Admiral Graf Spee

[vic mcclymont]

Two Uraguanian salvors sought permission from their government to raise the ship emblem, the golden eagle cutting the Swastika.
They have successful and the emblem is to be auctioned, government will get 50% rest to the salvors.
Vic

[Captain Kong]

In Montevideo on the Quayside is a few items from the wreck which sank not far from the breakwater, In 1958 it could be seen but has been demolished now. There are two anchors and that big object in the first photo./

I was on a cruise on the Queen Mary 2 when I took these photos all off the Graf Spee,
they have built a monument to it,
Cheers
Brian

[John F Collier]

Can remember seeing the topmost part of Graf Spee when going down to Montevideo, about 58/59, always think of that when I watch
The Battle of the River Plate film, cheers

[Robert Weeks]

IMG_0118.jpg

Perhaps more than most the Admiral Graf Spee has many intricate stories attached to it. As a boy growing up I little realized that one day it would become much more real. I was never lucky enough to have a ship I was on visit the Montivedeo area. My ships always seemed to go to places which were not quite so appealing. So it was that I one day found myself as chief officer on a ship in Mogadishu Somalia. We were discharging bagged Sorghum from on board barges. We were supposed to be there about eighteen hours, but ended up staying for over a month. It was a small ship, and we soon ran into food problems, rationing came in - but that took us just so far. Ultimately a german surveyor George Thiebeule helped us and we obtained a few items from other ships. His kindness was never forgotten, and my own career took me to the West Coast of the USA. Some years later I met George again, now working for Germanisher Lloyd in LA. A friendship was rekindled and it led to an introduction to Captain Ed James. Ed was a pretty clever guy, but he was not well by the time I met him. I helped him with a few things, and I expected no reward, it was just one of those things. I feared the worst when George called me and asked that I visit with Ed. When I got there Ed explained that he would like me to have his sextant. It was quite an honour, but what followed completely floored me. Ed explained that his brother had also been a Captain, and he had been on an American ship in Montivedeo Harbour in 1939. He was there when the Admiral Graf Spee came in. Some days later Captain Langsdorff came on board trying to sell a few pieces. At that time the US was not at war with Germany. He purchased Captain Langsdorffs sextant, he was assured that in fact it was Capt. Langsdorffs own personal sextant. It was a Plath. Some years later Ed was given the sextant by his brother. This was the sextant now before me. Ed had tried to confirm with Plath that it was definitely from the Graf Spee. They had replied that due to some bombing their records were not what they once had been, but the time was right. They also went on to say even if they were still intact they would not be able to confirm the sextant was in fact that belonging to Langsdorff. Ed handed me the letter, and he said the sextant was from my brother and he would not lie to me nor I to you - its Langsdorffs. Some months later Ed died, but he is a big part of the story, and I am very sure that I have the real sextant. Meanwhile its another part of the Graf Spee story, and I attach a photo of what I am firmly of the opinion is Capt. Langsdorffs sun gun.

[Richard Bailie]

A great piece of family history. Mine is no where as good as that. At the time December 1939 my Dad Len Davey was the Chef on the RMS Highland Chieftain. The Chieftain was being made use of by the R.N as a decoy to draw out the Graf Spee. Luckily the Chieftain made it to port without any mishap. I do remember at as a kid back in the 1950s there were two photos of the Graf Spee, at the time I had no idea of the significance of these photos. Dad never mentioned it at all otherwise The sixty prisoners on the Graf Spee were brought back to England by the Chieftain. There is an excellent website that gives a very good account of the incident. https://www.submerged.co.uk/montevideo-chieftain/

[Captain Kong]

I remember in the 50s seeing ex members of the Graf Spee in a bar in Buenos Aires.
One of them spoke to us, We were blond haired and he thought we were German.
A lot of them stayed in B.A. instead of going back and facing the war again.

[Keith Tindell]

I think i had posted before, i was on a South American Saint line ship in the late 50s, the St Merriel, i was SOS and apart from the deck boy, the deck crew were a mix of German , Dutch, and Belgium, and i got on fine with most of them, but there was one guy, Dieter, who would have been in his late 20s, and one ear missing, he did not mix very much with the other Germans, and while in BA always went ashore on his own, and never seen ashore, a mysterious figure. I have always wondered what he was up to. But BA in those days was also a brilliant run ashore, and we ate like kings, steak every night ashore, back home, apart from stewing steak, had never eaten anything like in BA, kt

[John F Collier]

Ditto to that Keith {apart from the one eared Jerry } had a great time at BA, I still think they had the best steak I've ever tasted,
in the daytime we would go to a stall on the dockside where the owner cooked fillet steaks on charcoal and put them in a bun they
were great, in the evening we would go to a restaurant called the Copper Kettle a great place to eat, we all used to order the same
thing "Beefy Completo" a huge steak salad and fries then on to the bars which I think were some of the best I've been in, before
we sailed I bought a whole fillet steak and put it in the cold room to take home, mum and dad had never had that before and it
was a pleasure to watch them eat it, I remember at the time I worked out the cost of the Beefy Completo to be one shilling and
ninepence, I can't remember the names of the streets and bars but can remember what they looked like. Anyway your post
reminded me of a thick cut sirloin steak in the freezer, it's on the side thawing out and tonight I'll have my own Beefy Completo , cheers

[vic mcclymont]

Carnarvon Castle, was converted to an armed merchant cruiser at Simonstown.
Following the conversion she had a set to with the German Ship Thor.
Carnarvon Castle gave Thor the slip and limped into Uraguay, under the Geneva Convention she could only be mad seaworthy.
Allegedly she was repaired with steel plates removed from the Graf Sleep.
Vic

[Captain Kong]

In B.A. the street of Bars was Calle Vienti Cinco de Mayo.
May Sullivans Bar. Texas Bar, Marina Bar, Lighthouse Bar and so on.
Now ALL GONE. just a street full of shops and offices, I was there recently, No Seamen ashore now, Number 4 Dock where we always docked is now a Yacht Marina, the sheds converted to apartments and restaurants. and very expensive.
There are a few Bars in La Boca further down the road that is all.
Below , a couple of Senoritas I met in La Boca, the wife dragged me away unfortunately.