Overview

This powerful and poignant memoir traces the threads of the Mart's life, weaving together an intimate account of life in the McAughtry family home in Tiger's Bay with a controversial retelling of the events that led up to the famous naval encounter in which Mart would meet his death. Moving, vivid and told with McAughtry's trademark Belfast humour, The Sinking of the Kenbane Head demonstrates Sam McAughtry's great talent as a writer and is a fitting tribute not just to Mart, but to all the unsung merchant seamen who played such a vital role in World War 2.

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9780856407635

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If Hemingway were Irish, he would have written this novel, which is both a thiller and a litterary masterpiece.

There have been many books about personal wartime experiences, but this one is different. It is not easy to write again of the stories of such warships as the Scheer and the Hipper, the Rawalpindi and the Jervis Bay. Yet Mr McAughtry does so with freshness and commendable historical accuracy. And in his descriptions of school and family life in pre-war Belfast he proves himself a natural storyteller. I hope others will enjoy his book has much as I have done. -- Ludovic Kennedy

Author Information

Sam McAughtry was born in a fiercely loyalist area of Belfast. He was an award-winning broadcaster and journalist, and was known particularly for his work for the Irish Times and for the programme Sunday Miscellany. He was a Life Member of the Irish Writer's Union, was named as Irish Columnist of the Year in 1986, and in 1988 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the National University of Ireland. He was a key member of the Peace Train Organisation and an influential trade union activist. In 1996, he was elected to the Irish Senate, the first person from Northern Ireland to hold this honour. He is the author of a number of books, including The Sinking of the Kenbane Head, a memoir about his much-loved brother, Mart, who died when his ship, the Kenbane Head, was sunk by the German battleship Admiral Scheer on 5 November 1940. He died in March 2014.

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