Divers accused of theft at warship wreck

The BBC in England is reporting that two divers have been charged with stealing historical artefacts from the wreck of a Royal Navy warship, HMS Hermes. The WWI-era wreck was sunk by a German submarine in the autumn of 1914 and rests at the bottom of the English Channel.

Kent County Police, acting in partnership with other agencies in England and France, undertook an investigation into the theft of historic artefacts after a number of items on the wreck were reported to have disappeared in 2015.

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As a result of the investigation, 57-year-old John Blight and 56-year-old Nigel Ingram fell into police hands. A number of charges were laid for both and items totalling £16,000 were seized.

HMS “Hermes” was built in 1898, at the Scottish shipyard Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering in Govan. The ship measured 110 metres long and 16.5 metres wide. It developed a maximum speed of 20 knots.

The sailing of HMS Hermes came to an end in the Kaletan Strait, the narrowest part of the English Channel, when, on 31 October 1914, its paths crossed with the German submarine U-27. 44 crew members died.

Source: bbc.com, kentonline.co.uk, Photo: wikipedia.org