I am interested in finding out if any Uboats are listed as missing or sunk near Beaufort, SC

From: mark <treason@btopenworld.com>
Sent: Nov 7, 2004 2:57 PM
Subject: When you were offline (via Bravenet HumanClick)

Looking at a picture here that has a caption under it "ub 77 hulk in Plymouth Harbour 1917."

The above message was sent when you were offline, via your HumanClicked site.

SS Giralda 1887 Osbourne, Sunderland; South Metropolitan Gas Co. ;1100 tons; 68.58 x 10.05 x 4.9m;Screw, 2 cylinder compound, 128 NHP;1 x 13pdr stern gun.

The steamship Giralda was torpedoed in her forehold by the German submarine UB-77, Six men died in the attack, the remainder escaped in the lifeboats and were picked up by Runswick lifeboat

....The first divers were in the water at 10am and we descended to 35 metres to see the wreck of the 'Pomeranian' a 4000 ton cargo ship, sunk in 1918 by a torpedo fired by German U-boat UB-77.

Vis was a bit poor on this wreck but the sunlight did manage to penetrate to this depth so it wasn't too murky. A great big chunk of a wreck with plenty of metalwork to explore. Met one 'big daddy' of an edible crab on this dive, you definitely wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of this fella's pincers! Max depth 35 metres, divetime 34 minutes. Had a good surface interval once again as we moved back along the coast before completing the final dive of the weekend. The last dive was a drift dive along the shore, a nice leisurely way to end the weekend, just drifting freely in the current. Plenty to look at as we made our way along the ledges, coming across numerous fish, starfish and scallops (scallops tasted great by the way guys!) Max depth 29 metres, divetime 36 minutes....

...When the great war came in 1914, the Celtic was withdrawn from her peacetime service and converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser with 8 x 6 inch guns. On the fourth of December she was added to the 10^th Cruiser Squadron. But, as it would show, large ships were not suited for war cruising because of their enormous consumption of coal. In a matter of months all of Britain’s coal supplies were gone. So, in January 1916, the Celtic was instead converted as a troop ship assigned to carry soldiers to Egypt. In March she was back on her Liverpool-New York run, but still able to quickly be converted back. Her voyages continued without any major mishaps, but in 1917, the Celtic struck a mine outside Isle of Man laid by the German U-boat U-80, and 17 people on board the steamer were killed by the explosion. The London & N. Western Rly Co. ship Slieve Bawn picked up the passengers and brought them to Holyhead in north-western Wales. Fortunately, the Celtic was not mortally wounded, and she was towed into Peel Bay. The vessel was taken to Belfast where she was repaired. Shortly afterwards the Celtic was again on the Liverpool-New York route.

In May the same year the Germans were at it again. This time they failed to hit the ship, though, and the ship went on, unscathed. But the never-ending self-confidence of the Germans continued, and in March 1918, the Celtic was torpedoed in the Irish Sea by the UB-77. Six people on the Celtic were killed when the torpedo hit its target. The Celtic’s luck continued and she was not sunk. Instead she was towed to Liverpool where Harland and Wolff repaired her. The vessel was soon back in service, and at the war’s end in 1918, she was still intact....

Jim Santos sent your request forward to us. Without doing too much in-depth digging, we can tell you that six German U-Boats were taken as prizes of war by the US Navy and were used in the 5th Liberty Bond Drive. These U-Boats were used to show the American people what horrible devils these Huns were - that is how the Propaganda described them and it really got the people reaching for their wallets to buy the bonds.

For the most part, these particulat boats did not see combat but that didn't slow down the pitchmen. Stories were invented about how the crews would rape young women to death then fire their lifeless bodies out the torpedo tubes. None of this was true, but it made for great propaganda and it sold Liberty Bonds.

Three of the boats went along the east coast, two more went through the Panama Canal and were taken along the west coast, and the sixth one (UC-97) was taken into the Great Lakes and shown all around there. This boat was scuttled off Wilmette, some 25 miles north of the city of Chicago, where she lies today in pretty fair condition, since she is down in cold, fresh water.

Without doing a lot of digging, it would be difficult to know which of the other five boats were broken up for scrap and which were scuttled. In any event, whether broken up or scuttled, there really isn't much left of them. Some 80 or 85 years in the salt water is enough to reduce the boats to lumps of iron. Even the WW II boats that went down between 1940 and 1945 (and to 1947 if you count the ones scuttled after the war) are all in really rough shape, so a WW I boat must be in a lot worse shape.

UB-77

Departing from: Bremerhaven, Germany, 29 JANUARY 1918

Returning to: Bremerhaven, Germany, 21 February 1918

From: Steve Schwartz [mailto:u2boote@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 11:16 AM
Subject: When you were offline (via Bravenet HumanClick)

Re: UB 77 hulk at portsmith in 1917:
The UB 77 was not commissioned until October of 1917. I am puzzled to which photo he is refering to, did he offer you a scan of it? Also, here is my specification page on the UB 77 which also has the info of what had happened to the UB 77:

http://renton.50megs.com/2005/UB-77.html

(New 07-03-05)

From: Steve Schwartz [mailto:u2boote@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 11:09 PM
To: treason@btopenworld.com
Subject: UB 77 Photo Inquiry

November 7, 2004 you made an inquiry to Jim Santos. It stated that you were looking at a picture, and that the caption read "UB 77 Hulk in Plymouth Harbor, 1917" http://adjunct.diodon349.com/Uboats/looking_for_info_on_ub_77_hulk_in_Plymouth_Haroor_England_1917.htm

hulk ( hŭlk ) n. Nautical. A heavy, unwieldy ship. The hull of an old, unseaworthy, or wrecked ship.

Do you think you can send me a scanned copy of this photo with its caption in which you are inquiring about? Something sounds wrong, or in error, and I am wondering if I might look at this photo and see if I can understand what exactly is wrong.

The UB-77 was stationed at Bremerhaven, Germany. It was a Coastal Cruiser, however its patrol was up the East Coast of the U.K. around the Northern Part of Scotland and to the mouth of the North Channel and back again. . This u-boat was lucky enough to have never recieve any damage from British or American attempts to sink her. And as far as I know, the UB-77 was never near Plymouth Harbor. At the end of the war, per the Armistace, this U-boat was turned over at: Harwich, England 1st January 1919. Sold for junk and broken up by Messrs. G. Cohen, Sons & Co., London

So I am very curious about the photo in which you are refering to, and hope that you can send me a copy. More than likely, I will know more about this photo after I see it.

From: "J. R. Santos" <saintjim@earthlink.net>
To: "Steve Schwartz" <u2boote@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: When you were offline (via Bravenet HumanClick)
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2005 14:24:28 -0700

Alas, no, I never was given a photo from Mark. Maybe you could contact him for it. I posted your info on the UB-77 page you visited.