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

An episode of [The BelTel](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1620386537), 25 Aug 2026, 26 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/65670352d7b5d40012be7324/e/6a842769b9d83ea9ccc689cf/media.mp3

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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