A British cargo ship that was torpedoed and sunk during World War I has finally revealed its 109-year-old secret.
The SS Hartdale was sailing from Glasgow to Alexandria in Egypt together with her cargo of coal when she was attacked by a German U-boat in March 1915. The ship’s location has long been a mystery, but my colleagues and I finally discovered it, pointing to its final resting place.
The old adage that we know more about the surface of the Moon and Mars than we do about the Earth’s depths may not be entirely true. The truth is, nevertheless, that we still have a lot to learn.
Even our seemingly familiar shallow seabed near the coast is comparatively poorly mapped. Many people may consider that such areas are well-researched, but there are still fundamental questions that we cannot answer because detailed research has not been done.
There is a vast underwater graveyard in the seas surrounding Britain. Thousands of shipwrecks from centuries of trade and conflict litter the seabed like silent monuments to history.
Surprisingly, despite the fact that we know where many wrecks lie, their true identity often stays a mystery. But Endless waters The project is now combining marine archives with existing scientific data to assist reveal some of these secrets.
History meets science
Scientists are using detailed sonar surveys of greater than 100 shipwrecks west of the Isle of Man. By combining this underwater data with historical documents from around the world, researchers are piecing together a vast maritime puzzle, finally uncovering the true stories of these sunken ships.
The first successful identification made as part of this work is that of the SS Hartdale. When the 105-meter ship was torpedoed at dawn on March 13, 1915 German submarine U-27two crew members were killed and its final location stays unknown.
Investigators began by scanning known wrecks in the attack area, narrowing down the possibilities to a dozen or so. They then compared details of the wreck with official records and diver observations, eliminating candidates one after the other until the SS Hartdale emerged as the perfect candidate. The ship lies at a depth of 80 meters, 12 miles off the coast of Northern Ireland.
Lloyd’s Register Foundation
Important details about the SS Hartdale can be found online via Lloyds Register Foundation. This includes plans for the ship, formerly often called Benbrook, built for Joseph Hault & Co. Ltd in 1910. This information, together with eyewitness accounts published in the national press at the time, proved crucial in confirming the identity of the wreck.
American historian Michael Lowrey also provided the project team with a translated copy of notes from the official German account and scans of the U-27’s official war diary prepared by its commander, Lieutenant (*109*) Bernd Wegener. These included descriptions of the events leading as much as the sinking, the coordinates of the attack and the exact location on Hartdale where the torpedo struck the hull – a detail strikingly confirmed by sonar scan data.
Armed with this compelling evidence, the research team reached their final conclusion. The only viable candidate for the SS Hartdale was a previously “unknown” 105-meter-long wreck. It lay just a few hundred meters south of where U-27 had launched its deadly attack.
Michael Roberts/Unpath’d Waters, Provided by creator (no reuse)
Unlimited submarine warfare
Following the attack on Hartdale, U-27 played a significant role in the development of naval warfare during the remainder of the First World War. This took place during a period of increasing tension in 1915.
After the sinking of British ocean liners RMS Lusitania in May and Arabic SS in August of that yr by U-boats, the way of waging war at sea became increasingly heated and controversial.
Shortly after the SS Arabic was sunk by one other U-boat, U-27 was itself attacked and destroyed by a Royal Navy Q ship HMS Baralong. Q ships were heavily armed merchant ships designed to lure submarines into surface attacks.
The surviving German sailors, including the commander of U-27, were then allegedly shot by British sailors in front of American witnesses. The event has since turn out to be often called the “Baralong Incident”.
German outrage over this event, combined with other aspects, contributed to the launch “unlimited submarine warfare” by Germany in February 1917. This meant that warnings were not issued to merchant ships against U-boat attacks, greatly increasing the death toll.
