Chapter 9 nothing

Chatterton began looking for Holenberg's movements the next morning.He wrote to four experts, informing them of his findings.He believes that all four of them can find clues about Holenberg and solve the mystery of the submarine.These four experts are: - Henry.Cooper, the president of Sharkhunting International, who has strong ties to the submarine community; — Carl.Friedrich.Motan, the "ace captain" of Germany, Chatterton once communicated with him (he believed that this mysterious submarine was the U851 that his colleagues had commanded); —Charlie.Grutzmacher, director of the International Submarine Documentation Center in Deisenhofen, Germany, which has a large collection of documents on submarines;

—Horst.Bredow, a submarine veteran and founder of the Kux-Altenbruch Submarine Archive in Germany, a world-renowned private submarine information center, is often sought by the German government on submarine-related issues . Chatterton estimated that within a week the problem would be resolved.Meanwhile, Koehler continued to frantically rummage through his historical documents, studying German submarines patrolling American waters.Neither of these two approaches to the problem—Chatterton with the knife, Kohler with the historical documents—was about more than solving the mystery of the submarine's identity.Both of them believed that once the submarine was identified, it was their responsibility to explain why the submarine was in American waters and what caused the submarine to sink.If Holenberg had a wife, it was their duty to tell her that her husband had died off the coast of New Jersey.

But a week passed and there was no news at all.Another week passed, and Chatterton began to wait for the phone to ring.He checked the mailbox, but it was full of useless junk mail.A month has passed and still no reply.He wrote to four more experts, but everyone had the same answer: we have encountered some difficulties, and we have to continue to study.After Christmas, after Chatterton sent his first letter, his phone rang.The caller was a submarine enthusiast Chatterton had just befriended recently, and he had news. "That knife is a dead end, Mr. Chatterton, and you've got to go to the submarine."

"What do you mean by dead end?" "Only one man, Holenberg, ever served in a submarine, but his submarine never made it to the West Atlantic." "Which submarine was he serving on?" "He can't remember." Chatterton didn't know what to say, only the sound of electricity on the phone reminded him that the man hadn't hung up yet.Finally, he squeezed out a question. "Holenberg still alive?" "He's still alive," the man said. "He escaped when the submarine sank?" "I never said anything like that."

"What did Holenberg say?" "He said it was a dead end." "What do you mean dead end?" "The knife, he doesn't remember having that knife." "What else did he say?" "Forget it, Mr. Chatterton. You still have to go to the submarine again." "Wait, I want to talk to Holenberg—" "It's impossible, he doesn't want to talk to anyone." "Please, tell him I want to talk to him, it's important to me. If it's his knife, I'm going to give it back to him." "He doesn't want to talk to people."

"Then you at least tell me which submarine he served on?" "He can't remember anything, you have to start over. I'm sorry I can't help you anymore, I have to hang up, bye." Chatterton sat blankly holding the phone, Holenberg is still alive?He doesn't remember his knife?He doesn't talk to anyone?Chatterton held the phone receiver to his ear, completely unaware of the voice reminder from the phone company on the phone, and only thought about it: a knife with the name of the crew engraved on it—the most valuable thing I found Shipwreck items - is it just a dead end?

For the next few days, Chatterton's mind was haunted by the Holenberg story.This man survived the war, he lived a very long time, he can solve this submarine mystery, but he keeps silent, why?What is the reason why he is not even willing to disclose the submarine number? A few days later, Chatterton received letters from Mortan, Bredow, and Grutzmacher.Their answers were unanimous: there was only one Holenberg in the German Navy—Martin.Holenberg, a senior radio operator - served on a submarine.His last patrol was on U869, a submarine sunk by Allied forces off the coast of Africa in 1945.All crew members on board, including Holenberg, were killed.That patrol was also the only one for U869, which sank 3,650 miles from the location of the mysterious submarine.

Furious, Chatterton was certain that the sources of all three answers—all respected experts—were accurate.That said, the submarine buff never spoke to Holenberg.Chatterton immediately wrote to the man to break his friendship, vowing never to speak a word to him again.But he still does not believe that the answers of these experts are the final answer.Maybe there was another Holenberg they just ignored.Chatterton heard that there is a submarine hero monument in Germany, engraved with the names of all submarine soldiers who died in the war.If he could go to Germany, he would be able to see the monument for himself, and he would go through all the names line by line to see if there was another Holenberg.Yes, if he could go to Germany, he could study the monument, visit the submarine museum, go to the Bredow archives himself.He checked the calendar, March would be a good time.

