of this point they have since been widely described as 'outmoded and out of date.' In contrast, they were currently in manufacture in great quantities by the Allies in the epochal mainland war. A slightly modified version continued in use by European national armies through World War II and beyond. The Mosin–Nagant was a magazine rifle, enabling the user to pre-load five rounds from a clip plus, if needed, one more in the breech, and then fire accurately in reasonably rapid succession, using relatively modern.30 calibre spitzer-nosed bullets. Per Russian preference, the rifles aboard Libau were equipped with the Russian model of socket bayonets, s.c. "Rat-tails".
Anchors
In 2012, a licensed salvage operation raised Auds anchors from the wreck site outside the entrance to Cork Harbour at Daunt Rock. Following conservation and desalination works, the anchors were put on public display.
