The dollar ship treasure

Hi Hardluck,

the information I have comes from "The Gower Coast", book by George Edmunds and I quote:

"Wreck No 78 - U Boat 1940
... The computer printout supplied by the Wreck section of the Hydrographic Department of the Navy give its approximate position as: Lat N 51 32 12.00. Long W 004 08 24.00. This would place it about half a mile of the Point. Despite many divers in the area, to my knowledge nobody has yet found and dived on this wreck. I am not surprised, as the man who sank it, Skipper George Lilley, RNR, was a lot further off Oxwich Point than half a mile when he did.
Patrolling in the Channel on Easter Monday 1940, he said the submarine rose right off his port beam. He put a shot into her and her bows rose vertically some 10 feet out of the sea. He fired another shot into the bows and the submarine sank like a stone. He regretted not being able to capture her whilst disabled, but felt ho could take no risk of letting her get away. There were no survivors. No Latitude or Longitudinal position unfortunately, but he did say he was 4 miles SE of Oxwich Point."

Perhaps this is the same skipper who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1940:

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Then the ship which sunk this U Boat would be HMT Kirkella:

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Posted on: January 26, 2011, 11:10:05 AM

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P.S. In March 1940 there were three recorded U Boat losses, but none on 24.03 which was Easter Sunday in that year. The closest match would be U44, which is now listed as lost 13.03 but previously thought to be lost around 20.03
There is of course another possibility, that this U Boat was hit but not destroyed and somehow managed to return to base. Skipper Lilley was however certain of the kill.. Until solved it will be yet another Gower mystery

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,17509.msg139764.html#msg139764

		Quote:			Posted by hardluck
	Hey Phil Harris and Metal detective have you ever detected along the coast near Dunraven? Hardluck

I didn't yet but it does look interesting. Trouble is that Gower offers so much that it's not easy to find the the time for anything else
And you are absolutely right - the amount of undiscovered shipwrecks must be staggering. Unfortunately I don't dive so can only look for the bits washed ashore..

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,17509.msg139987.html#msg139987

any chance,when your down nr the blue pool,and collect a few tele numbers off caravans advertising for hire,and pm, them to me,thanks

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,17509.msg148974.html#msg148974

Hello Colin Have you read all of the postings on this subject. I think a few places have been mentioned

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,17509.msg152184.html#msg152184

looking to see if eny body nows of a ship that went down on the welsh coast in the swansea bay erea.called the eldorado witch sank in 1691

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,17509.msg264128.html#msg264128