SABER TOOTHED CAT JAW IN THE NORTHSEA

A fossile Saber-toothed cat jaw was found by fisherman Maarten Post in 2000, some 43 miles West of Ijmuiden, Holland. The jaw is about 28.000 years old, contradiciting that this species was extinct some 300.000 years ago. See the image for more information. (sorry, Dutch only)

DINOSAURS OF THE DEEP

The British steamer Mount Temple of 8790 tons was built in 1901 for the Elder Dempster Line and used in the North Atlantic Trade. She was fitted with accommodation for 14 cabin-class and 1,250 third-class passengers. In 1903 she was sold to Canadian Pacific Steamships, Liverpool.

On december 6th, 1916, while in the North Atlantic, she was captured and sunk by the German surface raider Moewe, 620 miles W 1/2 S from Fastnet, Ireland.

Captain Alfred Henry Sargent was in command, with a crew of 116, when Mount Temple departed Montreal, Canada on December 3, 1916 for Liverpool via Brest. Her cargo consisted of 710 horses and 6,250 tons of goods including 3,000 tons of corn, 1,400 cases of eggs.

She also transported 22 wooden crates of dinosaur fossils, collected in the badlands of Alberta, Canada by Charles H. Sternberg, en route to Sir Arthur Smith-Woodward, keeper of the British Museum's Natural History Department.

As a consequence of the battle between Moewe and Mount Temple, 4 crew from Mount Temple died. The captain and surviving crew were transferred to the captured British ship Yarrowdale and arrived at SWinemuende, Germany on December 31st.

HMAS YARRA

On 4th March 1942, 280 miles south of Java. At sunrise, 3 Japanese heavy cruisers ATAGO, TAKAO and MAYA and destroyers ARASHI and NOWAKI attack an allied convoy, consisting of transport ANKING, tanker FRANCOL and minesweeper MMS-51, escorted by Australian sloop HMAS YARRA.

HMAS YARRA (Capt Rankin) ordered her convoy to scatter, she setup a smokescreen and then, in an unbelievable brave act of heroism, headed to fight the enemy cruisers and destroyers in order to try to save the other ships.

For more than 90 minutes, YARRA fights against an overwhelming enemy until she was silenced, becoming a blazing wreck and sinking beneath the waves.

Despite YARRA's sacrifice, the Japanese sank all three ships in the convoy.

The Japanese force picked up one boatload of survivors from FRANCOL, but a large boatload of survivors were never seen again.

Passing Dutch vessel TAWALI, rescued 57 officers and men from ANKING .

MMS-51 with 14 in two carley floats were picked up by the Dutch steamer Tjimanoek, 7th March.

YARRA's 34 survivors (from 151) were not so lucky, their two rafts drifting at the mercy of the ocean, wounds, exposure and thirst taking their toll. By the 9th of March, when the Dutch Submarine K-11 found them, only 13 of the 34 were still alive.

PIGGY DOUGLAS

Much to the surprise of U-162's crew, after they sank the Barbados schooner FLORENCE M. DOUGLAS, two pigs were spotted swimming in the schooner's debris field in the ocean.

The pigs were taken on board and the crew members were amused by the animals that were squeaking in the control room during the subsequent crash dive.

One of the pigs was sent to the cook for the evening meal. The other one, however, too small to be slaughtered, was made the crew's mascot and named DOUGLAS, after U-162's victim.

DOUGLAS was kept in the engine room for the remaining 36 days of the patrol and she deserved her title as DOUGLAS 'witnessed' the sinking of EASTERN SWORD, FRANK SEAMANS, MONT LOUIS, ESSO HOUSTON, BRITISH COLONY and BETH.

When the U-162 returned to Lorient, the pig DOUGLAS was presented formally as a war prize and given as a present to Victor Schütze, the commander of the Second Flotilla.

What happened after that to DOUGLAS is unknown, but she may not have survived the war.

WILHELM GUSTLOFF DISASTER

Wilhelm Gustloff holds the record of most dramatic sinking ever and also happens to be one of the least known disasters ever.

Titanic's tragic sinking, with 1.500 people lost, is smashed by her staggering over 9.000 no of victims, including 4.000 children.
Designed to have only 1.800 passengers and crew, Wilhelm Gustloff was carrying over 10.000 people.

Well aware this was a passenger ship, she was cruely sunk on 30th January 1945 in the cold Baltic Sea by 3 torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S-13, commanded by Capt. Alexander Marinesko.

