During the interwar years both Estonia and Latvia possessed merchant fleets that carried goods across the Baltic and beyond. Ireland, on the other hand, tried to rely more on a policy of self-sufficiency and had few seagoing vessels for trade prior to WW2, with only a small fleet of coastal traders and fishing boats. They relied mainly on foreign ships (especially British) for overseas trade.
This all had to change on the outbreak of WW2. Ireland, though neutral, found itself threatened by the effect of the war on trade. European nations like Britain were requisitioning their own ships for the war effort rather than trade with countries like Ireland, and sea-lanes to the Atlantic were threatened by Uboat patrols. Ireland found itself scouring the markets for any seagoing ships it could to build up its own merchant fleet.
In 1940, the Soviet Union invaded and seized the Baltic states. At the time of the invasion there were several merchant ships of those nations still at sea or waiting in foreign ports to return home. Among these were the Estonian ships Otto, Mall, and Piret, and the Latvian ships Ramava and Everoja. The Soviets nationalised all industry in the conquered Baltic nations and sent wireless messages to all ship captains overseas, ordering them to go to Soviet ports and surrender their vessels. The three Estonian and two Latvian ships I mentioned all ignored the orders and stayed at port in Ireland.
The Soviet ambassador to the UK, Mr. Maisky, applied to the Irish High Court for the right to take over the ships. He claimed that he had spoken with the Irish High Commissioner in London, J.W Dulanty, about having the ships go to the Soviet Union. Dulanty had asked Maisky for permission for the ships to first discharge their cargoes in Ireland and stock up on supplies before leaving, and Maisky had agreed. Maisky claimed that this agreement (as well as the Soviet control over Latvian and Estonian industry) gave him the authority to claim the ships for the Soviet Union.
However the honorary consul of Estonia in Dublin, John McEvoy, opposed this claim and (along with Estonian representatives living in Switzerland) took his case to the Irish High Court for the ships not to be turned over to the Soviet Union. The Irish High Court acknowledged McEvoy's right to represent the owners of the Estonian ships in court, who at that time could not be contacted. (note: I am not 100% certain who represented the owners of the Latvian ships, but they were discussed in this court case as well).
On 16 May, 1941 the Irish High Court rejected the Soviet claim to ownership of the three Estonian and two Latvian ships. The Soviets appealed to the Irish Supreme Court, who also rejected their claim. On 3 July 1941 the case was dismissed with costs.
In reaching a verdict, the Irish court had asked the Minister for External Affairs whether the Irish government recognised the Soviet annexation of Latvia and Estonia, and the Minister said that Ireland did not. Thus, Soviet sovereignty over Estonia and Latvia could not be legally recognised by the Irish court, refuting the claim of the Soviet ambassador Mr. Maisky. Because Ireland did not recognise the annexation of Latvia and Estonia, they said that the wireless orders sent to the ships ordering them to go to Soviet ports did not have legal authority. They also said that, because the ships had been private property and not government property of Latvia or Estonia, they could not be claimed as state possessions by the Soviet Union.
The Soviets protested this decision, and said that they held the Irish government responsible and would take "what measure (they) might deem necessary". However, probably with bigger issues on their minds, the Soviets did nothing else to try and get the ships.
In this way, the small neutral country of Ireland was able to save the crews of the three Estonian and two Latvian vessels from being deported to Soviet-occupied homelands. The three Estonian ships were leased to Ireland for the duration of WW2, while the Everoja sailed under the British red ensign and was torpedoed and sunk while in an Allied convoy in 1941. I'm not sure what happened to the other Latvian ship Ramava.
I thought it was an interesting piece of diplomatic history...
