A Black Cab driver and scuba-diving enthusiast has helped lay a wreath on the sea bed in memory of almost 1,500 men who died in a First World War U-boat attack, over a hundred years ago.
John Heagney from Fulham joined a team of British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) divers on an historic mission off the coast of Holland.
The retired firefighter is a member of BSAC’s Hellfins Dive Club based in Victoria, and was accompanied on the Livebait Squadron Expedition by his dive buddy and friend Brian Long, from Chessington, Surrey.
The team surveyed the wrecks of three cruisers which were all sunk within an hour of each other by the German submarine U9, in the early hours of September 22, 1914.
During the expedition a commemorative wreath was laid on the HMS Cressy, which was the last to be sunk, after the two other cruisers, the HMS Hogue and HMS Aboukir.
John said: “We didn’t know any of the others involved but everyone got on so well and had a fantastic time.
“The history behind the three wrecks, HMS Cressy, Hogue and Aboukir, is amazing and I found the dives very poignant. These are war graves and the loss of life was exceptionally high.”
The honour of laying the wreath went to Carol Wood, 56, a BSAC Sports Diver and member of Ipswich Dive Club (iDive), whose god-daughter’s great-great-grandfather, William Henry King perished in the attack.
John said: “Seeing Carol lay a wreath on the wreck of the Cressy was quite a memorable moment.”
In total the number of lives lost on the three ships was larger than in the sinking of the famous passenger ship Titanic.
The ageing vessels were nicknamed the Live Bait Squadron and patrolled the North Sea, but were considered vulnerable to assault from German war ships and submarines.
U19 captain Otto Weddigen spotted them 22 miles off the Dutch coast, and noticed they were not performing the zigzag procedures to prevent them being easy targets for submarines. However, the U-boats were not known to be in the area.
The sub fired and hit HMS Aboukir on the port side causing the cruiser to list and rapidly fill with water. Its captain gave the order to abandon ship, and believing it had struck a mine, called for assistance from Cressy and Hogue.
The enemy boat then fired torpedoes at HMS Hogue as her crew were lowering life boats to the crew of the Aboukir. Hogue sank in 10 minutes. U9 then sunk the Cressy, which had begun to flee.
As many as 837 survivors were rescued by British trawlers and Dutch merchant ships but 1,459 men, mainly reservists and cadets, died.
The expedition to survey the wrecks and lay the wreath was led by Dutch diver Bart Goedmakers.
John said: “The wrecks are in reasonable condition and we saw a quite a bit of ammunition lying around them along with a lot of cordite, which has taken the appearance of dried spaghetti.
"And strangely all three wrecks were home to a huge number of edible crabs.”
