Up next in 10
The SS East Point was torpedoed by the SM U-48 on 9 March 1917 and now lies in nearly 70 metres of water to the South East of Plymouth. She is regularly visited by technical divers from the Plymouth Sound branch of the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC).
Whilst investigating the sinking of the East Point in German and British archives, I uncovered a host of nearly unbelievable stories linked to the ship. These include the East Point's near sinking at Gallipoli in 1915, the desperately unlucky accident that killed the Kapitan of the U-48 and the incredible life story of the ship's master, Capt Harold James Young DSC.
This webinar was originally delivered on 6 April 2020.
Many thanks to Jane Maddocks, Josephine Payne and especially Nick Young for their assistance with researching the East Point stories.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:03
Uh good evening everyone. Um I hope
0:05
everyone can hear me. Um I'd like to
0:08
thank you all for uh coming on listening
0:10
to my my webinar. My name is uh Dominic
0:14
Robinson. I'm a member of the Plymouth
0:17
Sound branch of the British of Aqua
0:19
Club. Uh and also
0:22
Oh, someone's got their microphone on
0:24
there. Please, if you could turn it off,
0:25
that'd be appreciated.
0:28
unknown participant is now joining.
0:33
Um, sorry, I was just saying there my
0:36
name is uh Dominick Robinson. I'm a
0:39
member of the Plymouth Sound branch of
0:40
the British Aqua Club uh for my uh I'm
0:43
very fortunate that I also work uh I
0:46
train military divers, military
0:48
recreational divers to dive at the joint
0:50
service diving center. And uh this
0:53
evening I'm I'm going to be uh talking
0:55
to you about the ship the SS East Point
0:59
and the many stories that surround it
1:02
that I've uh that I found out about
1:05
whilst uh looking into it. So
1:10
the first thing is uh to explain why why
1:15
the SS point and that I'm sure many of
1:18
you recognize is a uh is a chart of the
1:21
area to the south of Plymouth and
1:25
to give you a bit of scale that's the uh
1:28
the Edison Lighthouse there about 12
1:31
miles off Plymouth and that there is the
1:34
location of the SS
1:37
I my first dive there was a was off a
1:39
local hardbo with uh with this group of
1:42
people here. Uh but subsequently we've
1:44
been out there a number of times in our
1:47
in our club ribs. And so I guess the
1:50
first thing I'd like to do is just give
1:51
you a bit of a feel for for what diving
1:53
a wreck like that is. It's technical
1:56
dive so it's uh about 68 m to the
1:59
seabed. But because it's a technical
2:02
dive, obviously that makes it means it's
2:05
uh a bit more intact than most wrecks,
2:07
but also it's uh it's a lot darker down
2:10
there as well. And I apologize for the
2:12
poor quality of some of my photos.
2:14
That's kind of typically what you'll see
2:16
when you get to the bottom of a shot. Uh
2:18
you can see the actual there's a a bag
2:20
there to lift the shot, the rope,
2:22
there's a strobe above it, and a couple
2:24
of divers in the merc. Um
2:28
this one there, next photo, if you look
2:31
very closely, you can see uh that the
2:34
torch is shining on a blade of the
2:36
propeller. And uh and more about the
2:38
prop later on. That there is the is also
2:42
the stern. That's the steering quadrant.
2:45
As you can see, actually stands very
2:46
proud. And this was a sizable wreck as
2:49
as I'll explain in a minute. And so that
2:52
stands probably a good seven, eight
2:54
mters, maybe more off the seabed. Uh
2:57
there's another couple of photos of some
2:59
divers and you can probably see although
3:01
it is dark down there that the
3:02
visibility is uh is pretty good and if
3:05
you got a decent torch and obviously you
3:07
can you can see what what you're doing.
3:09
Um but but the key thing with with a
3:12
dive like this, of course, is that you
3:13
end up spending an awful lot of time
3:15
doing that. Now, that that wreck is is
3:18
no different from from many of the other
3:20
technical wrecks in in in the local
3:22
area. So, why particularly the SS East
3:24
Point? Well, I'm going to attribute it
3:26
to one particular thing, which is uh
3:28
which is that cup there. And I found
3:31
that the first time I uh I dived on the
3:33
East Point and I picked it up.
3:36
Obviously, it' been down there over a
3:38
hundred years. uh still pretty intact as
3:41
you can see with the with the shipping
3:42
lines um crest on it and and holding an
3:46
object like that made me wonder about
3:49
the uh a bit about the wreck, how it got
3:52
there, who were the people who who been
3:55
on that been on that ship and you know
3:57
what were their experiences like. So I
3:59
kind of with with that I kind of thought
4:01
you know what I'm going to find out a
4:02
bit more.
4:05
Um so there we go. You've seen that
4:07
picture already. That is the uh the East
4:10
Point in its prime. I don't know when
4:12
the photo was taken, but I suspect
4:13
fairly early on in its light. She was
4:17
quite a large ship and relatively fast.
4:20
She was built in the famous Sunderland
4:22
shipyards where so many so many ships of
4:24
that era were big as I've already said
4:27
there. So nearly 120 m long, uh 15 m
4:32
wide. and she was actually built uh for
4:35
the transatlantic trade and made the run
4:37
over to America on many occasions. As
4:40
you can see there, three boilers, fairly
4:42
decent sized engine, and a single single
4:45
large propeller. Uh crew, depending on
4:48
on what she was doing, particularly uh
4:51
in wartime, obviously, they put
4:53
additional crew on to uh to man the
4:56
armament. And the East Point was armed
4:58
when it was sunk. It was with an old uh
5:01
4.7 inch naval gun which had uh seen
5:06
would have probably seen or probably
5:07
been built prior to the bore war
5:09
considered obsolete by the Navy who put
5:11
them in stores and then when it became
5:14
apparent they needed something to deter
5:16
submarines they fit them to they they
5:19
fitted them to uh ships like the East
5:22
Point. Lots and lots of ships got them.