Chatterton invited Yuga and Kohler to go to Germany with him.Yuga accepted his invitation, and Kohler couldn't go away for a whole week to run his own company, but Chatterton's invitation moved him very much.Chatterton attaches great importance to this trip to Germany, and the people he invites are all friends he respects and can rely on. "I'm staying in the country," Kohler told Chatterton, "and I'm going to continue my research." March trip is coming soon.That's when Chatterton got a call that was unlike any he'd had before.An older gentleman called him and said his name was Gordon.Weiss was the intelligence officer of the "Atlantic Airship Fleet" - Airship Air Force Squadron during World War II.He had read reports of divers discovering submarines, and he asked what research Chatterton had done.Chatterton said he and the Naval History Center have been in touch, albeit slowly.

"If you'd like to come to Washington, I'd love to introduce you to the people in charge of the research center, who are my friends," Weiss said, "and maybe they can help you find the answers you're looking for. I don't like Beat the bush, but if I could be of any help to you, it would be my pleasure." Chatterton could hardly believe his good fortune.Weiss had participated in the anti-submarine warfare, and he was not far behind in intelligence. He also had connections with the Naval History Center.They agreed to meet in Washington at the end of February.After Chatterton hung up the phone, he thought the planned trip to Germany was unnecessary.If anyone is likely to know the mystery of submarines, it is the US government.With Weisi's help, he will have direct access to the most detailed information.

Chatterton made the four-hour drive to Washington a few days later.He made an appointment with Weiss at the Naval History Center at ten o'clock in the morning.He arrived an hour early and parked in the Washington Navy Yard.This is a group of classical buildings. In the courtyard, you can see the tram tracks, cobbled paths, libraries, and classrooms.Chatterton walked towards the Naval History Center, where a large number of naval historical documents and weapon models were collected.He passed a stone building behind which a retired Navy destroyer was moored on the Anacostia River.A white-haired old man in a tweed coat sat in the Naval History Center. When he saw Chatterton, he got up to greet him. He said he was Gordon.Weiss. The two exchanged greetings, and Weisi briefly explained the arrangements for the trip.He was going to introduce Chatterton to Bernard.Dr. Cavalkent and Dean.Dr. Allard.Dr. Kavalkent is the head of the Archives of Military Operations and a noted submarine expert, and Dr. Allard is the head of the research centre.Through these two men, Weiss said, he had access to everything the United States knew about submarines.Chatterton took a deep breath, believing he was one step closer to solving the mystery of the submarine. Weiss took Chatterton to Dr. Cavalkent's office.These rooms, Weiss explained, housed the largest collection of U.S. Navy documents, and those were managed by Cavalkent, who was a born historian. "He's especially good at submarines," Weith whispered to Chatterton.At this time, Dr. Cavalkent came out from a nearby room. He was a middle-aged man of short stature, wearing a checked tracksuit, and holding a magnifying glass in his hand.He greeted the two warmly, but raised his eyebrows as if to say, "Oops, here's another submarine fan." After they sat down in the office, Weiss asked Chatterton to tell his story.In Chatterton's succinct description, he and other divers spotted a World War II-era German submarine 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey.What they recovered from the ship was enough to prove that it was a German submarine, but they could not prove its exact identity.They went through all the history books, but there was no record of a submarine sinking within a hundred miles of the site.They had been there three times using the long-range radio navigation system Loran Voyager, so the location must be spot on.They also took video, which he brought with him this time. The three were silent for a while.Cavalkent looked at Weiss with an ambiguous smile on his face, and then he looked at Chatterton.He took a few pages from a drawer and handed them to Chatterton for his signature—if the Naval History