The Grand Fleet scuttled

Paragraf 11, bestätigen.
Paragraph eleven, confirm.

That was the coded message, signalled round the ships of the German Grand Fleet, as they lay interned in Scapa Flow, Orkney, in June 1919. Over a period of several hours, the ships were sunk by their own crew. The commander of the fleet was under the misapprehension that peace talks, to formalise the end of the Great War, had failed, and his ships were about to be boarded. In the confusion that followed the order to scuttle, eight men drowned or were shot. They lie buried in the Lyness Naval Cemetery on Hoy, across the sound from Scapa Flow. Their graves are in the same cemetery as nearly 600 Allied servicemen, who died during World War 1 - such as the casualties from the sinking of HMS Hampshire off Marwick Head, which carried Lord Kitchener; and many more.

The Volksbund is the German counterpart of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and maintains wargraves of German servicemen across the world. The eight graves in Lyness are in their care, in collaboration with the CWGC. One of the remotest graves tended by the Volksbund lies in Hyskeir, a few miles west of North Uist.

I post the pictures of the eight German wargraves at Lyness, which I took there in October 2008.

In death all are equal.
Rest in peace
Ruhe in Frieden.


Eversberg died on 29 June 1919, not on the 21st.


His first name was Hermann


His surname should be spelled Beicke

Marina

In the basin across from my position, work has been afoot since the beginning of May to construct a marina. After various wrecks had been removed, hundreds of loads of aggregate (rock) were dumped. These were distributed into so-called bunds - which look like piers - from which a large digger would excavate the surrounding waters. The soil that was dug up is being used to build up a foundation for the marina. This still has got a long time to run, most of this year if not into 2020. Fascinating to watch, and fascinating to assess the effect of the tides. A lot of the bunds and other features currently in existence are submerged at high tide.

Construction of cofferdam for slipway
Shifting of soil and aggregate for construction and removal of bunds
Base for small slipway
Scoop

One bund being removed, another being constructed
Demolition of boathouse
Warning sign on Goat Island
Plant on Goat Island
Derelict boathouses
Safety first
Large tubes

The last boat removed from Goat Island
Breaking up of the Craignair