The first torpedo having struck her at 9:16PM, the ship slips below the surface 70 minutes later. Weather conditions in the cold Baltic Sea were reported to be -16°C degrees in a stormy sea.

Some 11 days later, S-13 sank again a passenger liner, the General Von Steuben, again with a great loss of life (3.600 killed).

Notes:

1. Incomprehensible, Marinesko, having sunk only passenger ships and no warship at all, was awarded 'Hero of the Soviet Union' posthumously in May 1990 by the Sovjet government, while condemning his actions as a war crime or error would have been more appropriate.

2. Even more forgotten than the Wilhelm Gustloff was the Zyunyo Maru (Junyo Maru), torpedoed by HMS Tradewind. Packed in her old rusty cargo holds and trapped like rats, there was no escape possible for 5.620 of the 6.500 POW.

HELLSHIP ZYUNYO MARU

Owned by Baba Shoji K. K. and built in 1913 by Robert Duncan Co, Glasgow; 5.065 tons; 405x53x27.2ft; 475 n.h.p.; triple expansion engines

On September 18th, 1944, when sailing from Tangjung Priok, Java to Padang, Sumatra, Zyunyo Maru was unfortunately torpedoed west off Sumatra, Mukomuko by the British submarine HMS TRADEWIND.

Apart from the crew and Japanese guards, there were 1,377 Dutch, 64 British and Australian, and 8 American prisoners of war and 4.200 Javanese slave labourers packed in her holds and on deck, bound to work on the Sumatra Railway Line between Pakan Baru and Muaro.

The ship was fitted with extra decks of bamboo, subdivided into cages to keep the prisoners in. The conditions the prisoners had to live in on board were absolutely inhuman.

Of this total of 6.500 prisoners, 5.620 lost their lives in the sinking. The 723 who survived, were rescued only to be put to work in conditions, perhaps worse then their comrades who died.

Just like the Wilhelm Gustloff and many others, the Zyunyo Maru (Junyo Maru) disaster is one of the most forgotten disasters.

U-28 AND THE MONSTER

When in 1915 the U-28 torpedoed the British S/S Iberian, the ship went down by the stern first and sank very fast. Once the Iberian was submerged, an enormous explosion happened, probably due to the boilers exploding.

With this explosion, not only pieces of wreckage were thrown back into the air, but also an enormous sea-monster like creature, witnessed by the officers of U-28. The monster was described as 20m long and looked like a giant crocodile !

CHARLES NELSON

In 1850, the German Nelson family embarked for the United States on the Helena Sloman, with the father converting all of the family’s wealth to gold that he carried strapped to himself, with clothing he had made especially for that purpose.

When the Helena Sloman encountered storms with gale force winds, some passengers fell in the sea. Father Nelson was one of these passengers. The weight of gold strapped to him, made him sink like a stone to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

One of Nelson's sons, Charles later became the bright and wealthy businessman, well known for his contributions to the banking, rail, music and the largest producer of Whiskey in the US.

One of the most magical photos ever taken in the North Sea. A group of congers residing peacefully next to each other in the wreck "Pêcher vapeur" near Dieppe, uploaded by our member Mathieu François.

HMT ROHNA

On November 26, 1943, the British ship, HMT Rohna, was transporting 2,000 American soldiers in a 24 ship convoy. Out of nowhere came 30 German bombers. The planes attacked the convoy in two separate waves without any successful hits. As the Allied troops throughout the convoy let out a sigh of relief, one last plane returned and launched a radio-guided missile into the side of the HMT Rohna. The secret assault killed 1,015 US soldiers, 31 British troops and 108 of the ship’s Indian crew in what remains to be the greatest loss of life at sea by enemy action in the history of US war. Unbeknownst to the troops in the overcrowded ship, everything was stacked against them—including the inadequate life preservers and the non-functioning lifeboats. Both the US War Department and British War Office swiftly classified the attack, commencing what some believe was a cover-up campaign that would last 50 years. The survivors were ordered not to talk or write home about the missile attack under a threat of court martial. By the time the war was over, the survivors went home with their painful story buried deep inside as they tried to forget the fateful night. Most of the survivors never talked about the classified attack again. The bodies of the dead soldiers were never recovered, there were no funeral services or burials for the forgotten soldiers. The boys just never came home.