Center was to accept the tapes, there had to be a formality, and Chatterton had never felt more important than this one.Cavalkent took the tape and looked Chatterton in the eye. "We are the United States Navy, sir," Cavalkent said. "We know a lot about sunken ships in the sea. But we don't need to disclose this information. I hope you can understand this correctly, Mr. Chatterton." "Yes, sir, I can understand." "We have a lot of records of shipwrecks off the east coast. We record them for military reasons, not for historical reasons or for research purposes or... excuse me, for divers. We have lists of shipwrecks here, but I can't I'll show you, I'm sorry." Chatterton's heart sank.The answer was in Kavalkent's office, but the man refused to tell him.Weiss sat there without saying anything.Cavalkent didn't say a word either.Chatterton thought that the conversation was going to end like this, and he was unwilling to accept such a result. "Mr. Cavalkent, I can ignore that list," Chatterton said. "I'm just interested in this particular submarine that sank in this particular spot. It's very important to me. I'm going to find out for this grave." It deserves its name, in doing so it is responsible to the families of those soldiers, and to history. There are dozens of soldiers' bones there, but no one seems to know who these soldiers were or why they died there .” Cavalkent clamps his chin between thumb and forefinger.Weiss tilted his head slightly, as if to say, "How is it, Bernard?" Cavalkent nodded slightly. "Well, I can look it up," he said, "but you can't copy any material, and you can't take any pictures to take away." "Okay, thank you very much," Chatterton replied, "whatever information you can tell me about the wreck will be greatly appreciated." Chatterton wrote down the latitude and longitude of the submarine's sinking location, and Kavalkent disappeared into a pile of documents as high as a mountain.Weiss nodded to Chatterton with a smile, and then said, "Hopefully, the answer will come soon." A few minutes later, Kavalkent came out, sitting at his desk with a large stack of documents in his hand.He looked at Chatterton, raising his eyebrows again. "Are you sure this location is accurate?" he asked. "Absolutely," replied Chatterton. "We've been there three times." "Okay, but in our records, there's no sub there -- nothing." Weiss had been laughing from the beginning, and his smile faded away after hearing Cavalkent's words. "It's incredible," Cavalkent said. "It's incredible. Let's take the tape to Dr. Allard and watch it together. He needs to see it. I'm going to tell you, Mr. Chatterton, that every year I Heard a lot of people say they found a submarine or got classified material about a submarine, but usually it's not true, this time it's just unbelievable." Cavalkent led Weiss and Chatterton to a luxurious office.A middle-aged man emerged soon after, with bald, curly hair parted down the middle, gold-rimmed glasses, a bow tie, and a tweed coat.The man introduced himself as Dean.Dr. Allard, head of the research center.He invites the guests to sit down. Kavalkent gets right to the point.Mr. Chatterton found a submarine off the coast of New Jersey: where it sank, when it was built, the remains were found, and video was taken, he said.Allard became a little impatient to hear this. He had heard this kind of story more than a thousand times, and every time it was nonsense. Cavalkent paused to see Arad's reaction. "That's right, Dr. Allard," Cavalkent continued, "I've checked the records, and there shouldn't be any sunken ships there." Allard nodded slowly. "I see," he said. "I know you have the tape, Mr. Chatterton. Shall we take a look?" When Cavalkent was about to play the tape, Allard called in his deputy, William.Dudley.Allard dimmed the lights, and the five watched Chatterton's video from the conning tower to the torpedo bay.During the forty minutes of the tape, they uttered various kinds of exclamations—"It's amazing," "It's incredible," "It's amazing." "I can't believe there's a German submarine from World War II and we don't know anything about it," Allard said. "Mr. Chatterton, if I get a Navy ship and divers to go there, would you be willing?" Working with the Navy to figure out the identity of the wreck?" Chatterton spent a long time trying to figure out the significance of the proposal.He is just an ordinary diver