The wreck site of the KENMARE has been identified during research by Dr Innes McCartney (2022: 123) for the Echoes from the Deep project. McCartney concluded that the KENMARE is consistent with UKHO ID 7028 (NPRN 515797). The record has been updated to reflect that research.

Event and Historical Information:
The KENMARE was a steel-hulled steamship built by Wigham Richardson & Co, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in 1895. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 1330gt, 565nt; 264ft 5in length x 35ft 6in breadth x 16ft 9in depth; 2 decks, 5 bulkheads, passenger deck 34ft, boat deck 136ft, forecastle 73ft; screw propulsion powered by twin boilers linked to a triple expansion engine producing 437hp; armed with a 3 pounder, Mark V stern gun; official number 104279. At time of loss, the vessel was owned by City of Cork Steam Packet Co Ltd and registered at Cork. The ship was returning from Liverpool to Cork on 2 March 1918, when it was torpedoed without warning by U104. The damage to the vessel was so great that it immediately sank, taking with it 29 crewmembers including the Master, leaving only the Chief Officer and five others clinging to floating wreckage. These were picked up after 12 hours by the steamship GLENSIDE and landed at Dublin. The names commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial to the Mercantile Marine are: Michael Ahern, age 36, Fireman ; Peter Blacklock, Master ; Stephen Bowen, , age 59, Quartermaster ; Michael Coleman, age 41, Fireman ; Patrick Corcoran, age 30, Greaser ; Michael Delea, age 64, Able Seaman; Parick Fennesay, age 55 , Able Seaman ; James Fitzgerald, age 41, Trimmer; John Good, age 21 , Able Seaman ; Geoffrey Grant, age 58, Quartermaster ; Robert Johnstone, age 33, Second Mate ; John Keenan, age 63, Greaser ; Oscar Kemp, age 47, Cook ; William Lyons, age 24, Fireman ; William Moore, age 26, Able Seaman ; Thomas Murph, age 34, First Engineer ; Percival McCartie, age 20, Able Seaman ; Robert McLaughlin, age 34 , Fireman ; Michael O'Driscoll, age 40 , Fireman ; Jphn O'Keefe, age 26, Fireman ; Thomas Ogle, age 23, Second Engineer ; and Allen Shaw, age 20, Third Engineer . Albert Aston, age 22, Able Seaman , Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. John MacAulay, age 37, is commemmorated at St Peter's Church, Balrothery.

Sources include:

The Cambria Daily Leader, 6 March 1918, p.1
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Y Dinesydd Cymreig, 13 March 1918, p.6
Gater, D, 1992, Historic Shipwrecks of Wales, p.132
HMSO, 1988, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 and 1939-45, p.82.
Kenmare, uboat.net
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Confidential War Loss Record 1914-18 p.204
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 January - 31 March 1918, p.10 (i)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping 1 July 1915 - 30 June 1916, number 363 in K
Mercantile Navy List, 1900, p.192
Mercantile Navy List, 1910, p.273
Mercantile Navy List, 1915, p.15
SS Kenmare, Wreck Site EU
U 104, uboat.net
U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea
UKHO ID 7028: Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, from UK Hydrographic Office.

J.Whitewright, RCAHMW, Aprill 2023

This record was enhanced in 2020 with funding from Lloyd's Register Foundation as part of the project ‘Making the Link: Lloyd's Register and the National Monuments Record of Wales’. Visit Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage and Education Centre for more resources.