HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (13 July 2004) -- A team of explorers and documentary filmmakers has found the wreck of a rare type of German U-boat, 200 kilometres off the southwest coast of Nova Scotia. But many questions remain about what happened to U-boat 215, which was recently captured on film, sitting on the ocean floor, 90 metres below the surface of the Atlantic. The 7-D class minelayer, with a crew of 49, was sunk in 1942 while attacking a convoy headed to Halifax from Boston. Mike Fletcher, a Canadian diver who helped find the sunken vessel, said the captain of the U-boat, Fritz Hoeckner, made a fatal mistake after he spotted the convoy. "The captain of the boat got greedy when he saw a very tempting target in a Liberty ship loaded with Sherman tanks and . . . bombers," Fletcher said in an interview Tuesday. "He ignored his orders and took out the Liberty ship Alexander Macomb, but in doing so exposed his vessel and brought about his own demise." One of the convoy's escort vessels, HMS Le Tigre, a British naval trawler, tracked down the submarine and sank her on Georges Bank. The 7-D minelayer was one of six built, according to the website uboat.net. Only one survived the war. Fletcher said his group, which is filming a segment for the TV program Sea Hunters, said fishermen were asked if their nets had snagged anything while trawling near the Hague line, which separates Canadian and American fishing zones in the Gulf of Maine. "One fisherman in particular said, 'There's a bejeezus big hook up out there,' and it turned out to be our submarine," said Fletcher, an experienced treasure hunter who lives in Port Dover, Ont. The team used side-scan sonar and conducted two dives while battling strong tides and currents. The big sub was found about 25 kilometres from where military records suggested it should be. | | 7-D Class U-boat "She's rolled very hard over on her port side but she's sitting upright," said Fletcher. While this type of German submarine is unusual, U-215 was not the only U-boat sunk off the coast of Nova Scotia. Naval historian Dr. Roger Sarty, who teaches at Wilfred Laurier University in southern Ontario, says another German submarine, U-754, was sunk nearby by a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron in 1943. "At that point (in the war) our defences were actually quite good and the Germans were sending out the U-boats on lone wolf patrols," he said. Indeed, some Nazi subs mined the outer reaches of the harbours in Halifax and St. John's, Nfld. U-boats also sank ships in the St. Lawrence River and in Newfoundland's Conception Bay. Meanwhile, the German and Canadian governments have been notified of the most recent find, said Fletcher. Such wrecks are generally regarded as military gravesites and are not to be disturbed. "The owner without question is the nation of Germany," said Fletcher. "I know they care. I know the families of those lost sailors care." A documentary of the expedition is being produced by Halifax-based Eco-Nova Productions. It will be broadcast this spring on History Television and National Geographic Television. SOURCE - CNews |