in New Jersey, usually carrying two cylinders and taking a dive charter boat with a speed of 11 knots to fight the sea.But now Allard is offering to send an official team of divers, with assistance from the U.S. Navy, to solve the submarine mystery.He was hoping to come up with just the right words to say he was willing to accept this big offer, but he ended up saying simply, "Of course!" Dudley came forward, he was the only one in the room who didn't smile. "Unfortunately, Dr. Allard, I don't think we can do that," he said. "You know, the United States is suing France in international court for sending divers aboard a Confederate battleship that we regard as the grave of our martyrs." Alabama. We cannot also survey German warships in American waters at this time, and our position in court would be seriously weakened.” Allard considered it for a moment. "Well, you're right, William," said Allard, turning to Chatterton, "I'm sorry. If we can't get there to help you dive, Mr. You provide all possible help." Allard stood up, took off his coat, and rolled up the sleeves. "As a matter of fact, we could begin now, William, and would you please take Mr Chatterton to that pamphlet describing our collection?" Dudley brought Chatterton to his office, he closed the door behind him, turned around and looked into Chatterton's eyes. "I don't like you," Dudley said. "I don't like divers who touch things on sunken ships." Chatterton knew what was going on, and some scholars have great contempt for the divers who took items from the wreck.Chatterton had his opinion on this a long time ago.If he found a Viking ship that was a thousand years old, he would not hesitate to hand it over to archaeologists because there were Viking items on it that could help with the research.But there's nothing on a WWII-era ship that we don't know about, let alone classified documents.Chatterton knew he already had good relationships with Allard and Cavalkent and the Naval History Center, and he didn't need to try to please Dudley. "Yes, very well," said Chatterton. Dudley took Chatterton back to Allard's office, where they thanked Chatterton for bringing a "true submarine mystery" to the Naval History Center.Then Weiss and Cavalkent came with him to the archives and took Catherine.Lloyd introduced him.Lloyd is Cavalkent's assistant, and she will do whatever it takes to assist Chatterton.Chatterton thanked Allard and followed Lloyd and Weiss to a reading room filled with serving officers, writers, veterans, historians and professors.Lloyd introduced Chatterton to four main sources of research, each of which appealed to Chatterton.they are, respectively: 1. Anti-Submarine Warfare Incident Report: Records daily underwater combat between Allied forces (warships, aircraft, airships, civilian air patrols, armed guards on merchant ships, etc.) and enemy warships judged to be submarines.The report included everything relevant to the submarine: engagement, pursuit, location, and sonar contact.If there is a record of the engagement in the report, a detailed description — known as an “attack report” — is also attached for reference. 2. War Diary of the Eastern Seaboard Frontier: A daily record of actions and observations taken by Allied soldiers on the eastern seaboard of the United States.These include oil splatters on the water, suspicious smoke and life jackets floating at sea.Unlike battle reports, not all of the content recorded here is necessarily related to submarines. 3. BdU KTBs: Daily battles recorded by the German Submarine Command (BdU), which record the activities of submarines around the world.These included orders received by the submarine, radio contact with headquarters, and engagements by the submarine.But there are only records before January 16, 1945, and the records after that were destroyed by the German army. 4. Individual Submarine Files: A file of information on individual submarines compiled by the US Navy.The content includes the submarine's model, mission, patrol situation, intercepted communications, intelligence reports, photos, interrogation of survivors, and personal information of the captain. Lloyd advised Chatterton to start with anti-submarine warfare reports, looking for records of Allied underwater operations near the mysterious submarine.If he finds a battle record near there, he can further refer to the detailed description of