This is not a tale of a ship cursed to sail the sea for eternity but the story of a German Submarine from the first world war which seemed to be cursed from the start. The story is apparently backed by no less than the official documents of the German Navy - 1916 to 1918. The U-65 was one of a class of 24 U-boats especially designed to operate from the ports of occupied Belgium during the First World War.  Her active service complement was 3 officers and 31 ratings. The U-boat’s keel was laid at the naval dockyard at Wilhelmshaven in June, 1916, and from the first ill luck was to dog her.

Her first victim was to die within a few days of the beginning of her construction, when a heavy metal girder, being lowered into position in the hull, slipped from the crane tackle and crashed down onto the partially-built boat, killing one of the German workmen instantly. A second workman was to die in hospital a few days later as a result of injuries sustained in the same accident.  An inquiry into the accident found there had been no faults in the chains used to hoist the girder, and officials were mystified as to what could have caused it to snap free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next tragedy was to occur a few months later when three engineers died in the after engine room after seemingly succumbing to poisonous fumes. The after engine room's door had suddenly and mysteriously shut and could not be opened by hand.

The door had to be cut open and the three men who had been working in the compartment were found asphyxiated .  Carbon monoxide was ruled out since the motors were not running, chlorine gas from the batteries was ruled out since she was high and dry in the dry-dock.  More surprising, when the door had been opened there had been sufficient oxygen in the room to exist. The high German naval officers and scientists forming the investigating committee could not even make a determination on what gas did kill them. A total of five men had already been killed before the boat had even put to sea.

On her sea trials further disaster struck the U-65 when a seaman, sent forward to inspect hatches, was swept overboard and lost. The sea trials went without further incident until the captain gave the order for the U-65’s first dive. Instead of levelling out at 30 feet, as the captain had ordered, the boat sank to the bottom of the sea following a fracture in one of the forward ballast tanks. Flood water reached the giant batteries and by the time that the U-65 had finally emerged from the depths again, inexplicably freeing herself from the sea bed after being trapped there for 12 hours, the whole crew were suffering from the effects of toxic fumes created by the flooding of the batteries. Two men died in hospital shortly after being got ashore. Even before the U-65 was commissioned, eight men had been killed as a result of incidents on board her.

Finally in early February, 1917, the U-65 was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy and placed under the command of Oberleutnant Karl Honig, an officer with great experience in the German U-boat service. It was not long before he was to experience at first hand the ill luck that surrounded his new command. Whilst torpedoes were being loaded prior to the U-65 going out on her first patrol, a warhead slipped from its loading sling and exploded, killing the Second Officer and eight seamen. Nine other seamen were seriously wounded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why did the torpedo slip from the slings?  Why did the torpedo explode since it must run a certain distance before arming itself?  The answers were hard to come by as in her other accidents. Whilst the U-boat was being towed back into dry-dock for repairs, a seaman, in complete hysteria, swore that he had seen the ghost of the Second Officer standing on the prow, his arms folded. Another seaman, a man called Petersen, claimed to have seen the same ghostly officer. The day before the U-65 was to set out on her first patrol, Petersen deserted.

At last, after a total of 17 men had been killed on the U-65, she was sent out on her first active service patrol. During the course of the patrol several seamen reported having seen the ghost of the Second Officer and on one occasion the Duty Officer was found sobbing hysterically on the bridge after having seen the same figure standing on the prow. Three seamen, who had joined the boat at Zeebrugge, were to see the figure before they had had time to be warned that the boat was haunted.

In February, 1918, after a patrol in the Dover Straits, and after several further sightings of the ghostly officer, including one occasion when he spoke with one of the seamen in the forward torpedo room, the U-65 docked at Bruges. The crew were only too thankful to have reached dry land again, even though the docks were under attack from British aircraft at the time. Oberleutnant Honig, who had decided to chance the raid and make his way to the Officers’ Club, was just leaving the boat when he was decapitated by shrapnel as he walked down the gang-plank. His headless body was carried back on board the U-65. That night nine men, including an officer, were to see the ghost of the Second Officer standing beside the canvas shroud of the captain’s corpse. At this the crew, to a man, requested a transfer from the U-65 and the boat was placed into reserve at Bruges. A German Naval Padre, Pastor Franz Weber, conducted a service of exorcism.

By June, 1918, U-boat losses were becoming a strain on the German Naval Command and the U-65 was ordered to be prepared for patrol duties. On 30th June, she set out on what was to be her last patrol. Early in the morning of the 10th July, the U.S.submarine L-2 was patrolling nine miles off the coast of Cape Clear, in Ireland, at periscope depth. The American captain was studying the scene around him when he sighted a German U-boat moving slowly on the surface. It was the U-65.

The American moved his submarine into the attack position and was about to give the order to fire two torpedoes when there was a shattering explosion that ripped the U-65 from stem to stern. The captain was later to report that immediately before the explosion he was amazed to see the solitary figure of a German naval officer standing on the prow of the U-boat.

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