5:24
So there's there's the East Point. And
5:26
what about her nemesis? Well, the East
5:28
Point was sunk by the SMU48.
5:33
Um, now SM is the equivalent of HMS. So,
5:38
back in those days, obviously the Kaiser
5:41
still ruled Germany. So, that's why they
5:44
they they had the HMS equivalent. It was
5:47
a type U43 submarine and it was
5:49
commissioned in uh 1916. So, so, you
5:53
know, uh midway through the First World
5:55
War, I guess.
5:59
the uh now these are actual photos of
6:01
the uh the U48. I didn't have any last
6:05
time I did this presentation, but I've
6:06
managed to get these ones from the uh
6:08
from the archive in Germany. So, you're
6:10
actually looking at the the real
6:12
pictures of the real submarine.
6:15
Uh one of a class of nine. So, you can
6:18
imagine this the submarine's very new uh
6:21
at this period and they went through
6:23
lots of evolutions, lots of different
6:25
designs. they became obsolete very
6:27
quickly. They they came up with new
6:28
submarines. So only nine of these built
6:30
of which uh two were given to the
6:33
Austrians who used them in the
6:34
Mediterranean.
6:36
Uh in terms of size, obviously a lot
6:39
smaller than the East Point, but 65 m
6:41
long and um 6.2 m uh
6:47
uh wide there. And once again, there's
6:49
another photo of her so you can see what
6:51
what she looks like.
6:53
uh two diesel engines, two electric
6:56
engines. Now, submarines of this era
6:57
were not like modern submarines. They
7:00
didn't spend that much time underwater.
7:03
The battery technology wasn't up to it.
7:05
So, most of their time uh they were on
7:07
the surface using the diesel engines to
7:10
run and charge the batteries and then uh
7:13
when they cighted a target or they were
7:15
under threat, they would obviously um go
7:17
underwater and uh either attack or or
7:20
hide. So
7:23
had a maximum depth rating of 50 mters.
7:25
So not not particularly deep, but quite
7:27
a large crew um uh of 36. So I'm sure
7:31
many people will have seen the movie
7:33
Dash Boot. And this submarine was about
7:35
the same size, about the same number of
7:37
people as the submarine depicted in that
7:39
movie, which is obviously a a Second
7:41
World War one, but it does give you a
7:43
feel for for what it was like. In terms
7:45
of armorament, she was armed with uh
7:48
four torpedo tubes uh with a total of
7:51
six torpedoes. And uh accounts vary as
7:54
to whether she had one or two guns. Now,
7:56
obviously the photos show her with with
7:59
two guns. Um there's a suggestion maybe
8:01
that those were were taken off um for
8:05
her
8:06
one of them was removed for its final
8:08
voyage. And the preference for these
8:10
submarines was to use the gun if at all
8:12
possible. And the reason for that is
8:14
obviously they only had a limited number
8:16
of torpedoes and uh they had more
8:18
ammunition for the gun. Uh obviously the
8:22
the problem with that of course is that
8:23
you came to the surface, you exposed
8:24
yourself and as we've seen from the east
8:27
points uh the Navy did start arming
8:29
their ships. Uh and obviously the risk
8:31
of submarine was that it could be uh
8:33
attacked and and sunk by a navy ship.
8:36
And the the Navy operated things called
8:38
Q ships, which were were ships that were
8:39
disguised um as freighters, but actually
8:42
had far more guns than uh than normal.
8:45
And and they tried to take this the uh
8:47
the submarines on in in combat on the
8:50
surface. So there's the uh there's the
8:52
uh U48 which sunk the East Point. Um so
8:55
what I'm going to do now is is just talk
8:57
about the uh the day that the East Point
8:59
sunk. Um and a lot of this information
9:02
has come from from the records. So uh as
9:06
you can see there that is actually a
9:08
scan of one of the documents in Q in in
9:12
the archive there.
9:13
Um she uh was on route from uh from
9:16
London to Philadelphia and uh doing a
9:20
sort of seven and a half knots and she
9:23
got torpedoed between the number two and
9:25
the number three hold. So, so forward uh
9:28
of the bridge and basically that was the
9:30
first from the records that the uh the
9:32
crew knew about it. So, uh and then the
9:36
ship went down in 15 minutes. So, from
9:38
the perspective of the East Point um she
9:42
was minding her own business, sailing
9:43
along, got hit by a torpedo and and sunk
9:47
pretty quickly. They were lucky. All the
9:49
survivors were recovered by by nearby
9:51
vessels of which according to the
9:53
records there seems to have been quite a
9:54
few. um some Navy ones, some other other
9:57
cargo ships. Um what they did report
10:00
though is is after they'd been hit by
10:02
the torpedo, they did see a periscope on
10:04
the port side. Uh as you can see,
10:06
they're about 200 ft away. Other parts
10:08
of the record show slightly different
10:10
numbers, but but all basically in in the
10:12
uh in that kind of um that kind of
10:15
ballpark. Now, one of the interesting
10:17
things is that the uh the ship wasn't
10:19
zigzagging and the standing orders were
10:22
for all ships to sail a zigzag course at
10:24
all times. Um, as the master writes in
10:27
his report there, he thought it was only
10:28
necessary to do that when uh when the
10:30
torpedo was cited. Um, clearly you
10:33
potentially something that that resulted
10:35
in in in the loss of his ship.
10:38
So, uh that's it from the East Point.