the battle.He could also consult the timetable in the diaries of the German submarine headquarters to see which submarines were sent to American waters at that time.She first brought Chatterton boxes of reports marked "1942."Weiss smiled and wished him luck. "I'd go through all the material here if I could," Chatterton said. After speaking, Chatterton sat down and began to review the 1942 anti-submarine warfare report.He started looking through it in January, looking up the latitude and longitude of wrecks within a 15-mile radius of where the submarine went down. A few hours later, he checked the 1942 data.He went through records of more than a thousand incidents, but none occurred within 15 miles of where the mysterious submarine sank.He had planned to go home that evening, but now he had to call his wife and tell her he was in Washington for two more days.Early the next morning, he was the first in line to enter the archives room and asked to see the documents from 1943. Chatterton looked at all the reports of battle throughout the war.But in four years, there is not a single recorded Allied encounter with a submarine within a 15-mile radius of the site. Chatterton asked Lloyd if he could consult the Eastern Coast Front diaries - these records would provide information on any incidents that had occurred at the wreck site, but not necessarily related to the submarine.She brought Chatterton another mountain of papers.Chatterton sifted through the pile of documents, just as he would look through battle records, for records about the vicinity of the shipwreck.Two days later, he went through all the documents.Not a single incident during the war — debris from ships, discarded life jackets, dead soldiers, oil splatters, even suspicious smoke — occurred in the waters near where the submarine sank.It's as if this sea area didn't exist in this war at all, but there was a submarine that contained the remains of more than a dozen soldiers. Chatterton asked Lloyd if he could spend his last few hours poring over the remaining papers before leaving.Then he disappeared into a wall-high pile of filing cabinets.The people next to him were trying to obtain information, while Chatterton only studied the directory labels of the files. He wanted to know the general content of each type of file so that he could come back and look it up later.He studied these documents the same way he used to study shipwrecks, doing a brief survey first, and then making a detailed survey plan for the next one.When Chatterton held the file box, untied the rope, and took out the brown file bag, he seemed to have returned to the year when he was twelve years old. At that time, he hitchhiked out to explore and found a mysterious house. full of mysterious stories.Then Lloyd patted him on the shoulder and said, "Mr. Chatterton! Mr. Chatterton! We're closing..." Chatterton realized he had forgotten the time to get home.He thanked Lloyd for his help over the past three days, then walked to the parking lot, deciding to come back here later to continue looking for answers. Two weeks later, Chatterton and Yuga set foot on German soil.They bought a bunch of flowers and went to the submarine memorial in the seaport city of Kiel.There are 89 bronze inscriptions standing here, engraved with the names of 3,000 submarine soldiers who died in World War II, and each name is followed by the label of the submarine he served in during his lifetime.The cold rain fell on their necks like needles, and the writing on the notebooks in their hands was also blurred by the rain.The two pointed to the names in the column of the letter H to look for Holenberg one by one. After three hours passed, they only found one—Martin.Holenberg, operator on U869.The experts are right. That night, they could still feel the chill after taking a hot shower.Chatterton called "Ace Captain" Mortan, and they had been communicating before.He learned that Motan had been ill recently, but he still hoped that the 86-year-old "ace captain" could meet with them and answer their questions about the sunken submarine.A young man answered the phone. He said that Mo Tan could not see anyone. The once powerful "Ace Captain" had fallen ill and he didn't want anyone to see his weak health. They were next going to the Bredow Submarine Archive in Cooks-Altenbruch.By this time Chatterton had learned more about the private