Sunk off the coast of Scotland over 90 years ago, the remains of a World War I German U-Boat have been discovered some 25 miles from Eymouth. The find was the result of five year search undertaken by Scottish divers Jim MacLeod and Martin Sinclair.
On March 10, 1915, U-12 was sunk with the loss of 19 crew, with 10 survivors, and the site of the wreckage has been declared a War Grave, and will now remain undisturbed.
U-12 had been targeting cargo ships on the east coast, ranging as far north as Peterhead. Having sunk one vessel on the night of the 9th, U-12 was tracked by three British destroyers, HMS Ariel, HMS Acheron and HMS Attack. The U-Boat was rammed by HMS Ariel as it dived, was forced to surface, and then shelled by two of the destroyers. The survivors surrendered, but the the event led to a Diplomatic Incident. Far their attacks on cargo vessels, the British treated their prisoners as pirates and placed them in solitary confinement. The Germans retaliated by submitting British prisoners to the same treatment, and the situation eventually had to be resolved by the Swiss.
A number of locations have been reported for the U-12 in past years, but none were ever substantiated by dives.
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The town of Eyemouth lies on the south east coast of Scotland, some seven miles north of Berwick Upon Tweed, and about an hour’s drive from Edinburgh or Newcastle, or about two from Glasgow or Carlisle.
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