10:41
you know, nothing particularly
10:42
remarkable there. But then now I'm going
10:43
to look at it from the perspective of
10:45
the the U48. Uh once again, we have lots
10:49
of information from the from the
10:50
archives. And as you can see there, the
10:53
the uh the U48 was a very successful
10:56
submarine. Um it sunk 20 ships in the
10:59
last 6 months. And this was um the
11:01
second period of unrestricted warfare
11:04
for for submarines where basically they
11:06
were given free license to to sink
11:07
whatever ships they could find. The
11:10
first period was in 1915
11:12
um and came to a close when when neutral
11:15
ships um one of them was the Lucatania
11:17
I'm sure most people were hurt will have
11:19
heard of was sunk by submarines and this
11:21
caused a great outrage amongst neutral
11:24
nations and and the Germans stopped
11:25
doing it because they didn't want other
11:27
people to come in against them uh in in
11:30
the war. 1917 the war wasn't going so
11:32
well for them and they they they had
11:34
this belief that if they could sink
11:35
enough shipping u then they they could
11:38
actually win the war doing that way. So
11:40
they they engaged in this second period
11:41
of unrestricted warfare. They'd built up
11:43
their submarine fleet. The U48 was a
11:45
good example of that and they were they
11:48
were obviously going out to sink as many
11:50
ships as as they could and the aim was
11:51
to sink uh 600,000 tons per month. Uh
11:56
now actually the 9th of March was
11:58
already proving to be a good day for the
12:00
U48. They'd sunk a small sailing vessel,
12:03
the SV AIA. Um already that day. Uh
12:07
they'd used their gun, so they were
12:09
happy with that. They'd saved a torpedo
12:11
and um they then had another successful
12:14
tack on the East Point. So they'd sunk a
12:17
much larger ship and and that uh scan
12:19
there is from the actual war diary of
12:22
the U48. So, so they'd had the second uh
12:26
successful attack and they were actually
12:28
because there were other ships in the
12:29
area, they were they were looking around
12:31
for another target when um disaster
12:36
struck really for them. So, there was
12:39
four crew in the conning tower, which is
12:41
what they needed to actually uh carry
12:43
out a successful attack using using this
12:45
model of submarine. Now, that isn't a
12:46
photo of the U48. That is a a photo of
12:49
another submarine uh German submarine of
12:51
the era, but gives you a kind of feel
12:53
for what it must have been like inside
12:56
one of those uh inside one of those uh
12:58
submarines.
13:00
Now, as they were looking around for
13:01
something else, the East Point actually
13:04
collided with their submarine. They were
13:06
at periscope depth. The East Point is
13:08
sinking. The crew have have got off and
13:11
smash it. it knocks into the uh into the
13:14
U48 and actually knocked unconscious two
13:17
of the four people in the conning tower.
13:19
You can see how that's easy to hap e
13:21
easy easily done because obviously there
13:24
is a um
13:27
you know lots of things around isn't
13:28
there lots of things you can bang your
13:29
head on. Um the two crew who weren't
13:33
knocked unconscious found that the
13:35
conning tower was also uh leaking. So
13:38
they needed to get out of the conning
13:39
tower and as quickly as they could they
13:41
got back into the rest of the submarine
13:42
and uh closed the hatch.
13:47
Submarine then crash dived to the
13:49
bottom. Now these submarines were
13:51
difficult to actually uh control and you
13:55
can imagine with having been hit by a a
13:57
massive ship uh sprung a leak desperate
14:01
to get out of there. Uh clearly it was
14:03
more difficult to control than normal.
14:05
So they went down to the bottom 70 m
14:07
well below their actual safe depth of 50
14:10
m but supposedly nothing else on toward
14:12
happened and eventually they managed to
14:15
uh recover the submarine and get it back
14:17
up to somewhere uh in the region of 40
14:20
to 50 m and and all this is confirmed in
14:23
their uh in the in their war diary. Um
14:26
the bad news for them is that the two
14:29
crew who were obviously left in the in
14:30
the conning tower unconscious, both of
14:33
them drowned and one of those was the uh
14:35
was actually the captain of the
14:36
submarine, Captain Lieutenant Burnt Boo
14:39
and his navigator uh Adolf Bergman. Both
14:43
of them both of them drowned. Um and
14:46
obviously that's a that's a pretty poor
14:48
end to to what had been quite a
14:50
promising day for them, I'm sure. So um
14:54
that's the story of what happened uh how
14:56
the East Point was sunk uh what happened
14:59
to the U48 uh in the imminent uh
15:03
aftermath of of sinking the East Point.
15:04
So so the next question is uh is what
15:07
happened to the U48 because it's now uh
15:11
there uh it's base at Wilhelms Harour is
15:15
there in uh in sort of northern Germany
15:18
and clearly they need to get home. the
15:20
the guys on the submarine have got a
15:22
submarine that's leaking. They've lost
15:24
their captain and their navigator and uh
15:27
obviously that they'd no doubt be pretty
15:29
concerned about that. So the first thing
15:30
they actually did was they uh they
15:34
buried their dead. And this is once
15:36
again recorded in the in in the war
15:38
diary including the latitude and
15:40
longitude of of of where it it happened.
15:42
You can imagine that's a pretty uh
15:44
pretty somber experience. They also uh
15:47
tried to patch up the the conning tower
15:50
and they actually took it back down
15:51
again and found that it once they got to
15:53
20 m it flooded again. So
15:56
pretty much uh diving the submarine is
15:59
is a bit of a challenge for them and
16:01
this causes them problems because
16:02
obviously they need to uh they need to
16:04
to get home and that's the direct route
16:07
which is straight through the English
16:09
Channel. And once again, that little uh
16:12
map that I've got there is from their
16:13
log and it shows uh the route out that
16:17
they took to get to uh where they sunk
16:19
the East Point. U now obviously that
16:22
takes them through the Straits of Dover
16:24
and the Straits of Dover was heavily
16:26
protected with mines, ships, planes, all
16:29
sorts of things. Um so clearly going
16:33
back that way was going to be very
16:35
difficult for them particularly as as as
16:37
they couldn't dive and
16:40
so they they took the uh they took the
16:42
decision that they would take the long
16:45
route round and once again you can see
16:47
there from their uh from their war diary
16:49
that they went all the way round Ireland
16:52
uh and actually round uh Shetland as
16:56
well. Now on route, uh bear in mind
17:00
they're mainly on the surface. They they
17:02
did stop to sink another vessel, uh the
17:05
sailing vessel Guerr, I think that's how
17:07
you pronounce it, uh which was a 2 and a
17:10
half thousand ton French ship. U this
17:12
they did using the gun on the on the
17:14
submarine and supposedly there was an
17:16
exchange of gunfire. So there's
17:18
suggestion that the French ship fire it
17:20
fired back. Once again, uh you know,
17:22
that's I think testimony to the bravery
17:24
of the crew. the idea that you've lost
17:27
your captain, you've lost your
17:28
navigator, you're in a submarine that's
17:29
leaking, you're you're a long way from
17:31
home and yet still you've got the uh the
17:34
audacity and the bravery to uh to start
17:36
trading shots with a uh with a you know
17:38
what they would have perceived as an
17:39
enemy vessel. Anyway, they sunk it and
17:42
they then uh cracked on and there's the
17:44
rest of their journey. Uh there was
17:46
another uh minefield,
17:48
lots more ships uh patrolling in the
17:50
North Sea as well. they uh that they
17:52
they managed to avoid them all and got
17:54
home on the 16th of March, which I think
17:57
was uh was a pretty impressive feat. Uh
18:00
oh yeah, there you can see on the log,
18:01
that's where the uh the ship, that's
18:03
where the Guer was sunk, marked on the
18:06
log.
18:07
So, uh, they got home, they the
18:10
submarine was repaired, they put to sea
18:11
again, and, uh, they actually sank a
18:14
further 14 ships from May 1917 under
18:17
under a new captain, uh, mainly out
18:19
there in the Atlantic, sort of to the
18:22
south and west of, uh, the UK.
18:27
Uh, unfortunately for them, uh, after
18:30
one of these trips when they were coming
18:32
back in, they went ground on the
18:34
infamous Goodwin Sands. Uh they were
18:36
doing a a night transit as you'd expect.
18:38
Went ground, couldn't get off the sand,
18:41
couldn't couldn't dive. And the Navy, as
18:43
you would imagine, spotted them pretty
18:45
quickly. And so the actual U48 was
18:49
destroyed on the 24th of November, 1917.
18:53
Now, the records are a bit uncertain,
18:55
but approximately
18:57
uh half the crew were killed and half
18:59
were captured. Um, and I'm told that the
19:03
remains are still there, still on the
19:04
Goodwin Sands, and uh they uh as with
19:08
the all wrecks on the Goodwin Sands,
19:10
they they cover and uncover and can be
19:12
seen at certain times. So, uh pretty sad
19:16
end to the to the U48, but from a
19:18
British perspective, obviously uh good
19:21
riddance, I'm sure. So, that's uh the
19:25
East Point. That's what happened to the
19:28
to the U48. And I think a pretty
19:30
incredible tale, you'll agree. Um, an
19:33
amazing, you know, what these people
19:34
went through at that particular time.
19:36
Now, the other thing that caught my
19:39
attention when I was doing the research
19:41
into the East Point was this gentleman
19:44
here, uh, Harold James Young, who was
19:48
the master of the East Point. Now, I
19:50
think his grandson is listening in at
19:53
the moment, Nick. He certainly was
19:55
listening in uh when I last delivered
19:58
this presentation and Nick has given me
20:00
an absolute treasure trove of
20:02
information uh on on his grandfather.
20:05
So, master of the East Point and and the
20:07
thing that I particularly noted about
20:09
him is that he has got uh the DSC, the
20:12
Distinguished Service Cross, and you can
20:13
see he's got the ribbon there on his uh
20:15
on his uniform. Uh Distinguished Service
20:18
Cross was and is a naval medal at that
20:22
time.
20:23
It was awarded to officers in the
20:25
merchant fleet or naval officers below
20:28
the rank of left tenant commander. Um
20:31
I've managed to find out uh there we go.
20:34
That's a uh the supplement to the London
20:36
Gazette where medals were uh published
20:40
at the time and and still are to these
20:42
days. And you can see there uh they've
20:45
they've got him there and uh that's his
20:48
citation which frankly compared to what
20:51
they have to write these days to get a
20:53
medal citation is is is pretty brief. Um
20:56
although you know also I think to the
20:58
point and uh when you hear what he did
21:00
you will you'll find it uh something of
21:02
an understatement as well. So, uh, one
21:04
of the things that did make me slightly
21:06
laugh, although I can imagine he didn't,
21:09
is that they, uh, they got his name
21:11
wrong. And just shows that shocking
21:13
staff work isn't just a feature of, uh,
21:15
of the modern day.
21:17
So, question therefore is, uh, I guess
21:21
where was the peninsula? What was the
21:24
East Point and Harold Young doing there?
