24 August 1942

24 August 1942 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

Weather: wind from 225°, 1 metre per second.

16:20: F.K. 19 grounded off the Casquets. The entire crew was saved. Secret material was recovered except for two E.S. cartridges [source abbreviation retained]. Subsequent investigation established the following.

On 24 August F.K. 19 and F.K. 22 were returning from Les Casquets to Alderney after collecting a radio petty officer and a radio station. Visibility was moderate to good, wind west-south-west force 2–3, sea 2, south-westerly swell. Les Casquets had been approached from the north-east.

At 16:08 F.K. 19 turned east and maintained that course until abreast of La Fourquie. At 16:13 the boat commander turned to south-east by south, compass course south-south-east. After seven minutes on this course F.K. 19 struck the La Fourquie rocks. The boat flooded within minutes and sank after drifting clear. It lay in about twenty metres of water; the tidal conditions made salvage impossible.

The diary attributes the loss to inattention despite the exceptionally difficult navigation, probably a late turn to south-south-east. Even if the tide had set the boat unexpectedly far east, the set should have been observable in clear weather with La Fourquie in sight. If the commander’s account were correct, the boat would have moved one thousand metres east after passing La Fourquie without its bearing changing. The diary states that care and consideration should have revealed this immediately.

The boat commander was Sonderführer (boatswain’s mate) Hans Brodersen, O 1643/39 E.S., previously considered among the flotilla’s most reliable commanders and familiar with the Casquets passage from at least thirty trips. Leutnant zur See Herdegen was aboard for familiarisation. F.K. 22 rescued the crew and recovered the secret material.

T-1022 Roll 2422, PG 37996, scan 0493.