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Posted

OK so the story goes like this. A few years ago I and my family went to an owl sanctuary here in Kent as my father had rescued a barn owl and needed advice. The bloke who ran the sanctuary, Derrick, was heavily involved in diving and had been doing it all of his life.

In the 60's he was diving for the Royal Navy off of the coast of Folkestone and he came across an anchor, not just any anchor, it was from a 2nd World War German ship... It has sat in the garden of his home since then having only had a coating of paint and some anti-corrosion coatings.

 

post-319-0-45390500-1373808241_thumb.jpg

 

Sadly, Derrick passed away a few years ago and his wife decided to sell most of the sanctuary and most of the antiques within their home. I bought a genuine German infantry dagger from her a few years ago, it had sat on the wall since Derrick purchased it many years before and I bought it to stop a dealer buying it to sell on. We have been helping her ever since we met Derrick and my father and mother had been at Derricks funeral also as they had become great friends.

 

We recently asked her about the anchor and she agreed to sell it to us so we could preserve it and stop it also falling into the hands of another dealer who was badly pestering her to buy it.

 

We picked it up today, and we are taking it along to the War and Peace show tomorrow to put on display on a friends stall.

 

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I am thinking of restoring it, the name of the ship it was from or the makers is on the anchor but its hard to read right now. The anchor also has Swastikas on it. But, this is 100% authentic and ultimately incredibly rare. I am trying hard to find as much info about the ship as possible as only Derrick himself knew the exact details but he never wrote any of it down. All we know is that it was brought up near Folkestone or Hythe here in Kent during the 1960's. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated so we can help track the ship it is from down. We have reason to believe it is from a Type II U-Boat, U12 to be exact, but Derrick said it was from a cargo ship. No idea.

  • Like 5
Posted

Excellent raf looks great

  • Like 2
Posted

Very nice Raf, what are the other markings on the anchor, only reference Iv'e seen for H.3 are for a cargo ship built in Poland

during WW2. Are you sure it's from a type 11B U-Boat .?. I believe the area between Folkstone and Dover is a graveyard

of sunken ships.?. Only three known type 11Bs sunk during 1939 were U-40 off the coast of Eastborne, U-12 and U-16 reported

sunk in that area around Folkstone to Dover, if the reports are correct. And all sunk in the month of October.

  • Like 3
Posted

Hi Kyle, I'm afraid to say it's not from a u boat but a British made ship.The swastika was the trade mark featured on anchors made by W.L.Byers & Co. Ltd. of Sunderland, in fact I think you can see the word Sunderland in the first picture, not from a u boat but still a nice item.

  • Like 3
Posted

Yes Kennys right this ones at Collingwood Museum Ontario Canadapost-3823-0-60453400-1373913536_thumb.jpg

  • Like 4
  • 8 months later...
Posted

Cannot believe I missed this, thanks all for the replies.

 

Does anyone know the story of why they used a Swastika on them? It had me fooled that's for sure! :)

  • Like 4
Posted

I think it was just a trademark RAF , I have seen swastikas on lots of metal items such as metal fences etc maybe made by the same company who made the anchor , must have been awkward when war broke out :mellow:

  • Like 2
Posted

It was/is a common symbol... here, good article recently about England and the Swatsika after some idiot decided to make a big deal about Swastikas in the pre-war era:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26369329

  • Like 4

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