21:26
So uh most people probably aware that
21:29
the uh the peninsula was uh is probably
21:32
better known these days as Gilipoli and
21:35
the East Point was sent there in in
21:37
April 1915. So so just under two years
21:40
before it was it was sunk. It was
21:42
requisitioned by the Admiral T who who
21:44
needed as you can imagine lots of lots
21:46
of shipping at the time and and mainly
21:48
what it was used to do was to transfer
21:50
supplies as you can see there from the
21:53
uh from the port of Keeo into Sula Bay
21:57
which is where the um
22:01
where one of the landings was. Um
22:04
so it it made many many voyages
22:06
backwards and forwards taking all sorts
22:08
of supplies there and while it was doing
22:10
one of those it came under quite heavy
22:12
shellfire and you read the uh the
22:15
accounts of the day and you read um some
22:18
of the letters that Nick has given me
22:20
and you'll find that it they actually
22:22
been under shellfire all day and that
22:24
picture in in the right is actually of
22:26
Sula Bay. Uh I'm not sure the East Point
22:29
is in it. It's a It's kind of stock one,
22:31
but you can see there the uh the jetty
22:33
where they'd have been unloading
22:34
supplies. You can see the the shell fire
22:36
and you can see that the barge on the
22:38
right is clearly armored. Um no no doubt
22:41
this was a kind of constant feature for
22:43
them. So so it received a shell at 1440
22:46
hours which set fire to the to the cargo
22:49
of hay in the hold and uh about 20
22:52
minutes later another shell hit uh
22:54
fracturing a plate on the bow. So they
22:56
they were having quite a hard time. the
22:59
um
23:01
so obviously the ship's on fire. They're
23:04
they're obviously firefighting as much
23:06
as they can. Um
23:09
and you can see there that's a uh that's
23:12
a report from actually from an American
23:14
newspaper
23:15
um which uh which obviously gives a bit
23:17
more detail about it. But in order to
23:20
get the fire out, what they had to do in
23:22
the end was beach the ship just a bit to
23:24
the north of Sula Bay.
23:28
um
23:29
which they did and uh eventually uh
23:33
obviously they continued to fight the
23:34
fire. It was still a light at 7 o'clock
23:37
the next day. So that is 12 12 odd hours
23:42
of of being a light, maybe more 15 hours
23:44
have been a light and they only managed
23:45
to get it under control by getting rid
23:47
of all the cargo. Um throwing it all
23:50
overboard, continuing to flood the
23:52
vessel. other vessels came alongside and
23:54
used their pumps and eventually they got
23:56
it out at uh 10:00 the next day. So they
23:59
now have this badly burnt vessel. Um and
24:02
the challenge was to refloater which uh
24:05
they did eventually, but it took them
24:07
two days. Um they used tugs a couple of
24:10
times, didn't work. They threw over more
24:12
cargo, still didn't work. Uh and the bow
24:15
was jammed in a rock. It wasn't until
24:17
the third day when they actually got a
24:18
naval cruiser and a tug and managed to
24:21
to to pull her off and get her afloat.
24:23
Uh so you'd imagine having been set on
24:26
fire, having been beached, the bow hit
24:29
by shells and also stuck into some
24:32
rocks, uh tugged off, you'd imagine that
24:34
would be the end of her Gallipoli
24:35
campaign. But actually it wasn't. Not
24:38
only that, it wasn't the the end of her
24:40
troubles either because a mere couple of
24:42
days later, she was actually hit by that
24:44
vessel there in a collision, uh, the SS
24:47
Bonvilston. Uh, once again, more damage
24:50
to the bow. Um,
24:53
but they needed ships. And they needed
24:55
ships because they were planning to
24:56
evacuate all the troops, which they did
24:59
in in December 1915. And the East Point
25:02
was was one of the vessels he used. It
25:04
hadn't had any particularly major
25:06
repairs. hadn't been to a dry dock, it
25:08
was still used. And I think there's a
25:10
letter there uh that Harold Young wrote
25:12
to his sister and I think it's worth
25:15
just uh just reading through when you
25:17
kind of uh you know for me when you he
25:19
talks about this wreck of a ship. Uh he
25:23
talks about the fact they just had they
25:24
had 400 BS aboard 55 life belts. The
25:28
ship was in a sinking condition and the
25:29
sea infested with submarines. and he
25:32
then talks about the sons of uh baronss
25:34
and vicounts uh sleeping under cabin
25:37
tables. So I think that gives a that
25:39
gives a kind of feel for what that
25:41
evacuation must be like. And obviously
25:43
you know the Gipoly campaign is one of
25:45
those things that is that will go down
25:46
in history as a um
25:50
uh not a particularly successful
25:52
military venture apart from the
25:54
evacuation is famously the one part of
25:57
the uh the campaign that went well. And
25:59
the East Point, as you can see there,
26:01
played a major part in taking uh 400
26:05
people off the uh off the beaches and
26:09
getting them away to safety. So, uh you
26:11
know, an important part of the
26:13
operation, I think. Now, uh slight
26:16
slight segue because every time I I find
26:18
out something about the East Point, I
26:20
kind of I just look take that second
26:22
look. And one of the interesting things
26:23
about the Bombston um is that uh which
26:27
is the ship that collided with it is
26:28
that it also hit another ship but barely
26:32
well a month and a half later. Um and
26:34
the one it hit was much bigger 8,000 ton
26:37
SSG
26:38
uh and actually hit it so hard it sank
26:41
it. Um, now quite fortunate because the
26:45
Gilong had just disembarked over 1,300
26:48
Australian soldiers and you can imagine
26:50
it if it have hit before that then
26:53
potentially we'd have had a very serious
26:54
uh accident on our hands but that didn't
26:56
happen. The Bombston you'll be pleased
26:58
to know got its just desserts in the
27:00
end. It was torpedoed in 1918 probably
27:03
much to the relief of all the other
27:05
seafarers and uh and she now lies there
27:08
uh just to the north of Strand and I
27:11
have to say uh it's on my on my list of
27:14
things to dive. I gather it's in about
27:15
60 m. So anyway, we're going to leave
27:19
the Bombston alone and I'm going to go
27:21
back to to Harold Young. And the reason
27:24
I want to go back to Harold Young is
27:26
because um he's a man who lived an
27:29
incredible life of which this his part
27:31
in Gallipoli and uh been sunk on the
27:34
East Point are just one small part of
27:36
it. And uh so so I think it's you know
27:40
fascinating to give you information I
27:41
have. So so he was born in 1880 uh in
27:44
Stoke Newington. Uh he went to sea age
27:48
16 and learned his trade in sailing
27:50
ships. The one this ship here is the uh
27:53
the lock troll which was his second
27:55
ship. Uh his first ship he got
27:58
discharged after having an accident and
28:01
hurt his hand that gave him a permanent
28:03
injury. There there he is. You can see
28:04
him in the uh in the bottom photo. uh
28:08
what's that nearly over 120 years ago
28:11
with his crew and I don't know how well
28:13
you can see them but uh but up close
28:15
that photo shows a uh very multicultural
28:18
crew of of uh of clearly hardened
28:20
sailors and all round repbates I suspect
28:22
no doubt good uh a good lesson that he
28:25
took with him for his uh for his
28:26
continued life at sea. So he learned his
28:28
trade in in sailing ships, worked his
28:30
way up through the through the ranks,
28:31
gaining the the different certificates
28:33
that you needed. Um and eventually he
28:35
was appointed master of the East Point.
