Ernest Frank Guelph Cox, Wolverhampton
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Ernest Frank Guelph Cox, Wolverhampton by Roger D Kidd as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Ernest Frank Guelph Cox, Wolverhampton
Image: © Roger D Kidd Taken: 9 Feb 2008
Ernest Cox was responsible for finding many of the ships from the German High Seas Fleet that were scuttled in Scapa Flow on 17th June 1919. Out of the 74 ships that were interned at Scapa Flow, 51 were sunk and 43 of them subsequently raised. Only 8 still remain. The total weight of the ships that were sunk was over 400,000 tons. The largest salvage operation in history was soon underway and the Scapa Flow Salvage and Shipbreaking Company was formed in 1923, to raise some of the torpedo boats. Over the next 8 years he undertook a massive operation to raise the ships. It was to become one of the greatest feats of marine salvage ever accomplished. He purchased and modified an old German floating dry dock and lifted 26 torpedo boats, and broke them up for scrap in between August 1924 and April 1926. ...and there's more where that came from!! The text by Ian Jukes is copied from this superb account of his life http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/plaques/DudleyRd2.htm .
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.576149
Longitude
-2.126418