After he left journalism he moved into the Department of External Affairs in Dublin and in 1934 was appointed to the League of Nations in Danzig, then a free city, now the Polish city of Gdansk.

BBC: Sean Lester: Belfast tribute to leading diplomat

At the time of the attack by the Schleswig-Holstein - which was moored in the Polish harbour on a friendship visit - Gdansk was known as the free city of Danzig.

BBC: Poland remembers World War start

Few survive to tell the tale of the German battleship, Schleswig-Holstein, unleashing a barrage of 280mm and 170mm shells at a Polish fort and shattering the dawn breaking over the Westerplatte peninsula in the free city of Danzig on 1 September 1939.

BBC: Watching the start of World War II