28:38
Um and that's the the letter there. Um
28:42
a reference I guess uh once again 1910
28:46
you can see that letter's from so over
28:48
110 years old.
28:51
Uh after the East Point was sunk, uh his
28:54
his time aboard ships wasn't done. He uh
28:56
he went on to the SS Rapalo which was a
28:59
fairly new ship um same company and was
29:04
uh sailing that in the Mediterranean in
29:07
the Straits of Msina between Sicily and
29:09
Italy when uh that was torpedoed in uh
29:12
1918. So what's that 9 months just over
29:16
9 months after being torpedoed on the
29:18
East Point. uh that there that letter is
29:22
a uh a letter from the uh British
29:24
consulate uh basically telling everybody
29:27
to help him get back to the UK. Uh once
29:29
again, incredible piece of of history
29:31
that that Nick Young has been able to
29:33
give me. Now, sadly on on the Rapalo,
29:35
there was a uh there was a casualty and
29:38
the casualty was uh the assistant
29:42
young Thomas Jenkins, 15 years old. He
29:46
uh his father had died um and his mother
29:51
uh was left a widow and uh w without one
29:55
of her sons and he is remembered on on
29:58
that thing there which is the Tower Hill
30:00
Memorial. I don't know if for those of
30:03
you who've been to London or have been
30:05
to visit, incredibly somber place and
30:06
it's where all the the merchant uh
30:08
sailors and the uh sailors from the
30:11
fishing fleet are are remembered and uh
30:14
there's a there's an awful lot of them.
30:16
So, um Harold Young survived uh survived
30:20
the repell, got himself back and carried
30:23
on uh sailing in
30:26
uh for the furnace line, various
30:28
different ships. And his last ship, you
30:30
can see him pictured there, was the MV
30:32
Pacific Ranger. You can see him there
30:35
obviously looking as though he's
30:36
enjoying life quite a bit. Um, and he
30:39
retired in mid 1940, obviously just
30:42
after the start of the Second World War.
30:44
And that proved to be actually a very
30:46
sensible decision for him because that
30:49
ship was torpedoed mere months after he
30:51
left it uh up there off the northwest
30:54
coast of Ireland. and the crew,
30:57
including his replacement, spent 9 days
31:00
in uh in lifeboats uh waiting to be
31:03
rescued. And you can imagine, as he
31:05
would have been then 60 years old, that
31:07
would have been a pretty horrible place
31:09
to be. So, no doubt he was sat in front
31:10
of his fire um thoroughly pleased with
31:12
himself that he'd uh he'd made the right
31:14
decision.
31:16
So,
31:19
uh, this brave old sailor, uh, after he
31:23
retired, he took up a ceremonial, uh,
31:25
post, uh, with as the mayor deputy of
31:29
one of the sink ports towns. Um, and
31:32
once again, there's a nice newspaper
31:34
clipping about it that I simply don't
31:36
have space on my PowerPoint to uh uh to
31:39
give, but it was clear that he was held
31:40
in high regard. Uh and then he
31:42
eventually passed away in uh on the 29th
31:46
of May, sorry, 26th of May, 1967.
31:49
And uh there's a lovely note there from
31:52
the secretary of the uh the furnace
31:54
line. And I love the last line. It says,
31:56
"Those of you who those of us who remain
31:59
from these days hold his name in high
32:01
regard." And I think that's a pretty uh
32:03
pretty nice epitap. So there's there's
32:07
the East Point, there's the U48,
32:10
there's uh Harold Young, but but the
32:12
story of the East Point hasn't finished
32:14
there because one of the other things I
32:16
I knew about the East Point was that uh
32:20
it was actually owned by somebody. It
32:22
was owned by a member of our uh diving
32:26
club. So Tony Hillgrove is is relatively
32:30
well known in these parts. uh longtime
32:33
diver, longtime collector of bits and
32:35
pieces from the seabed. And as you can
32:37
see there, he uh bought the wreck of the
32:40
East Point in 1986.
