Читать книгу Into the Abyss. Diving to Adventure in the Liquid World онлайн

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In a patriotic gesture of defiance many of the German ships ran up the Imperial Navy ensign at their sterns. The prohibited white flags with their bold black cross and eagle had not been seen at Scapa Flow before. Others ran up the red flag, the letter ‘Z’ which in international code signalled: ‘Advance on the enemy.’

Noon. An artist, who had hitched a ride on one of the patrolling British Navy trawlers to sketch the assembled might of the interned German Fleet, noticed that small boats were being lowered down the side of some of the German ships, against British standing orders. Sixteen minutes later the first of the German ships to sink, the Freidrich der Grosse, turned turtle and went to the bottom.

The other ships in the Fleet also began to list as the water rushing into their hulls altered their buoyancy. For the last four days, Reuter’s trusted sailors had been fixing doors and hatches in the open position - to allow water to flood through the hull more easily. Seacocks were set on a hair turning and lubricated very thoroughly. Large hammers had been placed beside any valves that would allow water to flood in if knocked off. The sea valves were now opened and disconnected from the upper deck to prevent the British closing them if they boarded a ship before it went down. Sea water pipes were smashed and condensers opened. Bulkhead rivets were prised out. As soon as the valves and seacocks were open, their keys and handles were thrown overboard. They could never be closed again. Once the vessels had started to sink, they could not be saved other than by taking them in tow and beaching them.