The IRA’s infamous escape from Belfast’s prison ship, the HMS Maidstone

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.

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