In April 1914, a shipment of 24,000 rifles with 5 million rounds of ammunition, or 216 tonnes, arrived in Ireland. The arms had been smuggled from Germany, transferred to a smaller vessel in Wexford and transported up the coast to Ulster. The shipment went undetected as the authorities were distracted by a decoy ship in Belfast Lough which allowed the real vessel to be unloaded near Larne and arms to be dropped for collection throughout the area. Alarmed by the events up north, the almost defunct Irish Republican Brotherhood was revitalized and, as a direct response to the actions of the UVF, a new generation of Republicans joined the IRB's ranks. John Redmond suspected that the Irish Volunteers was secretly being controlled by the IRB from within and moved to take over of the militia but failed. Observing the success of the UVF to arm, the Irish Volunteers also contacted gun manufacturers in Germany to purchase arms. King George V, fearing civil war, became involved and sponsored peace talks in Ulster, which eventually broke down. Edward Carson believed that war was inevitable, saying "we shall have once more to asset the manhood of our race."