Germination
October 29, 2009
Despite the fact that the German U-boat U-853, sunk May 6, 1945 seven miles east of Block Island Rhode Island, is a very popular New England dive site and is located pretty much at my door step, I’ve never really been a big U-boat history buff. There always seemed to be other shipwrecks in the area that were of more interest to dive or to try and find. One of the “more interesting” shipwrecks that captured my attention for well over five years was the Jennie R. Dubois (JRD). The JRD was a schooner that sank southeast of Block Island in 1903 only nineteen months after she was launched from my homeport of Mystic Connecticut. While everyone else was diving the “popular” wrecks we, “The Baccala Wreck Divers”, were out finding/diving other “small historic sites” and looking for the JRD. We finally did locate the JRD in 2007 and spent a great deal of time exploring and documenting her. As the excitement and work of documenting her wound down I started to think about our next project. One shipwreck that had been suggested to me by Tim Coleman, which he thought we should attempt to find, was the U-550. As mentioned previously I didn’t know much about U-boat history and the story of the U-550 was unknown to me, all I knew was that she was WAY off shore in DEEP water. I was used to working close to shore in less than 170 fsw and the U-550 was somewhere around seventy-five miles south of Nantucket Massachusetts in 300 fsw. This was no small project, so I just put it on the back burner.
As time passed a series of events transpired that brought my attention back to the U-550 and started me considering the project. A fellow rebreather diver and acquaintance of mine, Paul Blanchette, approached me at the 2009 Boston Sea Rovers dive show and asked if I had any interest in the U-550. He was putting a project together with Captain Zero (Joe Terzuoli), owner of the dive boat John Jack, and Garry Kozak to go out, locate, and dive the U-boat. Paul invited me to participate as a diver but I had to graciously decline because I felt my current skills and equipment were not at the level necessary to dive to 300 fsw safely. I talked with Paul about his plans a few times after that … with Garry on board and Paul heading up the trip, I was sure they’d find her.
The 2009 dive season turned out to be a tragic time for New England wreck divers. First in the spring we lost Paul while he was diving the Chester Poling and then one month later we lost Captain Zero on the Texel. It was a big loss for the New England dive community.
During the winter of 2009/2010 I was approached by a number of people who were interested in trying to find the U-550. I talked with a bunch of folks about the sub and started to do my own research on her. At some point during the winter, I’m sure over a beer, my good friend Jeff Godfrey said to me “I want to dive her, you need to find her for us”… after some hesitation I said “okay Jeff, I’ll see what I can do …”
From: Godfrey, Jeff
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 8:27 PM
To: Mark Munro
Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s dive
So it looks like the U 550 should be in about 360 feet of water
From: Mark Munro
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 8:29 PM
To: Godfrey, Jeff
Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s dive
Gotta find it first.
From: Godfrey, Jeff
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 8:31 PM
To: Mark Munro
Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s dive
How hard can it be and do you have enough cable and if not were can I buy more?