Ernest Cox and the raising of the German High Seas Fleet

Informed that such a monumental task was impossible, Ernest Cox managed to raise thirty-five of the fifty-two German ships scuttled at Scapa Flow.

No one noticed that Rear Admiral von Reuter was in full battle dress. Yet on the 21st June 1919, he pinned his medals to his chest and stepped onto the deck of the Emden. His orders had been carried to the other seventy-three ships by the Royal Mail — the postal boats unaware of the incendiary nature of the packages handed down from the flagship. Below, his men joked with the crew of the British supply craft laid alongside, even as semaphores and lamps spelt out the signal to the fleet. As von Reuter looked over his shoulder he saw men already abandoning their ships, and the Friedrich der Gosse pitch onto its side and descend into the Flow. Around him, the rest of the fleet followed suit, dipping into the sound as the British struggled to understand what was happening.

The German High Seas Fleet had been surrendered after the Armistice of Compiègne, and then interred at Scapa Flow pending peace talks. Though he had endured being held by the British for seven months, von Reuter’s honour dictated that he would rather see the whole fleet sink than let it be seized by enemy hands. So…