no definitive evidence to conclude which wreck this was , historical evidence did lead to it being ‘ probably ’ U-95 , but could not discount the other possibilities .
The Hardelot wreck
A U-boat wreck in the eastern English Channel off Hardelot , France was dived in 2004 by a team lead by Alain Richard . 2,3 The submarine had its stern blown off , but the propellers were still in place . The propeller boss stamps indicated the U-93-98 series .
The date on the starboard boss showed 29 December 1916 while the port propeller was dated 10th January 1917 . Both dates are after U-93 was launched , but before U-95 entered the water . With the theory that the boats were launched with the propellers attached , this would lead to suggest that this wreck is U-95 , adding further confusion to the story .
June 2021 - the dives
The dives to confirm the identity and reason for sinking of the Lizard wreck were conducted on 3rd and 4th June 2021 . The aim was to identify the wreck from the propeller inscription and to confirm the reason for its sinking , thought to be either by ramming by the SS Braeneil , or by hitting a mine . If the cause was ramming , we would expect to see damage amidships port side , and at least some hatches open . With mine damage , the boat would have been submerged on impact , so hatches would likely be closed , and the dive-planes in up position if it was trying to surface in an emergency . However , we cannot rule out the possibility that hatches could have been opened by crew attempting to escape . We would also expect to see quite a bit of deformation of the hull .
Michael Lowrey4 , a leading historian on First World War U-boat operations , contacted Steve and Barbara in 2019 to ask for help to solve the mystery . The first dive was dedicated to scoping out the site , taking as many photos and videos as possible to answer some of the questions about the hatches and dive-planes . A team of three divers was tasked to scrub off the propeller boss to look for series numbers and dates . This scrubbing involved using a windscreen scraper to remove the soft encrustation , followed by a wire brush for the tougher stuff , then finally a buffing pad to polish it up and reveal the words .
First to jump were Steve , Rick , Tim and Jacob . Rick and Tim were each armed with cameras the size of a small cars in order to photograph the areas of interest . Jacob had his GoPro and a stout pair of fins in order to swim a full circuit of the wreck to film it in its entirety . That ’ s no mean feat at 70m depth and a bit of a current even at slack tide !
PHOTO : RICK AYRTON PHOTO : RICK AYRTON PHOTO : RICK AYRTON
Peering into the open hatch of the conning tower
Diver Will Schwarz buffs the inscription on the propeller boss
Finally , ‘ Team Scrubber ’ ( Fran , Dom and Craig ) went in , with a lucky-guess of working out which way to swim to find the stern end of a metal tube ! Everything went smoothly , and after re-homing some dead men ’ s fingers into the water column , the inscription on the propeller boss became apparent . After a couple of photos , a quick swim around the conning tower and
some deco , we surfaced to a very excited Barbara , to whom we handed over the wet notes with “ U93-98 ” and “ 25-01-1917 ” written on it !
After a debrief in the pub that evening , we were up before the sparrows to catch the early slack . Will replaced Craig in ‘ Team Scrubber ’, and Jacob decided that one circuit wasn ’ t enough , so went back for
Starboard propeller of the U-95
37