SS East Point - One Ship, Many Stories

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Uh good evening everyone. Um I hope
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everyone can hear me. Um I'd like to
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thank you all for uh coming on listening
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to my my webinar. My name is uh Dominic
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Robinson. I'm a member of the Plymouth
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Sound branch of the British of Aqua
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Club. Uh and also
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Oh, someone's got their microphone on
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there. Please, if you could turn it off,
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that'd be appreciated.
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unknown participant is now joining.
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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
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train military divers, military
0:48
recreational divers to dive at the joint
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service diving center. And uh this
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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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