The IRA’s infamous escape from Belfast’s prison ship, the HMS Maidstone
About this episode
This episode discusses the infamous escape of IRA prisoners from the HMS Maidstone in 1972.
HMS Maidstone, an ex-Royal Navy Ship, was used in the early 1970s to hold internees. In January 1972, a group of IRA prisoners swam 270 meters through an ice-cold Belfast Lough in a bid to escape, greasing themselves in butter to squeeze out of the ship’s portholes. They then hijacked a double-decker bus before slipping across the border, humiliating the authorities. Ciarán Dunbar is joined by James Durney, author of ‘Jailbreak: Great Irish Republican escapes’. This episode was originally published in January 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
People in this episode
Host: Ciarán Dunbar
Guest: James Durney
Topics covered
- IRA
- prison escape
- Belfast
- HMS Maidstone
- Irish history
- political events
Keywords
- IRA
- HMS Maidstone
- Belfast Lough
- prison escape
- James Durney
- Ciarán Dunbar
- Irish Republican
- Jailbreak
- history
- politics
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Belfast Telegraph
Books & works: Jailbreak: Great Irish Republican escapes
Places: Belfast, Belfast Lough, Ireland
More episodes of The BelTel
- Kew Files: Who was the senior DUP member who supported violence just weeks before the Good Friday Agreement?
- Holy Cross: Clerics Fr Troy and Rev Hamilton on the protest and resolving it
- Holy Cross 25-years-on: Allison Morris on what she saw, and the loyalist point of view
- David Sullivan: The mystery of the headless alleged paedophile’s murder
- God, Religion, the Troubles, and Christian Peacebuilding
- “Everything that I was told was a lie”: Lauren Bradford-Clarke, Colin Howell’s daughter
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The BelTel podcast page.