22 DAYS IN AN OPEN BOAT

The cargo ship S/S TREVESSA (Capt. C. Foster) left Fremantle on May 25th 1923 with a cargo of zinc for Antwerp. On June 4th, she foundered in a storm, some 1640 miles from Fremantle.

At first, it was thought that the ship was lost with all hands, since only an empty lifeboat was found by ships steaming to assist.

But the crew had abandoned the ship in two boats.

After an incredible journey of 22 days in an open boat Capt. Foster with a crew of 17 reached Rodrigues Island with only 2 dead.

The other boat, under first officer J. C. Stewart, with a crew of 26 performed equally brilliant, reaching Mauritius, after 25 days. On this boat 9 were lost, mostly due to the drinking of sea water.

Captain Foster and the mate were awarded Lloyd’s Silver Medal for their splendid seamanship and courage, and were received by the King and Queen at Buckingham Palace.

AKIKAZE MASSACRE

On about 16 March 1943 the destroyer Akikaze (Lt. Cdr. Sabe Tsurukichi) en route for Rabaul took aboard about 26 civilian internees (for the most part German priests, Brothers and nuns and their leader, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Central New Guinea and two small children) at Kairiru Is.

The following day it embarked another twenty (Dutch nuns and priests, Australian and German planters, Protestant missionaries) at Lorengau (Admiralty Is).

At sea between Kavieng and Rabaul they were executed one by one. In the course of his interrogation in December 1946 one of the ship's officers describes the slaughtering (which, he said, took 2 hours 50 minutes) as follows:

Each internee passed beneath the forward bridge on the starboard side and came upon two waiting escorts. Here they were blindfolded with a white cloth and supported by each arm. By this time the interrogation of the second person was begun. Meanwhile, beneath the bridge of the quarter-deck on the starboard side, both wrists of the first person were firmly tied and he was again escorted to the execution platform.

On the execution platform, they were faced toward the bow, suspended by their hands by means of a hook attached to a pulley, and at the order of the commander, executed by machine gun and rifle fire.

After the completion of the execution the suspension rope was slackened and it had been so planned that when the rope binding the hands was cut, the body would fall backwards off the stern due to the speed of the ship. Moreover, boards were laid and straw mats spread to keep the ship from becoming stained.

Thus, in this way, first the men and then the women were executed. The child going on toward five years old was thrown alive into the ocean.

Pelle mécanique coulée au début des années 1980 lors de l'enfouissement du tuyau de l'émissaire de la station d'épuration de Banyuls, et abandonnée sur le site.

THE 'SHITWRECK'

U-1206 was a VIIC type submarine, built in 1944 at Schichau Yard, Danzig in Poland and lost in the North Sea near Peterhead on the April 14th 1945 following a 'diving' accident (leakage).

At 70 feet below the surface, Kptlt. Schlitt had decided to use the toilet without consulting a rating trained in its complicated operation. Something went wrong, and when the specialist arrived he misunderstood the situation and opened the wrong valve, which resulted in large quantities of seawater entering the boat.

The water reached the batteries directly under the toilet and caused production of the poisonous chlorine gas. As a consequence, the U-1206 was forced to surface immediately.

However, when the submarine surfaced, she was discovered and bombed by British patrols. Captain Schlitt ordered to destroy secret equipment, scuttle the submarine and abandon ship. Three men drowned in the heavy seas.

PS: Sarcastics are calling this wreck the 'Shitwreck' and the Captain's name, 'Schlitt' is not far away from it either.

Rescue of 442 enemy sailors by Captain Shunsaku Kudo

On March 2, 1942, Lieutenant Commander Shunsaku Kudo , ordered his crew on HIJMS Ikazuchi to rescue 442 survivors from the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Encounter and United States Navy destroyer USS Pope.

These ships had been sunk the previous days, along with HMS Exeter. The survivors had been adrift for some 20 hours, in rafts and lifejackets or clinging to floats, many coated in oil and unable to see.

This was a never seen humanitarian act , as the rescue required almost all of the 220 of the Japanese soldiers to leave their posts, exposing his ship to enemy attack and consume much more fuel than needed.

Kudo landed all his prisoners to safety. During the war, all crew involved in the rescue were sunk together with their ship Ikazuchi, except Kudo, who had assumed command over another ship.

Kudo kept silent after the war and it was only through one former British sailor, who had come to Japan to find and thank Captain Shunsaku, that the Japanese people were able to find out about the honorable actions of Kudo Shunsaku and his crew.

