German U-boat may be at bottom of Labrador river

[bigduke6]

Yup the U-550. The local fisherman have know where it was for a long time as it's in a prime fishing area. They had better be careful what they do on this wreck as the Navy and the State Department could very well step in and tell them to leave it alone and not touch it as it's a war grave site and the German government has asked that all U-boats be left alone because of that. Past stripping of a U-boat during which three German sailors were brought up and returned to shore started it and that created a huge problem for the State Department and the Navy.

Thats very interesting Bruce, I,m always concerned when people start to plunder War Graves etc, being a Merchant Seaman myself, plus serving an Apprenticeship in a shipyard building Submarines I know a little about ships etc, and I can see both sides of the coin, bringing them sailors up I think was the decent thing to do, and I,m sure if anyone ever stopped and asked the relatives of these lost semen would it be ok, then I would say the answer would of been yes, but was it about these seamen, or more to do with the cargo in the way the vessel was stripped?

It was approx 12 years ago when I was visiting U 534, I met an ex Submariner who had sailed on a sister submarine to U 534, I never got the Gents name but it was one of those meetings that you never forget.

It had all started when I booked a visit to U 534, I was at the time about a mile away (as the crow flies) from U 534 looking after a vessel that was laid up.

At the start of the visit we were all told of the dangers etc, and that we must sign a disclamer regarding the fact if ayone did suffer any accident, then it was not possible to sue the company at the time.

once on board U 534 we all gathered and at the time the curator asked if anyone had been on a sub before, I stuck my hand up and explained that I had during my time in the ship yard etc, the guy in charge then asked someone behind me, " and you sir, what is experiance " the reply was "I sailed on one of these", it was the gents accent that threw me as it was Welsh !!!

At the end of the tour we assembled in a large area that had a lot of artifacts from the vessel, it was then I introduced myself.

We talked about the sub etc, and he described the time they left port, he said he was 17 at the time and it was very similar to the film "Das Boat" were it was crammed with fresh food, and this was first on the menu, at the end of a patrol he said things were grim, and the diet was canned fish and condensed milk.

I asked about the accent and he had a Laugh, it was just before the war ended the sub had surendered and he was taken as a POW, the POW camp was in Wales and when the War ended he had an option to stay, he said there was nothing left in Germany for him to return, so carved out a new life in Wales.

The visit had brought back many memories of his friends, most of them all lost at sea.
I never got to get his details as I had to make a call at the time and when I returned he was leaving with his Daughter and Son in law, it was a shame as I would of loved to have a few beers with him.

Going back to U 534, When I visited it was still in one peace, but the trust who owned it, had gone broke and closed, the land was to be sold for development, U 534 was bought my Merseytravel and cut into sections and moved to form part of a small museum.

I think the following link says it all, I just dont think enough was done to preserve it as it was.

Irish Sea Shipping - What's New July 2008