“All The News That Is Fit To Print” is the motto of a great American newspaper -- I think it is the New York TIMES but I could be wrong. Other newspapers seem to have adopted this great motto but with a change or two here or there, and now it comes out “All The News That Will Sell Papers!” It seems that Boston has a real head start in this direction, as their newspapers are constantly reporting some unknown ‘explorer’ finding a hitherto unknown German U-Boat wreck in places where none exist.

Recently, the Boston GLOBE ran a story about a guy named Greg Brooks in which Brooks feels certain that he and his group have located the wreck of U-233 in Casco Bay in Maine. I wrote to the GLOBE and to Brooks and asked how they think they found this boat when it is clearly documented by the US Navy that U-233 was sunk nearly 1,000 miles east of Halifax by planes from USS CARD (CV-11) with surface assist from USS BAKER (DE-190) and USS THOMAS (DE-102). They picked up 30 of the crew of U-233 as it sank, so the Navy does not THINK they sank U-233, they KNOW what boat they sank, and they know exactly where they sank it. The local story that U-233 possibly shot down the Blimp K-14 but was damaged, then limped to Casco Bay and quietly sank with all on board is not only wrong, it is idiotic to believe that any sub would merely lie on the bottom and let the men just die. The official report on K-14 is that she simply crashed - and that indeed is what happened. Further, to think that anyone’s submarine would sit a few hundred feet off an enemy coast to listen to their music as the newspaper reports, is just plain stupid yet the paper that prints such foolishness lends credibility to a story that is just a repeat of old and false wartime rumors.

We have been told by one of our Members that Brooks is seeking financial assistance in the amount of $3,000 per investor. Keep your money in your pocket - there is no U-Boat there. And to the GLOBE let me say once again - check your stories before inking a lot of foolish nonsense and looking foolish in the process.

When such unconfirmed stories are published, it takes away from the honor and credibility of these newspapers but more important, it allows well-meaning but ill-informed people to extract money from investors who think they will gain a portion of all the gold and treasure the ‘discoverer’ is sure is on board - but isn’t. Further, it also allows unscrupulous people to scam money from investors as well. But worst of all in my opinion, is the awful bastardization of the true and accurate history because newspapers just want to sell papers and some ‘explorer’ wants his fifteen minutes of fame - all with no foundation. Those who suffer the most pain are the widows and families of the men in the U-Boats who think their loved ones remains will be desecrated and they are given additional pain when none is warranted - since the ‘discoverer’ really has nothing but wishes and hope, but no U-Boat.

From The West Coast

We’ve reported on that group made up of veterans of USS KEITH who have flooded the airwaves on such shows as ‘UNSOLVED MYSTERIES’ with crazy claims such as their first one that USS KEITH sank an unknown U-Boat off San Francisco and of course, it was full of gold. Despite our telling them there was absolutely no chance of a German U-Boat being on the west coast of the US, they continued and were featured on ‘UNSOLVED MYSTERIES’.

I guess they finally got tired of being told there were no German U-Boats off the US west coast, so they changed their story - they all appeared again on ‘UNSOLVED MYSTERIES’ with sad faces because they now believed they sank an American submarine! The US Navy told them this could not possibly be, since there was no American boats lost anywhere near San Francisco, but they decided the Navy was trying to stall the investigation because they were embarrassed that a US Navy destroyer sank a US Navy submarine. No, they did not sink a German U-Boat full of treasure and they did not sink an American submarine by mistake.

Their latest trip into the world of fantasy is their thinking that this was neither a German U-Boat nor an American submarine, but a lost Japanese submarine that (they say) lost a float plane on the beach at Santa Monica not far from the secret air base (they say) that the Japanese had on the California coast! Back to ‘UNSOLVED MYSTERIES’ with this one. If these guys were young people, we would wonder what they were smoking. Since they are quite old, there are other possibilities for these ramblings.

They publish a little newsletter which is supposed to tell about their explorations and discoveries, but this latest only tells that they could not get their boat in the water because Bill got it there too late and the tide was down; bad brakes on the trailer; missing plank on the boat (someone will be looking for that one soon); new bottom paint; USS KEITH reunion; members passed away; they got a new radar from one company and a new prop from another; they can’t find a parking place in the park for their camper; they need money - four pages of everything BUT looking for and/or finding any missing submarine from anyone’s Navy.

Now that the GLOBE has reported that Brooks ‘found’ U-233, one of this group is very excited. They realize there were a total of 8 of these big TYPE X-B mine-layers produced and since one has been ‘found’ in Casco Bay, there are only 7 left to find - so they believe. They say they have no idea where these ‘lost 7’ boats are, so they think their ‘phantom U-Boat’ may be one of these.

Between these guys on the west coast, the ‘explorers’ in New England, the newspapers in Boston, ‘UNSOLVED MYSTERIES’ etc., I believe they could find a U-Boat in the Sea of Tranquility! What ever happened to accuracy, honor and honesty?