FIFTY DAYS ON A RAFT
Ship's Carpenter K. Cooke wrote of the sinking:

The deck was a scene of pandemonium...Figures dimly seen...ran desperately to their boat stations, only to find, as I did, that to continue farther towards the boat deck was impossible. Shouts of “Jump, for God’s sake, jump!” were coming from... everywhere.

Groping my way through thick wraiths of hissing steam, I discovered that the poor old girl had been cut clean in two...The forward part was already upending and ready to plunge beneath the waves. I could see figures...running up the sloping deck and leaping overboard...Shouts, screams and curses filled my ears as the bows dived...Beneath me I felt the after part, too, begin to tilt. I scrambled aft...when I reached the taffrail...I gazed at the water (far) below me...the huge twin propellers were still turning...and deterred me from the leap...Then with a tiny tremor...the ship began to take her dive ...My fear of being sucked under with the dying Lulworth Hill overcame my fear of the revolving propellers...I shut my eyes and over I went.

The Lulworth Hill had sunk in 90 seconds. Some time later Cooke was hauled, exhausted, on to a raft. Of the 14 who got away on two rafts, five were minors – three boys and two apprentices. All were cut and bruised, but the second engineer was badly injured. This was the beginning of a 50 day ordeal, under a tropical sun, of which only Cooke and one other man would survive.

EATING SHOES, DRINKING COMPASS LIQUID

Transatlantic August 21st - October 30th, 1940

When the ANGLO SAXON sank, 2 jolly boats were manned. One of the boats was never heard of and on the other, out of the 7, only 2 lived to reach the Bahamas after 71 days at sea.

The men rowed and rowed westward, under a maddening heat in their open Jolly boat. On the tenth day, the wireless operator died. Four men jumped overboard. The only men alive after 25 days were Able Seamen Wilbert Roy Widdicombe, 24, and Robert George Tapscott, 19.

Parched, shriveled, black-skinned, they broke the glass of their compass and sipped the distilled water and alcohol. After that they never knew where they were going. They just drifted.

They saw two ships pass, and signaled frantically but without avail. They fought to keep hold of their minds. Widdicombe broke off his front teeth trying to eat his shoes.

On October 30th, Robert and Roy reached the Bahamas and had travelled more than 2.400 nautical miles in the Atlantic Ocean.

Roy Widdicombe after returning home died a few months later, when his ship SS Siamese Prince was torpedoed by U-69.

COMFORT WOMEN

On April 18th, 1943, US submarine DRUM (SS-228, LtCdr McMahon) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese ammunition ship NISSHUN MARU, 200 miles north-northwest of Mussau Island, Bismarck Archipelago.

Submarine chaser CH-18 rescues survivors, who include a number of Korean 'comfort women' (Army prostitutes) among them.

Note: Comfort women were either recruited with false promises, either forced into sexual slavery in the Japanese Army comfort women brothels. Only 25% of these women are reported to have survived the war. Their numbers range in between 20.000 to 400.000, depending on the source.

CHANGE OF MENU

In September 1943, the crew of U-601, under the command of Kptlt. Peter-Ottmar Grau, managed to kill an icebear. The animal was brought on deck of the submarine and there it was cut by the cook in pieces. It was a welcome change in the crew's menu.

Royal pardon for codebreaker Alan Turing

On December 24th, 2013, genius, pioneer and codebreaker ALAN TURING has been (finally!!) given a posthumous royal pardon. The research Turing carried out during WWII undoubtedly shortened the conflict and saved thousands of lives. Turing's work helped to read German Naval messages encryped with the ENIGMA MACHINE.

In 1952 ALAN TURING was convicted for homosexuality and being chemically castrated, the female oestrogen began to grow him female breasts. Not surprising, on June 7th 1954 he (41y) either commited suicide or was murdered by British security for his knowledge.

Such was the horrible fate of a BRITISH HERO who has saved THOUSANDS of lifes and who is by many, considered as one of the inventors of something we know today as the modern COMPUTER, long before Microsoft or Apple even existed.

PS: It is beyond imagination that in 2011, justice secretary, Lord McNally, declined the pardon, stating that Turing was "properly convicted" and that as of today (2014), about 50.000 homosexuals are still convicted of the same "crime" and are not given an apology, let alone a royal pardon.