The Voice from Beyond the Grave
Hello, Rupert lad. Sorry things are so cloak and dagger but you are the only one I trust. You must tell even your mother nothing. The others are afraid of John … and we cannot trust him. I found him going through my desk the other day just as he found my research book. I don’t know what he found out but I suspect … yes, but enough of that just now.’
In the eaves of the old barn, Laura’s torch provided the only light. Drew was by the shutter, keeping half an eye on the field and the distant farmhouse. The crackly, almost supernatural voice of Admiral Bertram Dewhurst-Hobb held them spellbound.
‘I have kept a secret for more than sixty years. Sorry to lay this on your shoulders but I know you can deal with it.
Many years ago during the Second World War, I captained the submarine HMS Indomitable. In early 1945, a few months before the war ended, we received orders to hunt a German U-boat. We located it on our radar and gave chase.
Eventually, it surfaced off the Horns of Lucifer. It was an easy target for our torpedoes. Some of the Germans got ashore, others could not get out in time.
I ordered Indomitable to surface and sent dinghies ashore to capture the rest.
There was a fight and some men died. Eventually, the last few surrendered. Officer prisoners were taken to the Manor. The old house was used as a prisoner of war camp.
A day or so later, I interrogated them.
The German commander was Kapitan-Leutnant Jurgen Kraus. He was no jackbooted Nazi, just an ordinary officer. He quickly earned my respect by the way he stood up for his men.
Important to understand that not all the Germans were bad … Far from it.
Kraus said a high-ranking member of the Nazi Party, General Karsten Himmel, commandeered his boat and ordered him to sail to South America. Many of the Nazi High Command tried to escape at the end, knowing they were for the hangman’s rope once they were captured by the Allies.
Himmel had some crates brought aboard with him. He refused to tell Kraus what was in them.
When our sub joined the chase, Himmel ordered Kraus to put him ashore so he could escape. The closest place was the Horns of Lucifer, a group of rocks so jagged and treacherous that you cannot get a boat close. Nobody in their right mind tries to land there. But Himmel forced Kraus to do it.
The U-boat surfaced. Himmel ordered four of the crew to take his crates into the caves. Nobody else was permitted to see what they were doing. Kraus went up to the conning tower and heard shots being fired in the caves.
At that precise moment, the first of our torpedoes hit the U-boat and all hell broke loose. Himmel came running out but none of the others reappeared. He had shot them all to ensure their silence.
The U-boat eventually sank a few hundred yards off the Rocks.
Himmel was one of five officers we took prisoner. There is a photo in my study of them.
He is the one in the middle. I questioned him next.
He was cold, arrogant. I am haunted still by the memory of his eyes, filled with contempt and inhumanity. He just stared at me, silent. I have to admit it was intimidating. I have never come face to face with such evil.
Later I interviewed a wounded young sailor, Werner von Krankl, not much older than you. He was terrified. He was one of the men sent ashore with Himmel. They dropped a crate and it split open. He saw the contents but was too scared at first to tell me what it was. Himmel went crazy, shooting Werner’s companions dead but although Werner too was shot and wounded in the leg, the torpedo hitting the U-boat saved his life. It distracted Himmel long enough for him to hide. Even though we captured him without Himmel knowing, he was terrified Himmel would still get to him and kill him.
Now the crux of my secret. British Intelligence knew about Himmel and his cargo. I was given orders to sink the U-boat and recover the cargo ...the German crew was, they used the word ‘expendable’ …Things are not always honourable in wartime. It was not an order that I felt able to obey. So I …misunderstood it.
And due to another ‘misunderstanding’ about where this precisely happened, the cargo was never recovered. The German captain and I made a solemn vow that the location would remain secret. I did not tell the incident inquiry. We both told them that the location of the U-boat was some distance from where it actually was. We told no-one about the Horns of Lucifer. Some may call this a lie. I think we served a greater truth.
The British sent divers to the location we gave for the wreck of the U- boat but of course found nothing. Now the official papers have been released, other people know it is to be found, but not where.
The father of one of my men came to me in 1945 to ask me how his son died. I told him the true story, the one I had not told the authorities. I asked if there was anything I could do for him. He said ‘Do not let them disturb this grave. Too many lives have been lost. The gold should lie at the bottom of the sea with the dead for all eternity. No treasure can be as rich as my son was to me …’
Kraus and I resolved to meet after the war and do as my crewman’s father had asked.
In 1948 he returned to England to help me. We found the cave and the crates but our boat was holed on the rocks and we had to be rescued. Kraus went back the next night in another boat. I was due to meet him the next day but I never saw him again. I went back to the caves but there was no sign of any crates or anyone. I searched and even went to Germany years later, but found no trace of him. He was from Leipzig which fell under Russian control after the war, and no westerners were allowed there. I cannot believe he took the cargo for himself. There has to be another explanation.
For over sixty years I have kept this secret. I could tell it to nobody. But now the wound has been re-opened. Men, bad men, are on the trail. Rupert, you must act for us now. The cave is on the island known as The Claw. Whether there is anything left now, I do not know. You must follow the trail to the gold. If you find it, throw it to the bottom of the sea.
Say a prayer too for the young men we buried, will you?
It will not be easy but I know you can do it. You do not have much time. Be on your guard. You will need help, find the man in the wheelchair.
Keep this to yourself, trust nobody.’