Dramatic Encounter at Sea

​The information concerning this incident comes from Percy Westrup’s early memories of Thorpe.

In the 1914 war soldiers were billeted in the dunes area of the village and barbed wire was spread along the beach. Fishermen were allowed access to their boats to go fishing for one hour before sunrise when a 20ft. Section of the wire was opened for them.

One early morning when fishing two miles off Aldeburgh we saw a boat approaching us and it became clear as it stopped by them that it was a submarine. A small searchlight was shone on them and one of the crew asked the name of the town he could see, we told him that it was Aldeburgh. Suspicions were aroused as the Orford and Southwold lighthouses were flashing so ascertaining their location should have been obvious. The submarine sailed off after thanking them leaving the fishermen even more suspicious, noting the identification markings on the craft did not look usual.

On arriving home the fishing boat skipper reported the incident to the Coastguard Watch House. Then next, the Chief Officer came over from Aldeburgh and thanked the fishermen for their information and reported that the submarine had been captured about twenty miles south of Felixstowe.

​The footnote to this was that the coastguard at Thorpe received the O.B.E., and the fisherman received ………. A thank you!