15 Years Ago

In KTB #6, one of our Members put our aim into perspective perfectly when he said he was glad SHARKHUNTERS existed:

"So we can talk freely about U-Boats together without that damned propaganda!"

He is British and knows all about the old propaganda. We had more on the fraud Roger Miklos and his lost U-Boat' sunk in the Caribbean which naturally was filled with all sorts of treasures - and which existed only in the mind of this guy trying to bilk money for his bogus expedition. He was one of the earliest con men trying to raise money to find sunken U- Boats that were totally fraud.

We were getting some good information toward solving the mystery of the U-Boats that were trying to reach Japan at the end of the war but in KTB #6, we did not have much information at hand.

There were rumors upon rumors of shipwrecks and submarines sunk, but none with any substance as we reported. One of the most idiotic story came from a series of articles which appeared in a Tampa newspaper in 1971 in which so-called experts claimed that U-166, which had been sunk off New Orleans, had somehow "attained neutral buoyancy" and had drifted to the mouth of Tampa Bay where they were afraid that the mercury ballast would poison the fish in the area. Mercury ballast is a sure way to spot an idiot who thinks he knows something about U-Boats. There was never any mercury ballast used in the U-Boats.

KTB #6 was five pages long and I guess, was a collections of goofy stories that we debunked at the time and now that we know so much more, it seems really idiotic that anyone would believe such foolishness - even though Thames Television did bite.

10 Years Ago

KTB #41 had more information about our 1st Annual Convention, which was held in Key Largo. I also learned that I had just received a nice promotion within the company where I worked (At that time, I handled SHARKHUNTERS in the evenings). I had been put in charge of all the offices in the Chicagoland area. We mentioned some of the Members who had articles published in SEA CLASSICS Magazine but then had to sue or at least threaten to bring suit before they could get their money -- I was one of them. We announced that TOM HATTON (20-+-1983) and his wife just had a baby girl, Jennie Anne. How could we know at that time that TOM's business would go bad, he was forced into bankruptcy, his wife and he divorced - and just a few years ago, TOM began his Eternal Patrol due to an incurable disease.

For a Valentine's Day surprise, I took my wife KAYCEE (161-LIFE- 1986) to the Bahamas where we chatted with many Members, including DENIS KNOWLES (36-1984), Sir ETIENE duPUGH (153-+-1985) and his lovely wife Lady duPugh -- their daughter Mrs. CARRON (1351985) at the Nassau TRIBE14. I'm sorry that we missed CRAIG SYMONETTE (41-1984) and ROSCOE THOMPSON (113-1985) who was at that time in Miami with a toothache. It is always a nice visit when we go to Nassau or anywhere in the Bahamas. STEVE TOMAN (70-1984) had just joined the US Navy as an eye doctor. We knew that two of the experimental Type XVIIA and XVIIB boats (powered by the Walter hydrogen-peroxide turbines) went to the Royal Navy at the end of the war for experimental purposes. We also know that the one named HMS EXPLORER by the RN was also known to her crew as HMS EXPLODER. Thanks to ROBIN BRANCH (198-1986) we learn that the other one, HMS EXCALIBUR was known to her crew as HMS EXCRUCIATOR. Something about turbine problems I'd guess.

We mentioned the three U-Boats that placed German spies/agents ashore in the USA and they were U-202, U-584 and U-1230. Despite other claims, we found no other U-Boats involved in such activities. We said that we should write a book about the way it really was aboard the boats and now, the book is a reality. We asked for direction from our Members how to take SHARKHUNTERS forward.

This issue was 12 pages long, still done on an old typewriter.

5 Years Ago

The front page of KTB #89 was another historic coup. It carried the actual oath taken by the U-BootFahrer who sailed against Spain on the side of Franco in 1936 under Operation URSULA. This operation was named for URSULA HESSLER (1339-1990), daughter of Kapitan (at that time) Karl Donitz. The men involved in this operation were not the regular crews of those boats and all had to swear the oath we ran on our front page, that they would not reveal any of these facts - ever! We also reported that several Italian submarines also participated in the Spanish Civil War.

We reported that U-1105 (the Black Panther) had been found. Once again it was UWE LOVAS (1022-1989) who found the boat. UWE has located quite a few lost submarines, German and American as well as other ships etc.

We continued with the US Senate files on the investigation of Standard Oil and why they continued to sell fuel to all sides - Japan, Germany, Italy etc. as well as America, Britain, Russia etc. The answers by William Stamps Farish, President of Standard Oil, and Walter C. Teagle, Chairman of the Board of Standard seem just too amazing to be believed - but it is all there in the Senate record. As most historians now know - the Luftwaffe got their fuel from Standard to bomb England during the Battle of Britain, the Brits got their fuel from Standard to defend their country, and because of an agreement between Standard and I.G. Farbenindustrie, some of the money the Brits paid for fuel to defend their country went back to the Hitler Government in the form of royalties through I.G. And of course, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they got their fuel from the reserves of Standard Oil. So much for patriotism.

We also ran more of the article by GrossAdmiral Karl Donitz entitled 'The Conduct of the War at Sea.'

KTB #89 was 28 pages long, and still done on that old typewriter.