Republican internment and the prison ship Argenta 1922

by Denise Kleinrichert

"The story of the SS Argenta encapsulates the essence of internment in daily lives beginning in May 1911. Deluged under the British partition and formation of the Northern Government, nationalists were overwhelmingly affected. In an attempt to subvert the nationalist economic position the Minister of Home Affairs, Dawson Bates, imposed martial law tactics to rend supremacy over both a rural and urban populace through violence, intimidation and economic sanctions." "The saga has never been told in its entirety. Mere paragraphs and footnotes have decided the fate of the men and women as that deserving of 'Sinn Feiners'. 300 men were arrested within a 24-hour period beginning near midnight on 22 May 1911, almost all nationalist and pro-Treaty but with professional and economic status within their respective communities. Over 900 men and women in the North were eventually ordered lifted by James Craig, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, under the Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act bet