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Submarine wrecks of the east coast
The story of those who failed to make it home in both war and peace.
Information about the wreckage of several German U-boats off the Yorkshire Coast has been recorded in a book.
The book, Silent Warriors, includes the background of the nine First World War submarines lying on the seabed off the Yorkshire coast, including eight German U-Boats, which struck fear into the captains of many merchant ships during the First World War.
A solitary British submarine also lies on the floor of the North Sea, about 40 nautical miles east from Flamborough Head. Two of the eight U-boats are lying on the seabed 10 nautical miles from Scarborough.
Ships weighing 16,000 tons were sunk by the two U-boats UB41 and UB75 which were both sunk after setting off mines in 1917.
The book also notes the roles of Scarborough locals in documenting the wreckages. Scarborough Sub Aqua Club discovered UB41 in 2002 and both U-boats were filmed by the experienced underwater photographer Bob Jolley, also from Scarborough.
However, the sunken wreck of UB107 just off Flamborough coast is the most intriguing. According to records the U-boat was sunk by depth charges in July 1918, however this has been discredited and the mystery deepened when in 1985 UB107 was found on the sea floor, underneath a British steamship which was also sunk.
The book also includes the background to the Hornsund Gun, situated on the pier near Scarborough Lighthouse. Hornsund was an Admiralty collier torpedoed just off the Scarborough coast.
The gun was placed on the vessel to protect her. It now serves as a reminder of just how vulnerable merchant ships were to German U-boat attacks.
In 1917 one in four ships was not returning and a story in the book about one U-boat skipper allegedly landing on the Yorkshire coast to visit a cinema underlines the confidence within the German U-boats during this time.
This is the first volume of Silent Warriors, which tells the story of wreckages along the East Coast from the North East to Kent, by Ron Young and Pamela Armstrong.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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