German U Boat Found Off Coast of Scotland

The historic discovery was made by engineers involved in the Western Link project, where they are laying a subsea power line between Ayrshire and the Wirral. The 385 km long cable will carry renewable energy produced in Scotland to England and Wales.

Peter Roper, from Scottish Power, said workers found the boat while laying cables on the sea bed to help them survey the seafloor. They generally find boulders and other obstacles like that. The wreckage 120m north-west of the centre of the route, off the Stranraer coast. "What we didn't expect to find was a German U-boat," said Roper. "It's probably the most amazing thing I've ever come across in the whole of my construction experience."

Even more amazing than finding the vessel is the history behind it. Naval folklore suggests the vessel may have been attacked by a "sea monster." The story goes that the submarine was caught by the British HMS Coreopsis on April 30, 1918, as it was floating on the surface during the day. The German crew surrendered without resistance. The captain of the U-Boat Captain Krech, claimed that they had been attacked by some sort of sea monster. He goes on saying, 'The beast had 'large eyes, set in a horny sort of skull … with teeth that could be seen glistening in the moonlight. 'When asked why his boat was found on the surface He said the sub was recharging its batteries on the surface of the water at night when the "strange beast" rose from the water and attacked them.

As good as the story is there is still many reasonable explanations. Innes McCartney, a historian and nautical archaeologist who helped identify the wreckage, believes the discovery of the submarine could help solve the mystery of its final hours.

"The submarine was caught on the surface at night recharging its batteries," he said. "It saw the patrol ship coming, it attempted to do a crash dive to get away and the young officer whose job it was to shut the hatch at the top didn't stop it properly, and when the submarine was underwater it began rapidly flooding from above so they had no option but to just blow all the compressed air they had, bring the submarine to the surface, at which point all they could do was surrender."

With such a reasonable explanation, there is still no definite truth so you can still appreciate the story without having to turn to fact.

C.C


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