A part of the wreckage of the HMS Hawke is seen within the waters off Scotland’s coast.
Simon Kay/Misplaced In Waters Deep
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Simon Kay/Misplaced In Waters Deep
Explorers say they’ve discovered the wreckage of a British warship that was sunk by a German U-boat throughout World Warfare I.
Some 524 individuals, together with the ship’s captain, perished when the HMS Hawke went down within the North Sea off the japanese coast of Scotland on Oct. 15, 1914. Seventy crew members survived.
“It’s a big loss of life,” mentioned Kevin Heath, who co-founded the web site Misplaced in Waters Deep, which chronicles naval losses round Scotland by the UK’s Royal Navy and different international locations throughout the battle. “She’s a big ship. And it’s one of the first ships lost in World War I.”
A shipwreck hunter, Heath mentioned he discovered a map in an previous German logbook that pointed him to the place the sunken vessel may very well be positioned, roughly 70 miles east of Fraserburgh.
The almost 400-foot ship had been participating within the Allied blockade of Germany when it was torpedoed and sunk within the early days of World Warfare I.
Earlier this month, Heath teamed up with a gaggle of divers referred to as the Gasperados and set out on the dive vessel Clasina in quest of the Hawke. Whereas the divers descended greater than 350 ft under sea degree, Heath waited on the boat.
British warship HMS Hawke is seen circa 1910. It was used as a transformed depot ship for destroyers and submarines throughout World Warfare I and sunk by a German submarine within the North Sea on October 15, 1914.
Hulton Archive/Getty Pictures
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Hulton Archive/Getty Pictures
“We’re sitting there waiting, waiting, waiting. Excited. You know, are they going to say, ‘oh it is a rock’ or ‘it’s not the Hawke’?” he mentioned. “They all come up and say, ‘yeah, there are guns everywhere and the wreck is in very, very good condition.’”
A number of the wooden on the deck was nonetheless intact, the divers recounted. The group shortly reported the invention to the UK Hydrographic Workplace and the Royal Navy, which Heath hopes will give the positioning a protected standing.
Heath mentioned he’ll write in regards to the historical past of the Hawke in addition to profiles of the victims for his web site within the coming weeks. After the BBC printed a narrative in regards to the discovery, he mentioned he acquired round 30 emails from relations of sailors who died on the ship, telling their tales and sharing pictures.
Heath mentioned he’ll additionally proceed to seek for different wrecks, although he counts the invention of the Hawke as certainly one of his extra noteworthy finds.
“We’ve got a few wrecks that we’re still looking for,” he mentioned. “I don’t assume something will prime discovering the HMS Hawke. There’s nothing like that to seek out now in Scotland.”
