Salvaging history

Torpedo net moved, headed for display

Aunique

piece of St. John’s military history has been saved. A massive torpedo net, deployed in The Narrows to protect against Nazi U-boat fire during the Second World War, was recently claimed by the Grand Concourse Authority.

The baffle — a weave of steel rings so large it was visible from a kilometre above on Google Earth — now sits in the trail network’s yard.

Part of it will be incorporated into a project at Deadman’s Pond.

“We’ll probably have a piece of it displayed on a wall or something. I don’t know yet for sure,” executive officer Addison Bown said.

The net sat in the White Hills for decades.

The Telegram ran a series of articles about it in fall 2010, trying to determine — among other things — how and why such a large object was moved from the harbour to the east end site.

Many questions remain unanswered, but more details could emerge through the Grand Concourse’s efforts.

Bown said a number of other organizations — including the Canadian Forces and the Crow’s Nest officer’s club — have been given pieces of the net.

That could prompt more information about what was part of an intricate defence setup that included two other torpedo baffles as well as a boom to prevent German submarines from entering St. John’s Harbour.

Bown said after he learned about the net, he wanted to save it.

He figured it would head to the metal recyclers as the federal government continued its cleanup of military debris in the White Hills.

“I said, ‘This shouldn’t go to recycling. This is history, so let’s get what we can out of it.’”

It took three days for the Grand Concourse Authority to remove the net with an excavator and a dump truck.

Bown said some of it was rusty and not much good, and the authority recycled other pieces to offset its costs.

The Rooms Provincial Museum is among the organizations that has obtained a piece of the net from the Grand Concourse.

A spokeswoman said the artifact was being prepped for display.

— Photo by Joe Gibbons/the Telegram A portion of the torpedo net recovered from the White Hills area now sits at the Grand Concourse’s storage facility in St. John’s.

— Photo above courtesy of The Rooms Provincial Archives Division A 54-67 Torpedo nets were placed at the entrance to St. John’s harbour to keep German U-boats from torpedoing ships docked on the harbourfront.

— Photo by Joe Gibbons/the Telegram The pile of rusting steel cable netting that once rested in the White Hills area of Pleasantville for many years has now found a new temporary home at the Grand Concourse Authority’s storage facilities in St. John’s. It was believed that it was once used as a Second World War torpedo net from The Narrows at St. John’s Harbour.