Daily Event for February 2, 2010


A little after noon on Feb. 2, 1917 the steel barque Garnet Hill was stopped by SMS U-45 east of Ireland. The 2,274 ton ship was built at Russell & Company in Glasgow in 1890 for J. R. Dickson & Company. She was sold in 1900 to J. M. Campbell and sold again in 1914 to M. A. Troberg, Mariehamn, Åland.

When she was stopped the crew were allowed to take to the boats, the ship was searched and sunk with charges. While this was something that happened hundreds of times during the war one thing stands out as a little strange. One of the crew, who claimed he was German, was taken aboard U-45. It has been speculated that the man was a spy who had somehow alerted the Germans to the route of the ship. I can not confirm if he was infarct a spy or not. The survivors were picked up the next day.

© 2010 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com





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