Deep sea quest
Search continues for sunken mystery ship in North Cape
It’s a question of myth or reality for naval historians and hobbyists like Oliver Engel. What happened off the coast of North Cape, P.E.I. on May 7, 1943?
There were rumours of German submarines as well as Canadian and American forces in the area’s waters. But there didn’t seem to be a definite answer.
Engel started his search for answers in 2006.
“I was in Charlottetown and happened to come across a map of sunken ships off the coastline of the Island. But there was also a submarine with a question mark,” explained the German national who holidays in P.E.I. with his family every summer. He learned the submarine was possibly a German U-boat. Upon returning to Germany, after his holiday in 2006, Engel began to look for answers on the internet and through German resources.
“There is a department in the Northern part of Germany. They were very helpful. They gave me a lot of information including photos of the submarine and an original crew list,” said Engel. He also learned about a secret mission involving a German ship, prisoners of war and
an escape plan called Operation Elster (Magpie).
“There was a prisoner camp in Fredericton, N.B. At the time, German forces planned to hide in the waters off North Cape while the prisoners were supposed to escape. When they did, they would travel to that area of the Island, get on the ship, and return home.”
On his next holiday on the Island, Engel continued his
search. He studied literature about the war, the Island and diving.
He began to think maybe there really was something deep in the waters of North Cape. Eventually he made contact with an Ottawa man who had previously tried his hand at locating the sunken ship. He spoke of a naval exercise involving Canadian and American forces on May 7, 1943. From there, Engel worked on building a list of local contacts that might be able to help in the search. One fisherman from the Tignish area showed him an original book from a lighthouse keeper with an entry on May 7; a Canadian Corvette sank a German submarine.
That information solidified Engels’ desire to find out if there was indeed something there.
A newly purchased home has become a house full of treasures, as well as a little bit of mystery, for history enthusiast George Dalton.
Dalton and his wife Estelle have spent the past year renovating a former farmhouse on Beach Light Road just outside of Victoria.
While they bought the house partially for its historical quality, Dalton didn’t realize just how much heritage it contained.
He has since uncovered a number of intriguing antiques.
“This has been like a gathering of the artifacts,” said Dalton, a past president of the Summerside and Area Historical Society.
The most striking discovery came just over a week ago when Dalton and his grandson found an old cheesebox in the attic. With “quite a buzz” in the town, several members of the community and Dalton’s family gathered to see him open the sealed box.
Inside was a coat made of black Persian lamb fur, as well as matching mittens and a rabbit fur hat.
The items, which were all in “remarkable” condition, were also wrapped in a Montreal newspaper dated 1921.
“So that gives us a date of when the contents went into the box and we had a lot of fun opening it… it was like an Oak Island treasure,” said Dalton, with the discovery also raising some questions. “Why was it bundled up (for nearly 100 years)?”
The house, which was previously known as The Lea Home, was originally two structures located on the shoreline. The structures were joined together and moved to the present location in 1908.
Some of Dalton’s discoveries date back to before the 1900’s. He has found a number of receipts for wool and other items from the 1870’s, which are also in excellent shape.
Along with the receipts, Dalton also found two bags of wool clothing as well as a mahogany box containing a number of early rug-hooking tools.
“They’re very special because they’re very old,” said Dalton, noting that they also provide some valuable historical information. “The significance of this is that we’re able to see how big of a business wool was around the county here.” Another discovery has been a photo album containing pictures of the home’s previous owners as far back as the 1870’s. What makes the pictures notable is that every one contains detailed descriptions of the names and ages of those in the pictures.
Brenda Boudreau, chair of the Victoria Historical Society, said seeing those details was “amazing.”
“When you find an album of pictures with this much information on the back, that’s a real treasure,” said Boudreau. “With old photos you find in a box usually there’s no identification.”
Dalton said he is sorting through the discoveries and suggested possibly opening up the home to community members and tourists interested in seeing the items.
“The big benefit would be in the interest of the community and visitors who want to learn about our history,” he said, “This was a very historic home… and as Islanders, we’ve very compassionate about our history.”