Unknown WWII shipwreck discovered in Libya

[arebi]

Arebi tech diving team in Tripoli discovered WWII supply ship northeast of Tripoli, the wreck was about 90m long lie up in 58m depth, the bridge area mostly damage from what looks an explosion,
since August 2003, we have done several dive missions trying to identify the wreck, we collect some pit of pieces which lead us that this wreck could be German or Italian supply ship from WWII,
as well we discover a brass compass, after we left it to the surface and carefully clean it, a serial number and German written showed up .
her is some photos showing the compass and the serial no.

welcome any information could help to identify the wreck..

 

[arebi]

any notes about this !!! recoverd from the wreck...

 

[arebi]

Dose any body have any suggestions /comments/idea where the best sort of information about such wreck ?

thanks

 

[island_sands]

Dose any body have any suggestions /comments/idea where the best sort of information about such wreck ?

thanks

Arebi you could try Admiralty - they cover a lot of history.

http://www.ukho.gov.uk/
http://www.admiraltyleisure.co.uk/diveSite.asp (here you can submit the wreck details and they can give you information if they have it).

Keep up the great work!
Cheers
Sara

 

[arebi]

Its great to answer some basic questions on unidentified wrecks..
I appreciate the ongoing efforts and the great time spent on the research, it was a wonderful discovery.

My first visit to the wreck site was in August 2003 when the wreck was unknown, on my 4th dive I observed a brass porthole and other loose artifacts strewn across the deck, more importantly I found and recover brass compass after wiping away the encrustation it appeared with name…Berlin as shown in photo, as well a small food container recovered from inside the storage room had dated 1941.
This information was very beneficial, and helped to support that the wreck was German.

We get very important information from the UK admiralty of course after we have bayed!!!! Pounds for that info:-
A German ship that was sunk in the seam area during WW2 ,bombed by British carrier based aircraft, the ship dimensions around 86m long, resting at 60m depth.

All this information matches the wreck that we have discovered…
Ship name: ACHAIA steamship, built 1921, owned at time of loss by Atlas Levante-Linie.

We still work in collecting more information, welcome any information covering the story of the wreck..

Arebi

 

[island_sands]

Hey well done! Keep us posted on your updates. It would make a great article to write.

 

[arebi]

“It’s such an amazing world diving deep down there; People who haven’t done it can’t appreciate it.

The compass, portholes, plates and other artifacts recovered from the Achaia following the wreck's discovery by my group in 2003 are being held by us as finders and salvage of the wreck.

Arebi

 

[basilisladias]

Hi there! Do you have any pictures of the wreck itself?

 

[arebi]

Hi

this is a photo from our last expedation to the wreck..

Thanks..
Arebi

 

[agbiv]

The compass having German writing on it could be a ship from any/many nations since the instruments were widely sought out due to their being superiorly made & of excellent function.

Again the porceline cup doesn't indicate German ship identity because many ships could have had dinner service from Germany.

The tilsiter label is for a type of cheese from Switzerland or Prussia.

Add it all together and your wreck is probably German. :friday

 

[arebi]

on our last deep dive expedition on the SS Achaia wreck in Libya,

we discovered a German army water bottle, as we lifted up and clean it, we found a code number on the cup.

the code is : ESB 40.

what could this code reference to?

appreciates your comments….

Thanks... Arebi ​

 

[agbiv]

Place of manufacture and year (1940). You'll have to research the manufacturers to get the name. The WM is for WehrMacht.

 

[arebi]

thanks, check this..

Arebi

 

[agbiv]

Body of the canteen made in 1939 most likely and the cup/complete unit in 1940. You might try WW II reenactment sites because they reproduce such articles w/ a keen eye for accuracy. Someone there would be in the know for the exact meaning behind the stamps.

 

[arebi]

Thanks... very useful info.

P.S: last post picture was just a reference photo (not our photo) as it carry the same code number.

this is the canteen and the cup we recovered from the wreck ( after cleaning).
other items will be posted soon as we clean it.​

reg. Arebi..​

 

[agbiv]

Now that really looks like from Neptune's lair. Good luck on your research. Weapons or ammunition would be a dead give away.

 

[Tody]

on our last deep dive expedition on the SS Achaia wreck in Libya,

we discovered a German army water bottle, as we lifted up and clean it, we found a code number on the cup.

the code is : ESB 40.

what could this code reference to?

appreciates your comments….

Thanks... Arebi ​

ESB 40 means "Ed Sommerfeld Berlin", the company which has the patent for this bootle cup assembly.

 

[Tody]

thanks, check this..

Arebi

On the neck of the bottel u can see VDNS this means "Vereinigte Deutsche Nickel und Stahlwerke". united nickel and steelcompany the manufacturer of this bottle.

Tobi

 

[agbiv]

And Tobi comes in with the gold plated information! Wonderful. :friday

 

[Tody]

I'm german so it's rather easy for me to search german "historic" pages for the informations u need.

:fridayTobi