A Lost Ship
A Lost Ship
The
salvage operation had been a complete failure. The small ship, Elkor, which had
been searching the Barents Sea for weeks, was on its way home. A radio message
from the mainland had been received by the ship's -90- captain instructing him
to give up the search. The captain knew that another attempt would be made
later, for the sunken ship he was trying to find had been carrying a precious
cargo of gold bullion.
Despite
the message, the captain of the Elkor decided to try once more. The sea bed was
scoured with powerful nets and there was tremendous excitement on board went a
chest was raised from the bottom. Though the crew were at first under the
impression that the lost ship had been found, the contents of the chest proved
them wrong. What they had in fact found was a ship which had been sunk many
years before.
The chest
contained the personal belongings of a seaman, Alan Fielding. There were books,
clothing and photographs, together with letters which the seaman had once
received from his wife. The captain of the Elkor ordered his men to salvage as
much as possible from the wreck. Nothing of value was found, but the numerous
items which were brought to the surface proved to be of great interest. From a
heavy gun that was raised, the captain realized that the ship must have been a
cruiser. In another chest, which contained the belongings of a ship's officer,
there was an unfinished letter which had been written on March 14th, 1943. The
captain learned from the letter that the name of the lost ship was the Karen.
The most valuable find of all was the ship's logbook, parts of which it was
still possible to read. From this, the captain was able to piece together all
the information that had come to light. The Karen had been sailing in a convoy
to Russia when she was torpedoed by an enemy submarine. This was later
confirmed by a naval officials at the Ministry of Defiance after the Elkor had
returned home. All the items that were found were sent to the War Museum.
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