Britain at Low Tide
 

Did anyone see the Channel 4 programme last night at 7 pm? It was about local history/archaeology of the coast and started with Northumberland. It dealt with Beadnell and the possible remains of an old pier and chapel, as well as discussing the lime kilns and the fishing industry; then on to a 1913 shipwreck off Howick of a French steam trawler; finally the creation of a swimming pool at Howick by Earl Grey. Very interesting.

Yes , I watched it again as it was a repeat . It had been shown before , last year I think . Very interesting it was . I love Howick and the walk along the path to the bay . Lovely place.

It is a very nice place. I see the episode is on the c4 player, I'll watch that tonight.
We have some photos somewhere on here of the French ship's boiler on the rocks.

Do they mention the submarine? I know it's in very shallow water and in bits. (perhaps not above the low water mark though) I've intended going up for a paddle to see if anything is visible - not got around to that yet.

edit: Tadorne boiler

Didn't mention the submarine. They stood in front of the boiler and it absolutely dwarfed them.

Walked to the boiler and it is big! The crew's graves are at Howick Hall church.
There is virtually nothing to find of the submarine now unfortunately.

What's the story behind the submarine then?

The programme showed a photograph of the crew being buried, pouring with rain. Apparently Countess Grey had the photos taken to send to the families in France.

Well, isn't that interesting. Thanks Hollydog :)

Thanks. Quite a bit larger than I imagined.
Collings book on NE Shipwrecks states that the boat was attempting to sight the coast to fix their position, cleared a fog bank and immediately ran into the beach at 10 knots.
The wreck was part dismantled by the Royal Navy in the following months. A second round of stripping by salvors and locals occurred in 1938. Allegedly the conning tower was made of phosphor bronze. At some point after this it was blown up, and the wreck now lies scattered over a large area.

I wasn't aware there had been fatalities. I'll have to visit that war grave in Longhoughton some time.

Had a look on the NE war memorials site, no mention, as far as I can see, of anyone from the submarine. I'll have a look at CWG next.

George Philip Back, telegraphist, aged 19. HMS Lucia. South west corner of graveyard.

Pliny Foster, Plymouth Naval Memorial, stoker 1st class, aged 28. HM S/M G11.

Papers for those two at FMP:

Back

Foster (bottom half of page)

Both show HMS Lucia, that being the depot ship the Sub was allocated.

I just twigged the date of death which came after the official end of WW1. Presumably a watch still had to be kept for German subs which may not have been aware that the war had ended?

Yes a post Armistice event. Could be patrolling for German stragglers, plus the Allied intervention in Russia (Archangel Expedition to support the White Russians) was really kicking off at this time - they could have been deployed in relation to that, as I imagine there would be a good number of Military transports going up and down the North Sea. Whether there was any chance of a Bolshevik threat to allied shipping I do not know! (The Wikipedia page says they had been out to the Dogger Bank)

Papers don't have much detail on the sinking that I can see: