First Armistice at Compiègne. At Furious Pier, beside the golf course, on 14 May 1921 two soldiers were wounded and Privates Hunter, McCullen, Edwards and Chalmers – all of the King's Own Scottish Borderers – were shot dead by Irish Republican Army men led by Michael Og O'Sullivan. There was also an engagement between the IRA and Black and Tan members of the Royal Irish Constabulary just outside the town that day but no casualties were sustained. Only one Castletownbere man was killed in the Irish Civil War; John O'Dwyer killed at Kealkill, Co. Cork in 1922 and commemorated on the plaque on Wolfe Tone Square in Bantry. The deep-water harbour was, up to the 19th century, much used by smugglers. Treaty port On 6 December 1921, the Anglo Irish Treaty was concluded. It provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State, which came into existence on 6 December 1922. The Treaty included provisions by which the British would retain sovereignty over three strategically important ports known as the Treaty ports, one of which being described in the Treaty as the "Dockyard Port at Berehaven". Accordingly, even after the establishment of the Irish Free State, the Royal Navy continued to maintain its presence at the forts and batteries around Castletownbere and on Bere Island (together known as Berehaven). Berehaven remained under British sovereignty until 29 September 1938 when, pursuant to the Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement of 25 April 1938, the territory was ceded to Ireland. The Times reported the handover of port as follows: The Times''' choice of headline was misleading, as the British troops at Berehaven were not the last troops to leave the Irish state. The evacuation of Lough Swilly was yet to take place. The golf course near the town was part of the Royal Naval base until 1938. The tennis court there used to be where huge oil tanks stood. The sentry boxes still exist at the entrance to the golf course and at a jetty on the golf course. A golf course existed to provide diversion for the sailors of the Royal Navy. The deep-water harbour was, up to the 19th century, much used by smugglers. Berehaven is the second safest natural harbour in the world. Demographics The town had a population of 860 in the 2016 census, with 1,483 in the surrounding electoral district, and approximately 4200 in the Beara Peninsula area as a