In the final months of the war, the Hel Peninsula served as a sort of way station for German refugees heading west.Ships from Pillau (Piława) or Gdynia would sail to the Hel roadstead and pick up additional refugees there (at one point, there were 200,000 German refugees on the peninsula), and then continue on to Świnoujście or Kiel. Since the port of Hel could not accommodate such large ships, this operation took place at the roadstead. All of this happened on the northern side of the Hel Spit to avoid Soviet attacks. This method was already used after the Russians captured Gdynia and Gdańsk, i.e., at the end of March and in April 1945. This ensured the ships’ safety and protected them from shore fire.
Of course, this did not provide effective protection against Soviet aviation, which at that time practically dominated the Gulf of Gdańsk. The Soviets regularly bombed the ships at the roadstead throughout April, sinking some of them. The wrecks of these vessels remained in the water for a long time. After the war, a few were salvaged and returned to service, such as the Albert Jensen, raised by the Soviets and sailed for many years under the name Professor Popov, or the Emily Sauber, salvaged by PRO and incorporated into the Polish fleet as Kielce.
However, the wrecks of three ships - Moltkefels, Nettelbeck, and Posen - remain on the seabed to this day. They can even be spotted on Google Maps, lying at depths of 3 to 5 meters near the shore.
The remains of the Nettelbeck, mistakenly referred to as “two in one,” have for years been a popular diving destination from Hel. Why “2 in 1”? Because the first divers who discovered it over 30 years ago thought it was a steel shipwreck resting on the wooden wreck of a sailing ship. In reality, it is a single metal vessel with a large amount of wood from its deck.
The story of its sinking was described in detail by the captain himself, Daniel Devaux, who appeared in Gdańsk in 2005, requesting the opportunity to organize a dive to his shipwreck while recounting the events of the disaster: the Nettelbeck left Pillau on January 25, 1945, under tow (during Operation Hannibal, the Germans used all available vessels to evacuate refugees from East Prussia, even those that were not fully seaworthy). After passing the Hel Spit, the weather worsened, causing the ship to break free from the tow line and run aground. The crew fought the elements all night and eventually, using a so-called Tyrolean traverse, managed to rescue all 149 passengers, including 60 children, as well as the 29-member crew. It was truly a remarkable achievement under such difficult conditions.
The stories of Moltkefels and Posen are slightly different. Both ships were waiting to be loaded and were sunk by Soviet aircraft. On them, 500 and 277 people respectively lost their lives. The story of the Moltkefels was already covered last year ( more information here), and afterward, residents of the peninsula contacted us, remembering its history well.
The Posen, at the end of the war, served as a hospital ship and was sunk in that role. Its wreck remained buried for many years, which complicated its location and identification. Last year, storms revealed it, and we can admire its remains in fantastic multibeam images produced by the Maritime Office, represented by Jacek Koszałka.
Compiled by: Tomasz Zwara, Tomasz Stachura / Baltictech
Team:
Tomasz Stachura
Tomasz Zwara
Piotr Cybula
Maciej Marcinkowski
Bartłomiej Pitala
Łukasz Pastwa
Krzysztof Harbul
Wojciech Drzazgowski