32:43
Uh and for those of you who don't know,
32:45
obviously ships when they sink uh in
32:48
wartime and normally uh bought by by the
32:51
government um
32:54
from uh from the insurers and that was
32:58
what happened with the East Point. So,
32:59
so you able to buy wrecks, uh, and you
33:02
probably still can, although I don't
33:03
think it's so common these days. So, he
33:05
Tony bought the wreck of the rocket
33:07
wreck of the East Point. And you might
33:08
say, well, well, why would anybody buy a
33:11
wreck uh that's 70 m on the seabed? It's
33:14
been down there even at that time. It's
33:16
been down there for 70 odd years. What
33:19
would you do that for? Well, the the
33:21
reason is is quite clear there. So, I'm
33:24
sure many people who dive in this area
33:25
will know the SS Maine, which is uh
33:29
shallower wreck, 30 odd meters, about
33:32
half the size of the East Point. Well,
33:33
her prop in uh 1962 sold for £840, which
33:38
is with inflation about the equivalent
33:40
of of 15 grand now. So, that's quite a
33:43
lot of money if you can you can get it
33:45
up from the seabed. And that is the
33:46
mains prop being uh being lifted there.
33:49
So,
33:50
uh, bronze props, other parts of of Rex
33:53
are worth quite a lot of money. Now,
33:55
that's the I've already shown you one
33:56
picture of the, uh, the prop on the East
33:58
Point. That's the, uh, that's another
34:00
picture. Not particularly great, I'm
34:01
afraid. Flash photography doesn't work
34:03
well, um, with the kind of amount of
34:05
stuff that you get in the water down
34:07
there. So, Tony bought it because he
34:09
thought he would be able to uh, to lift
34:11
the prop and and make some money on it
34:13
out of it. Now, when I gave this
34:16
presentation last time, I said I had no
34:17
idea why that that hadn't happened. Um
34:20
Tony has since enlightened me and and
34:22
the reason is because of uh that thing
34:24
there, that's the uh Orion Star, which
34:27
was a twler based out of Newand down in
34:29
down in Cornwall. And uh he had that all
34:32
chartered ready to come and lift lift
34:34
the prop when uh unfortunately for Tony
34:39
and for the Orion star, she clearly had
34:42
other sidelines going on. one of which
34:44
was uh was bringing cannabis resin in
34:46
and so the Orion star was seized um in
34:50
as it was at the time. That was in 1996,
34:53
one of Britain's biggest ever drug
34:54
seizures. So uh so that's why that never
34:57
happened.
34:58
And uh and we can all enjoy diving on a
35:01
wreck that's still got the prop there.
35:03
But one of the things about a wreck
35:05
being owned is that is that he owns all
35:08
of it in the same way that people own
35:10
cars and houses and all those kind of
35:12
things. Tony does own that wreck. So
35:16
that means he can give you permission to
35:19
uh remove things from it. And with
35:21
Tony's permission, I have uh removed
35:24
that deck port hole there, brought it up
35:26
to surface. And uh for those of you who
35:28
doubt me, uh one of the things that you
35:31
need to do if you uh if you lift
35:32
anything off the seabed, I'm sure most
35:34
people know, is declare it to the
35:35
receiver of wreck. And there is the
35:37
droid uh that I have confirming that I
35:40
own that I own that port hole. Now, the
35:43
reason I lifted the port hole is because
35:46
I'm always keen to um
35:50
uh
35:52
uh do do some education and and divers
35:56
really enjoy looking at those kind of uh
35:58
those bits and pieces. So, in the center
36:00
where I work, I have I've cleaned up
36:02
that port hole. I' I've put it on the
36:04
wall and I've put a bit of um bit of
36:06
information there about the East Point
36:08
so that the divers who come through can
36:09
hopefully read that and will know a bit
36:12
more about the story of the East Point
36:13
which which I hope you will agree is is
36:15
a story that that deserves to be told
36:18
and deserves to be an awful uh lot
36:20
better known than uh than it currently
36:23
is. So
36:26
there's there's a bit more of of the
36:28
modern history of the of the East Point.
36:30
Uh so what I'd just like to do is is
36:32
just to finish really with uh a bit of
36:35
the kind of my takeaways from this and
36:38
uh some of the things that that that
36:39
I've I've got out of it. And the first
36:40
thing I'd like to say is is the
36:42
enjoyment that that I've had in
36:45
researching this kind of stuff. And I
36:46
particularly like to thank um Jane
36:48
Maddox who I think is on this as well.
36:51
Now Jane uh has has been to Q to the
36:55
National Archive a couple of times for
36:57
me poking through files that look like
36:59
that and she's dug out um some of the
37:02
information that that I've shown you
37:03
already. Um and it's fascinating when
37:06
you get those firsthand accounts from
37:07
the people at the time um to to find out
37:10
what they were doing. There's also that
37:11
thing there which you've seen already as
37:13
well which is uh which is the German
37:15
equivalent. Uh and I particularly like
37:16
to thank my sister uh who uh speaks
37:19
German and has managed to um translate a
37:23
lot of that for me which has been great
37:24
of a great for her. Uh and the other
37:26
thing obviously these days is clearly
37:28
there's tons of information on the on
37:30
the internet. So, so a combination of
37:32
all those kind of things is um
37:37
uh has allowed me to to kind of find all
37:39
the information that that I've given to
37:41
you and and obviously the information
37:42
that I've been given by uh Nick Young.
37:45
Uh absolutely incredible amount of
37:47
information and I found him online on
37:49
the internet discussing his grandfather
37:51
on a uh on a first world war forum.
