Plymouth Sound BSAC divers enjoying cracking visibility at 68 metres
WRECKED fracturing a plate on the starboard bow .
Even as shells continued to fall , nearby ships came to assist but the fire continued to burn and the ship was grounded to the North of Sulva Bay . Through the night , water was pumped into the hold in an attempt to control the fire but by 7am the next day it was still burning fiercely in the forepeak and forecastle . It wasn ’ t until nearly 10am that the fire was finally extinguished and water could start to be pumped out of the holds .
The next challenge was to refloat the East Point ; an attempt was made later the same day but failed , as her bow was firmly wedged in a rock . Multiple attempts followed , but it wasn ’ t until the 6th that the combined efforts of a cruiser and tug managed to refloat her . Despite leaks in the ballast tank and forepeak causing No 1 hold to take on water , the ship was considered stable enough to leave Suvla Bay .
Her tribulations weren ’ t ended though , as on 21 November the East Point was involved in a collision with an Admiralty Stores Ship , SS Bonvilston , which caused further damage to the bow . It would seem that the Bonvilston made something of a habit of this as near Alexandria on 1 January 1916 , she collided with SS Geelong , which sank shortly afterwards . Fortunately there were no casualties , but it could have been different , as the Geelong had just disembarked 1,362 soldiers who were on the last leg of their journey from Australia .
Even with extensive damage , the East Point ’ s campaign wasn ’ t over – every available ship was desperately needed for the evacuation of the troops in December 1915 . In a letter home to his sister-in-law , Captain Harold Young stated “ At the end , when this wreck of a ship was filled with every conceivable old thing from dead men ’ s clothes and empty cartridge cases to heavy field guns and motor ambulances , we sailed away with 400 troops on board ,
brought down at night straight from the firing line .” He adds “ all we had left in the way of life-saving appliances was one good boat and just 55 lifebelts , the ship was in a sinking condition and the sea infested with submarines .” He also has some pretty choice comments on the way the campaign was managed ! for a submarine that could no longer travel underwater or fire torpedoes . Despite this , U-48 still managed to sink a 2,596-tonne vessel , the French SV Guerver , on 12 March 1917 , to the north west of Ireland . The U-48 ’ s war diary suggests that this was a two-way exchange of fire , which shows an impressive commitment to duty by men who were limping home in a damaged submarine !
The German Naval hierarchy rewarded Hinrich Hashagen with command of his own submarine , U-22 , which was unusual for a member of the Naval Reserve in the classconscious Kriegsmarine . He continued to be a successful officer , sinking 28 vessels and surviving the war with the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class .
Despite the damage to the conning tower clearly visible in the photograph , the U-48 was quickly repaired and sailed again under a new commander , Kapitanleutenant Karl Edeling . She sunk a further 14 ships before
a navigational error resulted in her going aground on the Goodwin Sands at high tide on 12 November 1917 . Once dawn arrived , she was quickly discovered by drifters from Ramsgate , who engaged her before the destroyer HMS GIPSY finally destroyed her . Only 24 men survived from the crew of 43 .
The U-48 was left high and dry in very shallow water on the Goodwins which allowed her to be boarded by the Royal Navy . Her 88mm gun was salvaged and put on display in Ramsgate , where it remained until the 1960s . The shifting sands of the Goodwins also caused her to be exposed in 1973 and resulted in sensational newspaper headlines such as “ A War Ghost Returns ”.
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