SUBMARINE ASHORE!

 19 April 2025: Yesterday was an American historically significant date (to some of us) as the anniversary of Paul Revere's famous ride to warn the colonists of the British Redcoats landing and the start of what became the American Revolution. 1775 friends. 250 year ago! Seems like yesterday! And speaking of wars, here's a bit from WWI also about a British event on 15 April 1919. From Rare Historical Photos.

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When the people of the town of Hastings awoke one morning to see one of the Kaiser’s U-boats on their beach, it caused some shock.

 

Thousands of visitors flocked to see the beached submarine. The Admiralty allowed the town clerk to charge a fee for people to climb on the deck.

Two members of the coastguard were tasked with showing important visitors around inside the submarine. The visits were curtailed when both men became severely ill, they both died shortly after.

 

It was a mystery what killed the men at the time and so all trips into the sub were stopped, it was later discovered that chlorine gas which had been escaping from SM U-118′s batteries had caused severe abscesses on the lungs and brains of the unfortunate men.

 SM U-118 was commissioned on 8 May 1918, following construction at the AG Vulcan Stettin shipyard in Hamburg. It was commanded by Herbert Stohwasser and joined the I Flotilla operating in the eastern Atlantic.

After about four months without any ships sunk, on 16 September 1918, SM U-118 scored its first hit on another naval vessel.

With the ending of hostilities on 11 November, 1918 came the subsequent surrender of the Imperial German Navy, including SM U-118 to France on 23 February 1919. Following the surrender, U-118 was to be transferred to France where it would be broken up for scrap.

However, in the early hours of 15 April 1919, while it was being towed through the English Channel towards Scapa Flow, its dragging hawser broke off in a storm.

The ship ran aground on the beach at Hastings in Sussex at approximately 12:45 AM, directly in front of the Queens Hotel.

Initially, there were attempts to displace the stricken vessel; three tractors tried to refloat the submarine and a French destroyer attempted to break the ship apart using its cannons.

 

These attempts however were unsuccessful and the proximity of the submarine to the public beach and Queens Hotel dissuaded further use of explosive forces.

Eventually, between October and December 1919, U-118 was broken up and the pieces removed and sold for scrap.

This type of U-Boat had a length of 81.5 m, speed: 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) surfaced and 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) submerged, test depth: 75 m (246 ft).

Total crew: 36 men. SM U-118 was a type UE II mine-laying submarine of the Imperial German Navy and one of 329 submarines serving with that navy during World War I.

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Interesting story, especially after the  largely unsuccessful British efforts to sink German U-Boats during the war; here was one delivered to them on a platter, albeit after the war was over!

To all of our readers who celebrate, we wish you a happy Easter!

Until next time,

                                                Fair winds,

                                                   Old Salt

VESSEL GRAVEYARD - UK

 4 April 2025: I guess Spring is officially here and boats in the northern climes are slipping out of their winter covers, getting prettied up and bottoms painted for imminent launching. At the same time, boats in Florida are slowly getting put away for the summer as "snowbirds" head north for the summer. The vessels this post is about are neither getting ready for launch nor being laid up; they are done and serving a useful purpose in their "afterlife." From the UK's "supercarblondie" post.

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 Notorious ship graveyard is littered with boats deliberately abandoned

• This is the largest ship graveyard in the UK
• It’s full of old and rotting ships, boats, and barges
• They were deliberately dumped there for a good reason 
  

  The UK has a ship graveyard that’s full of abandoned ships and boats that were deliberately dumped along a river bank for a pretty unusual reason.

   

  The Purton Hulks – also known as the Purton Ships’ Graveyard – is situated near River Severn near Purton in Gloucestershire, England. in 1909, a call was put out to beach old vessels and now there are numerous decaying and deteriorating boats lined up.

   

  Over the years, numerous investigations have been carried out to try and find out more about the origins of the boats. 

  One of the barges at the site had been scheduled as an ancient monument and is now included in the National Register of Historic Vessels.

  Some of the ships and boats date back to the second half of the 19th century.

  The ship graveyard is lined with boats for a very good reason

  When old ships and boats are no longer fit for purpose, they often end up rotting away in a boat graveyard, like this one in Toronto, Canada, or this packed-out site in Georgia in the US. 

  However, in the UK, the Purton Hulks exists for a slightly different reason, while it is home to a bunch of old vessels there’s actually an interesting reason why. 

  In 1909, a riverbank collapsed in the area leading to concerns that the barrier between the river and the nearby Gloucester and Sharpness Canal could be breached. 

  In response to the concerns, the canal company’s chief engineer A. J. Cullis called on ship and boat owners to dump their old vessels along the bank of the Severn, near Purton, to create a makeshift tidal erosion barrier and reinforce that stretch of land between the river and canal.

  The boats would be towed out to the dock and then released allowing the tide to carry them along the bank. 

  Before the boats and ships went out, holes were drilled into their hulls so that they would fill with water and silt.

  Pretty smart, right?

  While the old ship graveyard served a practical purpose, it’s also an interesting bit of maritime history. 

  The boats along the riverbank came from across the UK and were built in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th.

   

  In 1999, a local historian privately funded a project to record and document each of the 86 vessels, which led to Purton Hulk being recognized as the largest ship graveyard in mainland Britain. 

  Over the years, numerous investigations have been carried out to try and find out more about the origins of the boats. 

  One of the barges at the site had been scheduled as an ancient monument and is now included in the National Register of Historic Vessels.

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   We have a similar site in the United States (probably more than one) located on the Kill van Kull between New Jersey and New York where derelict vessels have basically been dumped, but not to save a riverbank; just dumped as trash. My recollection is we did a piece on that some years ago. Looks like England got it right!

  Until next time. 

                                                    Fair Winds, 

                                                              Old Salt