37:55
So the other thing is obviously uh
37:57
people who do technical diving that's
37:59
what your dive profiles look like. Um
38:02
that is that is a dive profile. Um you
38:06
can see you spend an awful lot of time
38:07
uh doing that. And one of the things
38:10
that's obviously pretty dull. One of the
38:12
things that that I'll be doing when I'm
38:14
when I'm doing that in future on the
38:15
East Point is I'll be thinking about
38:16
these guys uh Burnt Boost who was uh
38:20
obviously the captain of the U48. I'll
38:23
be thinking about Harold Young, the
38:24
incredible life he lived, of which the
38:26
East Point is just one small part of it.
38:29
I'll be thinking about uh young Thomas
38:32
Jenkins, 15 years old, didn't get to
38:34
enjoy his life, much of his life very
38:36
much, and all the other people uh
38:39
remembered there on the uh the Tower
38:41
Hill Memorial. And I think one of the
38:43
interesting things is Harold Young went
38:45
to the unveiling of that. And you would
38:47
I would imagine that when he was uh he
38:49
was there, he was no doubt sort of
38:51
thinking about lots of his friends and
38:53
hopefully uh young 15-year-old uh
38:55
Jenkins as well. And and I guess uh one
38:59
of the last things I'll kind of take
39:01
away is uh is some of the great
39:03
friendships I've had from diving East
39:05
Point and particularly the gentleman in
39:06
that photo uh will be known particularly
39:09
to members of the club. Uh he uh great
39:12
friend of ours, former Royal Marine,
39:15
former firefighter,
39:16
uh all round good egg. He uh very sadly
39:20
died while diving the East Point last
39:22
year. Uh and obviously I'll be
39:25
particularly remembering him when I dive
39:27
the next. And the last thing I'd like to
39:29
say is just be care find anything that
39:32
looks like that um underwater. You never
39:36
know where it's going to lead. And for
39:37
me, it's led to many many hours of doing
39:39
research into the East Point and the
39:41
stories around it. So, ladies and
39:43
gentlemen, I'd like to thank you for
39:45
your your patience. I'd like you to
39:47
thank you for for coming. And uh if
39:50
you've got any questions, can I ask you
39:52
uh probably the easiest thing to do is
39:54
to is to type them into the chat window
39:57
and uh and I can pick them up there. Or
39:59
if you want to unmute your microphone
40:01
and ask me, you're welcome to do that as
40:03
well. But but hopefully um not everybody
40:06
uh at once otherwise it'll get a bit of
40:08
a mess. Somebody else has asked is uh
40:12
interested in diving these point. Is
40:13
there a procedure to obtain permission
40:14
to dive it? No. Uh anybody can dive it
40:17
obviously uh it is owned by Tony. So um
40:21
you know you shouldn't take things off
40:23
it without uh uh him giving you a permit
40:26
to do it and obviously comply with all
40:27
other regulations etc.
40:35
Uh Boris has said he's looking forward
40:37
to the next one. Um I have to say that's
40:40
likely to uh to take me a bit of a while
40:42
to get all all the information together.
40:44
Although I am looking at the uh there is
40:47
a series of of wrecks in the local area
40:49
called the Inner Patch. They're all
40:51
they're all part of a uh the same
40:53
convoy. Four ships were sunk on the same
40:55
night in 1942 in convoy PW250.
40:59
and I um I'm hoping to put their story
41:02
together because once again there is
41:04
some some fascinating stories. There's a
41:06
uh a uh British freighter, there's a
41:09
Dutch frighter, there's a Danish
41:11
freighter, and there is a uh a Royal
41:14
Navy armed trawler. All of them sunk on
41:17
on the same evening with with quite a
41:19
lot of loss of life. And uh so I'm
41:21
hoping to to put those together. and the
41:23
the armed trwler um the water HM troller
41:28
water is actually a protected wreck. So
41:30
it's one of the new ones that's just
41:32
been been given that status.
41:35
Hi Dom, do you have any um video footage
41:38
of the Dows itself?
41:41
Um I have to say I I don't tend to take
41:44
video. I tend to take stills. I think
41:47
it's one of my I've got a little bit of
41:50
video of the East Point, but because I
41:52
was videoing through my fisheye on on
41:54
the front of the camera, it tends to
41:55
focus on the fisheye rather than
41:57
focusing on the wreck. So, it comes in
41:58
and out of focus, which is really not
42:00
very good, but um it is one of it's
42:03
something on my to-do list is to try and
42:04
get a bit of video.
42:06
Any photos would be appreciated.
42:09
Yeah, all the photos I've actually got
42:11
are the ones that are in this
42:12
presentation. Um I'm uh once this whole
42:17
uh corona virus thing goes away uh I
42:19
think all of us who've dived the East
42:20
Point are keen at anything to get back
42:22
out and dive it because um most of this
42:25
information has come to light since we
42:26
last dived it and obviously it does make
42:28
it much more special when you're diving
42:30
when you know these kind of stories.
42:32
It was a great presentation. Thank you
42:34
very much.
42:34
No worries. It's a pleasure.
42:36
Um
42:40
um
42:42
so I've got a question from Graeme
42:43
there. There was a picture of a Ubot
42:45
with a damaged conning tower. Uh was
42:47
this a sub in the presentation? The
42:49
photo I think it does look as though
42:51
it's a bit damaged the conning tower,
42:52
but I think that's actually the way it
42:54
is. I don't know when those photos of of
42:57
the uh the submarine were taken. Um
43:01
uh but I would imagine just after it was
43:03
built. So, I don't think there's any
43:04
photos of the uh of the actual damage.
43:11
Right, guys? I don't think I'm getting
43:13
any more questions. So, unless anybody
43:15
has got any more, I'm probably going to
43:17
uh bring this to a close. If you do
43:20
think of anything and you want to ask
43:21
me, please um Facebook me or whatever.
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