The Saxon Briton (Wreck)

 place with historical importance, First World War 1914-1918, shipwreck, interesting place, draw only border

Two of the crew of the 1337 ton Saxon Briton died when they were torpedoed without warning by U-55 on 6 February, 1917, and the rest were lucky to survive. This was not simply because they were carrying a full cargo of petrol in special tanks from Portishead to Calais, and these failed to explode into flames when the torpedo struck, but because the commander of U-55 was Wilhelm Werner.

Kapitanleutnant Werner was the most savage of all the U-boat commanders. He well deserved the title of "the Killer Captain," and had earned his evil reputation for murdering the survivors of the ships he sank.

He had first appeared on the British List of War Criminals for sinking without warning the steamer Clearfield in October 1916.

His next appearance on the list was when he sank the 3570 ton liner Artist in January 1917, killing all 35 of her crew. Another entry on the list four days later refers to an attack on the little fishing smack Trevone, killing both aboard by gunfire.

Werner found the Saxon Briton just three miles north-east of Gurnard's Head a week later. He sank the 250ft long petrol-carrier, but stayed off the War Crimes List on this occasion.

His next appearance as a war criminal came after he sank the steamer Torrington on 8 April, 1917. The only witness, her captain, told how Werner lined up 20 surviving members of his crew on the casing of his submarine, ordered him below as a prisoner of war, and then dived the U-boat to drown all the remaining crewmen of the Torrington.

Werner was believed to have killed other crews in the same way, but his only other appearances on the list were for attacks on two hospital ships. He was expected to be given a death sentence when his case came before the German Supreme Court in Leipzig in 1921, but the whole war-crime trial system collapsed that September.

The worst of all the U-boat war criminals was never brought to trial. And no one knows why Werner left the scene of the sinking of the Saxon Briton without murdering the men in the boats or in the water.