During the First World War, the German army began to use submarines. Their unexpected attacks caused panic on the high seas, especially in May 1915 with the sinking of the ocean liner Lusitania. That is why, when the captain of the Loukkos explained what had happened to him in December of that year, everyone wanted to know more.
He had never seen a vessel like it. At every port they docked, sailors talked of little else, convinced that whoever possessed more of these vessels would win the war. They told a thousand stories, but no one really knew how they worked. And now, his Loukkos had had one on its tail ever since they had passed Salou. It was at least 75 metres long, with a 47-millimetre cannon on the bow and a turret rising from the centre of the hull. The crew wore black and had their faces covered with a kind of balaclava. They followed on the surface, steadily closing the distance.
Photo: The Swedish naval rescue steamer, Belos. Author unknown. Author’s collection.
Captain Toussaint Acostini estimated it was moving at around 12 knots. Too fast for the Loukkos, which, with its hold loaded with iron and sugar chartered to Marseille, could only reach 9.5 knots. To make matters worse, the weather was against them. The rough seas made everything more difficult. They needed to shake it off before it was too late. He ordered the helm turned towards Tortosa. Midway through the manoeuvre, the pursuer fired three shots without even submerging. They didn’t hit. Nevertheless, the boldness of the operation had consequences. The 345 tonnes of cargo were too heavy for such shallow waters, and the Loukkos ran aground, pushed by the rough sea. The situation was critical. The bow stuck on a sandbank, the vessel increasingly listing. Fortunately, the threat vanished without a trace.
Since there was no one else in the area to help, Captain Acostini ordered his first mate to launch a boat with six crew members to go and raise the alarm. Then it was a matter of waiting. During the night, the rough seas continued, and the crew endured difficult moments, but by dawn they finally spotted the steamer Anita from Amposta coming to their rescue.
Photo: Nautical chart of submarine U34 during the patrol carried out between 27 March and 18 April 1916. In the subsequent patrols, these charts would achieve extraordinary accuracy. NARA. M1743.
News of the incident caused a great stir, and the French consul in Tarragona, Josep Melero, began arrangements to assist the crew and recover the vessel and its cargo. Anything related to the war in Europe helped sell newspapers, especially if it happened nearby. Journalists began asking questions. The problem was that Captain Acostini’s statement raised some questions that a submarine alone could not answer.
To begin with, no one else had heard any explosions, and three cannon shots in the middle of the sea aren’t exactly easy to miss. Moreover, no other vessel had seen anything or been attacked. To top it all off, during the Loukkos’ rescue operation, technicians discovered that the crew had dropped the anchor using the engine, a manoeuvre meant to slow the ship, which didn’t make much sense in the midst of a pursuit.
Photo: L’Est Républicain newspaper, 25 December 1915.
For a week, the authorities took statements from the crew while the press tried to get to the bottom of the story. All the men rallied behind their captain, who was the only one claiming to have seen that “ghost submarine.” Historical records also shed no light on Acostini’s account. Historian Josep Maria Castellví has examined them thoroughly and found no evidence that submarines carried out military actions in the Ebro region at that time.
All signs suggest that the captain of the Loukkos may have invented the attack to cover up a navigational error that could have caused him serious trouble. In the middle of a world war, losing cargo due to a simple miscalculation would have been a disaster, blemishing his service record with La Compagnie Paquet, owners of the Loukkos.
It is possible that the poor sailing conditions of those days, which had already forced a stop at Port-Vendres, led to the accident. In any case, the vessel could not be recovered until 29 December, and the crew re-boarded on the last day of the year. The ship’s mission was to sail from Marseille, where it had departed on 16 December, to the cities of Larache and Kenitra, which were part of the French Protectorate of Morocco.
Photo: The Plaça de la Font, in Tarragona, showing the Verdú inn on the left of the image, where the sailors of the Loukkos stayed. Postcard from Photoglob Zurich (P. Z.) Author’s collection.
Port of Tarragona Archive
Thanks to the records preserved at the Port of Tarragona Archive, we know that the Loukkos docked in Tarragona on 3 January under number 4179 for a thorough inspection. As no significant damage was found, it was able to continue its journey and left the city on 7 January. You can check this yourselves in the registry book, and, while you’re at it, see if you notice anything unusual; perhaps you might spot Captain Acostini’s “ghost submarine”.
Photo: Port of Tarragona Archive
Do you want to know more details about this story?
Consult the original document on which this story is based via the online archive of the Port of Tarragona Archive.
