The story of the genius scrapman who raised Hindenburg, the giant of German fleet

This picture from our archives captures the moment of triumph for Midlands scrap man Ernest Cox, who owned a significant part of the German Navy in the 1920s.

The trouble was, it was at the bottom of the sea.

In the world’s biggest maritime salvage operation, he brought up the ships one by one.

But this behemoth of the deep fought back and it took him years to land this particular “catch.”

The raising of the Hindenburg was an epic feat which sealed his reputation.

The story began on June 21, 1919. The German fleet had languished for months at anchor at the British naval base of Scapa Flow in the Orkneys while the victorious Allies decided what to do with it.

Rear Admiral von Reuter hatched a secret plan to, as he saw it, save the honour of the German Navy. On that day he sent out a secret signal to scuttle the fleet. Before the British could intervene the German ships started to list and settle in the water, with the sailors taking to the boats.

Afterwards 1,740 German officers and men involved were interned at Park Hall and Henlle Camps, Oswestry. The deliberate sinking of the German ships was seen as typical “Hun treachery” and there was considerable local hostility.

The Shrewsbury Chronicle of July 4, 1919, reported: “It is persistently rumoured that Admiral von Reuter is allowed considerable liberty, being permitted the use of a motor car within the confines of the huge Park Hall Camp, where he is in captivity, but this is denied by the military, who assert that all the scuttlers are under strict confinement. A German naval officer of high rank and wearing a typical ‘Tirpitz’ beard, was driven to a bank in Oswestry on Saturday morning.