archive.Bredow, a submarine veteran, has turned his house into an archive filled with papers, photographs, records, memoirs, weapons and files, all the way to his kitchen, next to his kitchen utensils Together.The only way to be sure of finding the Bredow Archives is to see the huge anchor in the yard.The German government and historians often come here to consult information. This is the largest submarine archive in Germany, and the information about the combat personnel is particularly rich.Bredo classified all the documents, including letters, diaries and photos into three categories.His place is a museum of combat personnel information.If researchers wanted to uncover something, the German government usually sent them to Bredow. At nine o'clock in the morning, Chatterton and Uja rang Braddo's doorbell.After a while, a bald old man in his sixties with glasses and a white beard opened the door and said in a thick German accent: "Ah! Mr. Chatterton and Mr. Yuga—welcome to the Submarine Archives, I It's Horst Bredow." Behind Bredow are rows of filing cabinets, glass cases where submarine items are stored, and stacks of framed photographs of submariners.When the two walked into the house, they were completely attracted by the documents inside - they believed that the answer was not far away. "All these documents you see now are pages that I have collected over the years!" Bredo sighed, and he opened his arms. "All the answers you are looking for are here. You don't need anywhere but here went." Chatterton took a deep breath, and soon Breddo could help them figure out the identity of the wreck. "But before I give you the answer, I'm going to take you on a tour of the archives," Bredow said. Chatterton nearly passed out, but he and Uja said, "Oh, that sounds... great." For the next ninety minutes, Bredow took the pair on a tour of every room in the house.For the next ninety minutes, the two kept saying "that's amazing" or "oh, that was so much fun."They tried their best to suppress their anxiety and followed Braddo to visit little by little. Finally, Bredo finally sat down at a desk, and he sat the two of them across from him.He took a narrow, typewritten note from a drawer, and Chatterton's heart began to beat violently.Bredow pushed the note face down over the table. "That's the answer you're looking for," Bredow said. Chatterton took the note with a trembling hand, and he turned the note over. On it were the names of the seven submarines Braddow had typed. Chatterton was stunned, and Yuga was also motionless.Here's a list of submarines lost off the eastern coast of the United States -- the list is available in public libraries.One of the submarines is a Type VII, so it cannot be the mystery submarine.Some submarines sank hundreds of miles from the site, some have been identified by definitive evidence, and the U853 that sank off the coast of Rhode Island is a submarine they often surveyed. These were the first submarines that were ruled out by divers. . Chatterton took another deep breath. "There's something wrong with these submarines, sir," he said. "It can't be any of them." "It must be one of them," Bredow said. "Your location must be imprecise." "No, sir," said Chatterton, "the place we have given you is very precise. We have been there many times." Bredo frowned tightly, his face flushed. "You can look through my papers if you want," Bredow said gruffly. "I really don't know what to say." Chatterton and Yuga went to another room, out of Braddo's sight, and buried their heads deep between their hands.They didn't know what to do, so they transcribed the crew lists of every Type IX submarine sent to the eastern coast of the United States.After two hours, they had done everything they could and left the archives empty-handed. Bredow offered them some personal insights as he sent them out. "If you find the escape equipment from the ship, it may have the name written by the user on it. We used to do this all the time." Chatterton thanked Bredow for his advice and wished him a happy day.In the lobby of the hotel, Chatterton bought a postcard to send to Kohler.He wrote on it: "We know more than they do, we must go to the submarine again." A few days later, Koehler received the postcard, and he showed it to his wife. "This postcard means a lot to me," he told her. "It's a physical thing, but Chatterton can't do it alone. I think we're