I'm not going to say a word .... you decide !! Yet another tale of a horrific encounter with one of ocean's many atrocities comes to us from a U-boat Commander and his crew in the midst of the first World War. Much like the event reported by U-28 in the North Atlantic a mere 3 years prior, the sailors aboard the UB-85 were in for an encounter which they would never forget. The account begins on April 30, 1918, in the waning days of World War I, when the crew of the British patrol boat, the Coreopsis - while sailing off the Belfast Lough - were astounded to find a German submarine (the UB-85) floating lifelessly on the surface of the North Atlantic. The members of Her Majesty's navy were both perplexed and disconcerted by the discovery as they were not in the habit of encountering non-aggressive U-boats on the open seas, much less during the middle of the day! With almost no provocation, the entire crew of the UB-85 abandoned ship. Once aboard the British vessel, the U-boat's commander, Captain Gunther Krech, was immediately interrogated. One of the first questions asked by the British officers regarded his decision to remain on the surface even when their obviously English vessel came within his UB-85's line of sight. Captain Krech's response was not one that his interrogators were prepared for. According to Krech, his submarine had surfaced during the previous night in order to recharge its batteries. Krech was on deck with some men and a few of his officers, when there was an abrupt surge off the starboard bow. Suddenly, what the captain referred to as a "strange Beast" climbed out of the night blackened ocean and onto the side of his ship. Krech described the creature to his captors as such: "This beast had large eyes, set in a horny sort of skull. It had a small head, but with teeth that could be seen glistening in the moonlight. Every man on watch began firing a sidearm at the beast, but the animal had hold of the forward gun mount and refused to let go." Krech continued his story, stating that proportions of this creature were so immense that it forced the U-boat to list greatly to the starboard side. The captain, fearing that the open hatch would drop below the waterline (which would flood the sub and eventually sink it), ordered his men to continue their attack on this beast. The battle raged until the animal finally released the submarine and slipped back into its watery domain. The crew of the UB-85, shaken, but glad to be alive, noted that during the struggle the forward deck plating had been damaged and the U-boat could no longer submerge. "That is why you were able to catch us on the surface," the Captain concluded. Krech and his crew's entire account was chronicled by members of the British Navy, only hours after the events took place. The official record of the event reads as follows in official reports: "UB-85 Krech, Kplt Gunther April 30 off Belfast Lough Gunfire Sunk by the drifter COREOPSIS. Crew taken off before boat sank." http://www.americanmonsters.com/monsters/seamonsters/index.php?detail=article&idarticle=211
I note that the illustration to the referenced article shows a U-boat flying a swastika flag. If the authors can't get that little detail correct . . . Gareth
