TWO University of Winchester experts hunting for a submarine believed to be buried in a park may have found more than they expected.

As previously reported, Simon Roffey, reader in archaeology, and David Ashby, who manages the university’s soil laboratory, were hoping to find traces of a First World War submarine when they travelled to Dartmouth. The pair employed the university’s Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) in a corner of the town’s Coronation Park, which is believed to be the last resting place of the submarine E52.

Hampshire Chronicle: David Ashby and Simon Roffey with the GPR equipment David Ashby and Simon Roffey with the GPR equipment (Image: University of Winchester)Simon and David believe that the GPR revealed outlines of what could be the submarine, but their investigations in the park and adjoining canoe and dinghy storage area also showed another shape, which is thought to be a German torpedo boat, also from the First World War.

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The craft appears to be lying east to west at right angles to what could be the submarine.

Simon, a former submariner in the Royal Navy, said: “We know that there was a torpedo boat there but everyone assumed that it had been moved. Maybe it was stuck fast in the mud and they just left it there.”

He said the GPR equipment showed two long shapes – the slightly longer and narrower of the two is believed to be the torpedo boat.

The positions of the boats correspond with an aerial photo of Dartmouth in the 1920s which shows the submarine and another craft sitting on the mudflats. The vessels were used as breakwaters.

The University’s GPR, which can send sound pulses through concrete and tarmac, produced images of two large objects lying about a metre beneath the surface.

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However, Simon said that the results are not definitive and now he and David plan to return to Dartmouth at a later date with magnetometry equipment which is very sensitive to detecting metal.

Simon continued: “The ‘Submarine under the Park’ is a local legend, and it could make a wonderful tourist attraction if we could identify its exact location.

Hampshire Chronicle: A British E-Class submarine similar to the E52 (Picture courtesy of Wikicommons) A British E-Class submarine similar to the E52 (Picture courtesy of Wikicommons) (Image: University of Winchester)“In addition, the University of Winchester is developing an increasing number of modules in the archaeology of conflict and this project could help with the database used for research by our students.”