going to be working together for a long time, I think. We've become one." After returning to the United States, Chatterton called Yuga and Kohler to meet him at his home.Now is the time to sort this out on their own. It took Koehler a total of eight minutes to reach the Chattertons' house, and the two were only five miles apart, yet they hadn't known it for years.In the living room, Chatterton and Yuga briefly introduced Koehler about their trip to Germany.The two scrambled to describe the bewildered look on Bredow's face when it came to Bredow's discovery that his list couldn't solve the submarine mystery. "It's kind of like something out of a storybook, I should say," Kohler said. "A German submarine came up off the coast of New Jersey. It exploded here, with maybe 60 crew members on board, and no one— — no government, navy, professor or historian — knows why it's here." Chatterton described his research in Washington. "I went through all the war documents, page after page," he said. "By the end, my glasses almost fell off my face, and I felt like the whole room was spinning. But I couldn't find any records at all." There's been fighting in that place, nothing." The pizza and Coke they ordered arrived, and Kohler paid the bill, forgetting even the change.None of the three of them reached for food on the plate, for fear of interrupting their train of thought, they were having a lively discussion. "I think, based on our research, that the story about the submarine being parked ashore and the crew going ashore for a dance and buying bread at the local supermarket is bullshit," Kohler said, pacing the room, hands Wielding a salami like a professor's wand, "But I have some ideas. You must have heard similar stories or rumors, the Nazis were going to send a large amount of gold out of Germany at the end of the war, and Hitler's fall in Berlin Time to escape in a submarine. Think about these things, if that's what our submarines are for, surely there won't be any records of them, will there be?" "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Chatterton and Uja exclaimed from the couch. "You mean Hitler might be on our submarine?" "I'm not saying it's going to happen," Kohler replied. "I'm saying we need to broaden our thinking. We have to imagine scenarios to explain why no one in the world has any clues about this submarine, why Nobody knew the dead sailors were in New Jersey. We had to consider every possibility, even the ludicrous ones, or even if we got away with the answer, the answer might have passed us by. And I'm telling you , this matter itself is already incredible.” The three were silent for a while.Kohler's eyebrows twitched up and down—he'd seen the challenge in this one.Chatterton, who had been depressed since his return from Germany, gradually improved after hearing Kohler's naive and bold idea.Koehler stood across from Chatterton, looked him in the eye, and nodded slightly, as if to say, "We can do this." Chatterton found himself nodding back at him.He had experienced this spirit in Vietnam, when soldiers risked their lives through gunfire for no reason, they just knew it was the right thing to do. "Okay," Chatterton said, getting up from the couch and letting Kohler sit where he had been. "Let's imagine now." Chatterton told Kohler and Yuga that there are currently two possibilities.The first possibility is the submarine sunk by the Civilian Air Patrol on July 11, 1942; the other possibility is the U851 that Motan mentioned that his friend defied orders and commanded to the coast of New Jersey. Chatterton said he According to the plan, there are still two months before the diving season, and they will use this time to go to Washington to find evidence to verify these two possibilities. Around ten o'clock in the evening, they ended their conversation.While dressing at the door, they were still discussing: "Do you think there's gold on board?" Another said: "And you think Hitler was on it?" A third continued: "I'm now doubting that the Weekly World News You're right—our submarine may have traveled here directly from Germany through a time warp." The three laughed.Then Chatterton said, "Anyway, the answer is great." All three stopped laughing because they knew Chatterton was telling the truth. A few days later, Chatterton returned to the Naval History Center in Washington.他第一次来的时候主要从历史文献中查找在沉船地点方圆15英里范围内发生的战事。