WRECKS
Have we found B-2?
Q We think we have found B-2, the Royal Navy submarine that was sunk in collision with a German liner on 4 October, 1912. She is in 30m about a mile south of the wrecks of the Queen and the South Goodwin Lightship. She appears to be the wreck marked on the new Admiralty Chart No 1828 corrected to February 1998. Are we likely to be right? Bob Peacock.
A Bob Peacock is one of the top wreck divers of Kent and a dab hand at research, so I'm sure he is right about this one, particularly when he describes the find like this:
"She is buried in sand from 10ft behind the conning tower, but her one prop is showing. The bow is so well clear that you can swim under it and the two bow torpedo tubes.
"The conning tower is solid brass and about 7ft high, the periscope is broken off by a trawl net and is lying to one side. The hatch is fully closed and flush with the hull.
"A brass tube on the side of the conning tower appears to be some sort of air ventilation system."
The fact that the hatch was closed, yet there was one survivor, puzzles Bob, but I think this is consistent with the survivor being Lt Richard Pulleyne, who was on the outside "bridge" at the time of the collision.
Though dragged down with the sub, he managed to surface and was picked up by the submarine C-16.
The captain of the B-2 and the rest of the crew of 16 did not survive, so this is very much a "war grave".
Cuppa ID
Q My wife found a coffee cup with a Minton mark, which dates it between 1873 and 1891. On the side is what could be a shipping line mark consisting of two blue pennants, vertically arranged on a flagpole. The top pennant contains "JRE" and the lower one "P & Co".
Can you throw any light on the subject? Murray Atkinson.
AThe Minton factory, founded in Stoke in 1793, has had a prolific output making tableware, figures, ornamental items, wall tiles and so on. Minton did a lot of work for the White Star Line (merged with Cunard in 1934) and the curator of the Minton Museum, Joan Jones (01782-292292), has promised me she will carry out a search in an effort to identify Murray's mug if he sends all details, plus a photo or coloured drawing to her at the Minton Museum, Minton House, London Road, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire ST4 7QD.
Bells from the Mersey
Q Two bronze bells have been found recently by divers in the Mersey. One is inscribed "Cast AD1723. Recast 1906" and a maker's name of "Mears and Stainbank, London". The other is similar but is marked "Cast 1728. Recast 1913". They are 18in high and 20in in diameter. Were they from ships? If not, what were they for? Ray Burn.
A Mears and Stainbank does not appear to exist anymore and I could find no trace of its London foundry.
The fact that these bells were some distance from each other in the river estuary suggests that they were carried by lightships or on Channel buoys prior to the 1914-18 War. However, the fact that it seemed important to say that the metal used for the bells originated in the 1700s suggests a more important role.
Has anyone any better suggestions for me to pass on to Ray?
A matter of degrees
Q Thanks for the tip about converting Admiralty wreck positions to GPS, which works in minutes and decimals. I can't say that I have found any more wrecks as a result, but I did hear that the Admiralty is converting its own records to degrees, minutes and decimals. Is this true? Derry Yeoman.
A Yes and no. Most important is that the actual position of wrecks given out by the Hydrographic Office at Taunton will be in degrees, minutes and decimals. But there is no question of converting the whole of its massive records.
What it is doing is drawing a line, under the present information. New information will now be recorded in degrees, minutes and decimals.
Hood out of bounds
Q Has the battlecruiser HMS Hood, sunk by the German battleship Bismarck on May 24, 1941 out in the Atlantic, ever been dived?
A I can't tell who asked this question, as they forgot to give their names, but I do hope no one is thinking of disturbing her. The Hood, not to be confused with the blockship in Portland Harbour, is the biggest Royal Navy war grave of the Second World War and is some 1800m down. A great depth, but not beyond reach today, as recent submersible dives to the Titanic have shown us.
Just to make sure that there was nothing like that in the wind, I checked with the Wreck Section of the Hydrographic Office at Taunton. The Hood is there, of course, on its computer with an approximate position of 62 55 00N; 31 55 00W. But the Office's records show no sign of submersible diving on her.
That's good, because it would be wrong to cause more grief to the relatives of the 1347 men who went down with her. There were only three survivors. A memorial service is still held every year on the Sunday nearest to May 24.
The 42,100-ton ship was 131m long and she went down stern first after 15in shells from the Bismarck hit one of her magazines, blowing her up.
Check those sub greasers
Q In the last Wrecks Q and A, you said the way to check the identity of a submarine was to look for the number stamped on her props. Isn't it true that the number is also sometimes stamped on the external greasers of the diving planes? We found this on U-11. Dr J Coulon.
A Dr Coulon from Belgium, who is a great wreck-hunter and regularly dives with his wife and a few friends in the North Sea, off Normandy and in the Baltic, sent me a photograph of the greasing cover plate stamped U-11. He has made a very positive identification of U-11 off Ostend, with her number also stamped on a Draeger escape apparatus and hand-cut into a pair of goggles.
The U-11 was lost in December, 1914 with all her crew of 29, but no one knows what happened to her.
Closer to home, Simon Elvidge of the UC-47 diving team took my advice and a wire brush down with him and used it to such good effect on one of the props that he found stamped there not only the sub's number but the maker's name, the kind of bronze used, and the group of UC-boats for which the prop was also suitable!
Blue loo mystery
Q Which ship had a beautiful blue loo? That is basically the question that the indefatigable Colin Cole of Folkestone BSAC is asking.
A Colin's question has a serious intent. A magnificent Victorian ceramic loo with a blue decor bowl set on a copper base was raised by the late Brud Martin of Folkestone BSAC. He recovered it from a steamer wreck at 51 00 89; 01 11 19E and his widow would like it presented to the Armitage Shanks Museum.
The trouble is that the Folkestone divers would like to give the museum the name of the ship it came from but no one seems able to identify her.
Apart from saying that she is about half-a-mile west of the often-dived collier Henry Moon, which was sunk by a German Ju87 dive-bomber on 25 July, 1940, I can't help. Can you?
How to trace lost aircraft
Q I know this is a long shot, but can you help me about the loss of an RAF Dakota when en route to Saigon from RAF Changi on February 26, 1947? She was last reported about 20 miles south of Tioman Island. My grandfather was aboard. Steve Darlow.
A I get a number of enquiries about lost aircraft. I don't know that I can help Steve Darlow except to say that, like any diver seeking information about RAF aircraft wreckage in the sea, he should contact Department CCS (Historical Investigation), Ministry of Defence, MOD S10b (RAF), Royal Air Force Innsworth, Gloucester GL3 1EZ. Tel: 01452-712612, ex 6063.
This is also the contact for groups wishing to raise military aircraft.
However, another devoted researcher into wartime aircraft losses is Ross McNeill of RMM Designs (fax: 01299-405233), who tells me that he is willing to help divers with queries. He has been of great help with fresh material for the Diver Guides.
Recently he was able to tell me that a wreck site I had written about as a Hastings bomber some three miles off Shoreham was more likely to be a Stirling Mark III of 75 Squadron one of 502 bombers attacking Frankfurt at night and that all the crew were picked up by a rescue Walrus amphibian after they ditched due to damage from flak and a running battle with German night fighters.
He was even able to add that the raid was not a success due to cloud cover, and that records from Frankfurt after the war show very light damage, with a few bombs falling in the suburbs only.
Q Every magazine I read carries reports of newly discovered wrecks being protected by the Protection of Wrecks Act, with diving banned on them. There seem to be hundreds of them. How many protected wrecks are there now? Andrew Johns.
A Forty-seven.
Keep those queries coming
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Appeared in DIVER - November 1998
