Greetings to all of you. I have just joined the Forum, better late than never to have discovered it.

Regarding the mystery passengers aboard J2259, I think I can identify one of them. I believe it was my father, Constable John Hennigan of the Royal Irish Constabulary.

When I was a little boy with a huge interest in aircraft, he once told me why he’d never go up in an aeroplane again. The story was essentially the same as the facts now known about J2259. He said it was a Handley Page bomber and that, as it began to sink by the nose, some of the crew swam back to the tailplane to balance it. So, unless someone knows of another ditching in the Irish sea 1920-21 similar in detail, I am convinced that J2259 is the aircraft I heard about some sixty years ago.

John Hennigan joined the RIC in 1912 and remained a lowly Constable until disbandment in 1922. As to what he was doing aboard J2259, I think it most likely he was carrying despatches. He certainly wasn’t Secret Service although perhaps the other passenger was James Bond’s grandfather…

Like so many of his generation, he never spoke of those years and unfortunately died before I was old enough to have a mature conversation with him. But I am now working on a book about the world he lived in, trying to understand the situation a young man found himself in. I’m very short of personal details but am delighted to have corroborated a key part of his story and indebted to all of you. I’ve learned more in the past week than in all the preceding years.

If anyone can add anything to the account, I would be most grateful. I thought of writing to the Liverpool Museum for info on the ship’s log but perhaps someone has already done so. Details such as the time of the ditching and rescue and the weather conditions are also relevant. Any help would be most welcome.

Hal