但是一无所获。这次，他准备将查找的范围扩大到方圆30英里，然后如果有必要的话扩大到60英里。他的研究工作用去了四天的时间。 他还是一无所获。在沉船方圆60英里的范围内没有任何战事发生过，也没有观察到过任何可疑现象。 之后，查特顿和尤加一起再次来到海军历史中心。这次他们将重点放在U851上，莫坦曾告诉查特顿他的同事维恩加特纳曾指挥这艘潜艇到新泽西海域追击敌舰。查特顿将莫坦的看法告诉了卡瓦尔肯特博士，他立刻被这个想法所吸引，然后开始亲自寻找资料。 查特顿一边等着卡瓦尔肯特的消息，一边开始考虑民间空中巡逻队提出的可能性。他提出了一个最基本的问题：德国是否曾在1942年7月间，也就是民间空中巡逻队声称在新泽西海岸击沉潜艇的时间里，向美国东部海岸派遣过潜艇？这个问题的答案应该可以在德国潜艇总部的日记中找到。查特顿从研究室中找出了这些日记。 找到了，当时有好几艘潜艇曾在美国海域出没。根据日记，这些潜艇中除了两艘——U157和U158——其余都安全返回了德国。U157和U158都是IX型潜艇，和他们发现的潜艇是同一个型号。查特顿要来了附在U157和U158沉没报告后的攻击报告。 根据海军的记载，U157于1942年6月13日被美国海岸警卫队的一艘快艇击沉在哈瓦那东北部海域，艇上52名艇员全部丧生，这起战事的发生地点距沉船地点两千多英里。攻击报告无懈可击——当时有很多人目击了这场战事，而且也发现了潜艇的遗骸，这证明潜艇就沉在它受到攻击的地方。据此查特顿认为神秘潜艇不可能是U157.接着他查看了U158的攻击报告，这份报告提供了较大的可能性。1942年6月30日，一架美国两栖战斗机在百慕大海岸发现U158，当时艇上有15名艇员正在甲板上晒太阳。潜艇潜入水中时，飞行员投下了两颗深水炸弹，其中一颗落入了潜艇的指挥塔——一般情况下这里不太可能受到攻击。潜艇下潜的过程中，炸弹爆炸了。据报告记载，炸弹摧毁了潜艇，54名艇员全部丧生。根据攻击报告，这起战事只有一个目击者——战斗机飞行员——而且并没有发现潜艇的遗骸。这就证明U158有可能没有沉没在受攻击的地点。由于档案馆在周末要关闭，查特顿将文件内容抄录下来放入一个档案袋中，然后在上面写上了“瑞奇”的名字。柯勒将会是调查U158最后一段巡逻记录的最佳人选。 查特顿和尤加已经在华盛顿待了三天。他们正打算返回新泽西时，卡瓦尔肯特博士来到阅览室，给他们带来一个惊人的消息。 “你们知道，我在研究U851，那艘莫坦的朋友指挥的潜艇，”卡瓦尔肯特说道，“在战争期间，我们从德国的情报网获取了很多关于那艘潜艇运送的货物的信息。” 查特顿和尤加屏住了呼吸。几天之前他们刚刚猜测潜艇上运有黄金。 “我们查到U851上装了很多水银，准备运往日本，”卡瓦尔肯特接着说道，“他们当时对水银进行了估价。按照1945年的价格，那批水银价值数百万美元。” 查特顿和尤加几乎晕过去了。他们都是商业潜水员，他们开始设想将这批水银打捞出来的计划。他们对卡瓦尔肯特表示了感谢，然后冲进车里。还没等查特顿将车打着火，两人就齐声叫了起来：“我们发财了！”在回家的途中，他们制定了计划。尤加负责调查现在水银的市价，而查特顿则负责和律师联系取得打捞的合法权利。他们讨论了成为百万富翁后需要迎接的挑战。几个小时之后，他们看到了路标，上面写着欢迎到宾夕法尼亚来。但他们即将取得的富翁身份让他们渴望立即回到新泽西。 第二天早晨，尤加给他的父亲打电话，他父亲经常和金属废料处理商打交道。他让父亲询问一下目前水银的市价是多少。一个小时后，他的父亲给他回了电话。水银现在被视为有毒的金属废料，如果想清除水银必须付钱请专门的人来处理。查特顿和尤加的百万富翁美梦只延续了十二个小时。 柯勒带着U158的攻击报告前往华盛顿寻找资料。他没有到海军历史中心，而是去了国家档案局，这里藏有《独立宣言》、《宪法》和其他重要的美国历史文献，其中包括一些海军文件。他知道很多在战争中获得的德国文件都放在国家档案局，他希望从这些文件中找到这艘潜艇及其艇长的信息。 在各个阅览室的登记桌前，柯勒都发现了很多他从小崇拜的作家和历史学家的名字——对一个没有上过一天大学的布鲁克林孩子来说，听说过他们的名字也已经很不可思议的。他要找关于U158的资料，管理人员给他拿来一大堆文件和一大盒缩微胶片，并要求柯勒在看胶片时戴上白手套。但很多文件是用德文写的。柯勒不得不拍着别人的肩膀问道：“这个词是'机枪'的意思吗？”而他得到的回答是：“不是，这个词是'长尾鹦鹉'。”他坚持将文件看完，抄录了U158每次任务和巡逻的航海日志，希望能够研究出艇长厄温。罗斯廷的思维模式。走出国家档案局时，他必须要等管理人员在他抄录的内容上盖上“解密文件”的章，这与间谍活动类似，柯勒不禁想，“我又重回老本行了”。 几天以后，柯勒约查特顿和尤加在查特顿家里会面。查特顿和尤加坐在沙发上，柯勒向他们讲述了他的研究结果。正如他们所知，1942年6月30日，一架美国两栖战斗机在百慕大附近海岸巡逻时向U158投下一颗深水炸弹，直接命中了潜艇的指挥塔。据飞行员说，当潜艇企图潜入水中逃跑时，炸弹爆炸了，并炸沉了潜艇，艇上所有人员全部丧生。 “但是，如果，”柯勒一边转着脚跟一边问道，“U158只是受伤了呢？或者它根本完好无损地逃过了一劫？我们假设一下，它只是指挥塔受创，但是还有足够的能力移动。在这种情况下，它会做什么？” “它应该试图返回德国。”尤加说道。 “完全正确，”柯勒表示同意。“尤其是它的巡逻已经临近结束，它的鱼雷已经用完。但是，在这种情况下，它还有另外一个更好的选择。根据我的研究，它可能会到大西洋上的一个指定地点寻找'奶牛'——运送补给的潜艇。所以U158可能就会向东北行进，找到'奶牛'补充燃料和给养，对吧？” “对，”查特顿说道。 “但你们想到这点了吗？”柯勒问道，“我认为它并没有朝德国的方向行驶去寻找'奶牛'。我认为艇长罗斯廷肯定会想，'纽约市就在我们的攻击范围之内，我要用甲板炮击沉纽约海岸的美国船只'。结果它跑到了新泽西附近，然后被民间空中巡逻队发现并把它击沉。就这样U158被完全击毁了。在指挥塔掉落之前它又挣扎着前进了几十英里，然后沉没了，就在我们发现的地点。民间空中巡逻队始终没有得到奖励，是因为之前那架战斗机已经声称击沉了这艘潜艇。” “等等，”查特顿说道，“那么艇长当时是怎么想的？他明明有机会使潜艇得到修复并获得补给，他为什么还要指挥一艘用尽了鱼雷的受伤潜艇到纽约去？” “我会告诉你这名艇长的性格，”柯勒说道，“我研究了很多关于他的材料，他的名字是厄温。罗斯廷。在这起事件发生前的几个月，他第一次参加战争巡逻，就击沉了四艘敌船。在这次巡逻中，他击沉了十三艘敌船。他是有史以来两次巡逻战果最多的潜艇艇长。这个叫罗斯廷的家伙专门追击敌船，他将盟军的军舰作为他的攻击目标。他曾用机枪击沉了一艘西班牙反潜舰艇，并抓住了艇长！我读了关于这些英勇的潜艇艇长的材料，他们从不屈服，他们的脾气非常乖戾。罗斯廷是个无往不胜的艇长，潜艇还在海上巡逻的时候，他们就通过无线电授予他骑士十字勋章。罗斯廷不会逃回老家的，决不会。他离纽约只有一千英里了。他要继续杀敌。” 查特顿和尤加继续反驳柯勒的想法。他们坚持，在没有给养的情况下，艇长不会拿他的潜艇和艇员的生命冒险继续攻击敌船。他们说他这种认为潜艇受创两次才最终沉在现在地点的这种想法简直是凭空想象，但是柯勒毫不退让。他让他们想象一下潜艇无往不胜的时代，他还让他们想一下那个潜艇艇长永远是传奇故事、电台节目、报告文学和新闻片主角的时代。查特顿并不同意柯勒的设想，但是他却被柯勒的热情所感染。看着柯勒挥动手臂，握紧拳头的样子，他感到柯勒的直觉是正确的。如果不把历史记载当作真理来信奉，他们的思路会更开阔。 轮到查特顿说话了。他承认柯勒的设想很精彩，但是，他认为他们发现的潜艇是U851，那艘莫坦的同事维恩加特纳指挥的潜艇。 “莫坦了解他，”查特顿说道，“他知道这个人对战争仍然充满激情。瑞奇，你曾提到了解一个人想法的重要性。那个'王牌艇长'曾亲自告诉我们他了解他的同事——他确信他的同事来到了纽约。这就是为什么没有记录显示U851沉在我们发现的地点——这艘潜艇接到的命令是前往印度洋。维恩加特纳违反了命令，在他们失踪之后，德国认为他们沉在了印度洋附近。” “我不认为是这样，”柯勒反驳道，“潜艇艇长不会这样违反命令，他们会被枪决的。命令你去印度洋，你却去了纽约？这样太过分了。我读过很多关于潜艇艇长的资料，从没有看到过哪个人像这样违反过军令。” 尤加说话了，他专攻潜艇技术，他得出了下面的结论： “我们现在有两种可能性，”尤加说道，“瑞奇认为是U158，约翰认为是U851.看上去好像就是这两艘中的一艘，我知道怎么来确定。根据我的研究，U158上装有甲板炮。但是有些IX型潜艇上是没有的。下次我们潜水的时候，找一下甲板炮。如果有的话，就是U158.就此为止。” “而U851是IXD型，是特殊型号的潜艇，它被称为'潜艇巡洋舰'。这种潜艇比普通的IX型潜艇长30英尺。我们所要做的就是量一下船体。如果艇长287英尺就是一艘'潜艇巡洋舰'。如果艇身没有那么长，就不是U851.下次潜水的时候，我们只要看一眼，量一下，就可以知道到底是哪艘潜艇了。” 三人握手道别。当天午夜，柯勒悄悄走出卧室来到厨房，他靠在冰箱上拨通了查特顿的电话。虽然时间很晚了，但他还是拨了电话。 “约翰，我是瑞奇。听着，伙计，我很抱歉这么晚打电话……我在国家档案局的时候，看到了一些照片。” 柯勒描述了他看到的那些照片：放在美军军舰甲板上的一条德国潜艇艇员的胳膊——只有一条胳膊——上面的纹身还很清晰；一个英国水手提着一只装满内脏的桶，旁边的注解写道“从沉没潜艇上发现的十英尺人的小肠和一个人肺”。还有一张照片是放在一套德国餐具旁边的人的肝脏。柯勒告诉查特顿他很久以前就开始读有关潜艇的书籍，但是这些照片却让他联想到潜艇沉没时的情景——潜艇断裂了，开始下沉，艇员们的手在墙上乱抓，然后就有人悄无声息地淹死在水中。他告诉查特顿他现在对潜艇的了解更深了。他说这些照片让他一直想着那些潜艇上的艇员。他问查特顿他是否能想象到艇员们丧生前三十秒时的想法。 查特顿告诉柯勒他也曾看到过相同的照片。他描述了其中一张，三十名潜艇艇员乘着救生筏向刚刚攻击过他们的敌船求救。他还看到过潜艇遭到深水炸弹重创后的可怕照片。最恐怖的是，他告诉柯勒，很多照片是在战争后期拍摄的，当这些潜艇成员逃离潜艇后，他们知道自己根本没有机会再回到祖国了。他告诉柯勒他想象不出当时这些人的感受。 两人拿着电话沉默不语，然后柯勒抱歉地说这么晚给查特顿打电话，查特顿告诉他没关系。