Two merchant vessels lost to U-boat
Elizabeth II heroes hailed as heroes
Manteo – Young John Moore noticed the strange object cutting through the water about 200 yards west of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse just after 8:00 p.m. The setting sun cast a long shadow behind what seemed to be an innocuous submerged steel pipe moving northwest at about 10 knots. Then Johnny realized that was no pipe.
“It were a periscope!” Moore told the OBX Report in an exclusive interview. “Just like in Call of Duty: Battleship! And I knew that could be meanin’ only one thing: Nazis.”
That “pipe” young Johnny spotted turned out to be a prelude to the most epic Throwback Thursday event the Outer Banks has ever witnessed. The Nazi U-boat, U-1055, presumed lost since April 23, 1945, had apparently been wandering the Atlantic for the past 70 years. A faulty radio on the sub had left the crew unaware of Germany’s surrender, and they’d continued to operate in the western part of the North Atlantic, sinking shipping in the area commonly referred to as the “Bermuda Triangle”.
As Johnny rushed to change the white over blue “Rain Warning” flag at the Manteo Weather Station to the black and red striped “Nazi Warning Flag,” U-1055 struck. Two torpedoes slammed into the starboard side of the Coy Mistress, a 35-ton pleasure craft, rupturing a spare gas can and sinking her with all hands on board. When reached for comment later, Penny Manfred, wife of the owner of the boat said “Good riddance to that bastard. I hope his hussy was right there with him.”
The U-boat changed course to intercept the Mighty Harry, a 2000 ton yacht hauling billionaires out of Tribeca. Captain Phil Oak gamely dodged the U-boat’s first salvo, but the second caught the Mighty Harry amidships, nearly tearing the vessel in half and sending it straight to the bottom of the Albemarle Sound.
U-1055, it’s torpedoes spent, surfaced to engage the sightseeing vessel Crystal Sunset with its deck gun, but by that time Johnny Moore’s Nazi warning flag had been spotted by the lookout of the Elizabeth II, a Victorian-era three master on a shakedown cruise with performers from the Lost Colony. Captain Stewart Parque ordered all sails set and moved to intercept at flank speed while the crew scrambled to load the Elizabeth II’s six 32 pound cannons.
A student of history, Captain Clark said later that the fate of the USS Cumberland when she faced off against the CSS Virginia was very much on him mind. But Captain Parque, also a film student, was also keenly aware of a design flaw in the Type VIIC U-boat, where a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port, led directly to the reactor system.
“I knew a direct hit would disable the U-boat, possibly even causing it to explode in a magnificent fireball,” said Captain Parque.
With the German sub closing fast on the unarmed Crystal Sunset, Captarin Parque steered the Elizabeth II into an optimal firing position. He ordered a broadside fusillade and the last 32 pounder found its mark, scoring a direct hit on the sub’s thermal exhaust port. The subsequent chain reaction indeed caused the U-1055’s reactor to detonate, sending pieces of the sub flying as far away as Manns Harbor.
With the danger past, the Elizabeth II immediately began lifesaving efforts to rescue passengers and crew of the stricken vessels who had not yet realized they could stand up and walk to shore.
At the next Manteo Town Council Meeting, the Mayor will present Certificates of Sincere and Everlasting Appreciation to Captain Parque and his crew, as well as the sharp-eyed Johnny Moore.