First ship sunk by Nazis found off Irish coast

THE first British ship to be sunk during the Second World War is believed to have been found on the sea bed off the coast of Ireland.

The transatlantic liner SS Athenia was torpedoed hours after Britain declared war on Germany, bringing what are believed to have been the country’s first casualties of the conflict.

David Mearns, a shipwreck hunter who found the location after searching for the vessel since 2005, said divers had yet to visit the wreck lying 650ft down, but he was nearly certain it was the Athenia, a 13,400-ton vessel that was lost with more than 1,418 passengers and crew.

He said: “I can’t put my hand on a Bible in front of a judge and say 100 per cent this is the Athenia, but all of my experience says it’s a very very high probability. I am 98 per cent-plus certain.”

The 525ft liner was bound from Liverpool for Canada on Sept 3, 1939, carrying passengers hoping to escape the imminent hostilities, when it was hit on the port side by a torpedo.

Neville Chamberlain made his radio announcement that “we are at war with Germany” shortly after 11am and the Athenia came under attack by a German U-boat.

Philip Gunyon, a survivor of the sinking, who was seven at the time, told The Daily Telegraph: “I have mixed feelings about the Athenia being found. It’s a monument to man’s folly, trying to settle arguments by fighting rather than talking.”