DARTMOUTH’S SUBMARINE LEGEND

Mud in 1921, but it is believed the vessel was never fully scrapped. Instead, it is thought to have been buried beneath thousands of tons of mud after the council bought the land and filled in the inlet to create the park.

Simon said: “We know that there was a torpedo boat there, but everyone assumed that it had been moved. Maybe it was stuck fast in the mud and they just left it there.”

Two University of Winchester experts who went hunting for a submarine believed to be buried beneath a public park may have found more than they bargained for.

Simon Ro ey, Reader in Archaeology, and David Ashby, who manages the University’s Soil Laboratory, were hoping to find traces of a First World War submarine when they travelled to Dartmouth.

The pair employed the University’s Ground Penetrating Radar in a corner of the town’s Coronation Park, which is believed to be the last resting place of the sub E52. They believe the GPR revealed outlines of what could be the submarine, but their investigations also showed another shape which is believed to be that of a German torpedo boat from the First World War. The craft appears to be lying east to west at right angles to what could be the submarine.

The submarine hunt was prompted by the research of Lt Thomas Kemp, a training o cer at the nearby Britannia Royal Naval College. Simon Ro ey, an ex-submariner who served five years in O Class subs in the 1980s, read about Lt Kemp’s research and o ered to help. After four years’ service E52 was sent to the breakers’ yard at Coombe