June 20, 2016
The solstice gives us the longest day of the year but we needed to start early to beat the howling winds that built through the day. Our first dive was on the Free French Vessel PLM27. It was sunk quickly and 12 crewmen were lost. The Uboat U-518 captained by K/L Friedrich Wissmann snuck away, escaping undetected beneath a corvette Drumheller and two Fairmile fast boats patrolling Conception Bay.
This was the second attack in Conception Bay and locals thought a spy had been involved. The captain of the PLM was not onboard the night his ship was sunk and had recently sold his piano to a Bell Island local. People wondered whether his loyalties were genuine since the Germans were occupying France. Perhaps the Nazis had turned the captain?
The second dive was on the Saganaga. This ship was sunk on September 4, 1942. U-513 captianed by Rolf Ruggerberg followed the Evelyn B into the Bell Island anchorage on the night of September 3 and waited quietly in 75 feet of water. In the morning it rose to periscope depth and sunk the Strathcona and the Saganaga. 29 crewmen, all form the Saganaga were killed while U-513 escaped on the surface.
My diving partner Sandra Clopp was using a Hollis PRISM2 rebreather. The rebreather recirculates our exhaled breath and removes carbon dioxide. We inject small bursts of oxygen to maintain a safe breathing gas. The device has an exothermic reaction that keeps us a little warmer that we would otherwise be in the near freezing water.
The anchor and the massive torpedo hole in the side of the PLM27.
A lumpfish guards his mate’s eggs.
