Sinking of U-864 – A TOXIC Cultural Heritage & OUR Legacy

The wreck of the German submarine U-864, which is located 150 meters beneath the surface off the southwestern coast of Norway is another prime example of an artifact representing the Anthropocene.

The submarine was sunk by a British submarine called the Venturer outside the island of Fedje in Hordaland. It was transporting war material to aid Japan (DNV 2008: 4). U-864 is believed to have carried 67 tons of liquid mercury (Hg), kept in 1857 carbon steel cans. It is unknown how many of these cans that were destroyed when the submarine was torpedoed in 1945 (Øxnevad & Beylich 2013: 7). Through analyses of the immediate surroundings of the wreck it has been confirmed that first two centimetres of the sediments are heavily contaminated (Olsvik et al. 2011: 552). The wreck itself has broken into two major parts, with a great deal of minor fragments scattered around it (NCA 2016).

Contamination poses a serious threat to the surrounding environment. Testing has shown that marine invertebrates such as polycheta and netted dog whelk have taken up considerable amounts of Hg. In order to track the Hg levels in a number of fish and crab species The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has constructed a surveillance program producing annual measurements. This has been going on since 2004 and the purpose is to assess whether these marine species are safe for consumption as well as tracking changes from year-to-year (Olsvik et al. 2011: 553). In 2015 the Norwegian Food Safety Authority withdrew the warning of seafood from the wreck area. The analyses have shown that marine life do not contain dangerous amounts of mercury.

The results are in fact comparable with analyses performed along the rest of the Norwegian coast, thus rendering the previous warning unnecessary (NCA 2016). The fact that mercury poisoning is low is thought to be dependent on several factors. The wreck is situated on more than 150 meters of depth, which in combination with powerful currents, an abundance of oxygen and few fine particles decreases the risk of forming methyl mercury. Because of this the mercury have not entered the food chain in a serious way. Should the present mercury in the sediments form methyl mercury the risk for mercury poisoning will increase, as it could then be consumed by marine life (NCA 2016).

One consequence mercury poisoning can have on humans is the so-called Minamata disease, named after the Japanese town of Minamata, which was recorded during the 50s. The victims contracted the disease through consuming seafood from mercury-contaminated waters (Yuki 2012: 735). Of course the risk of people eating mercury-contaminated fish in Norway is considerably lower, much thanks to the already mentioned surveillance program. An important factor as to why the Minamata disease affected so many people is that the inhabitants continued to consume fish even though they knew it was poisoned, mainly because of a lack of other food sources (Yuki 2012: 736). Given that Norwegians have a higher socio-economic status than the poor Japanese villagers, the risk of mercury poisoning is substantially lower. However, that does not mean that there are no risks at all. Even if it may be unlikely, it is not impossible for mercury poisoned fish to be caught and consumed off the coast of Norway.



U-864 is far from the only submarine or ship that has sunk, and far from the only one carrying toxic materials. Mark J. Spalding has written a text about underwater world war II wrecks in the Pacific, where he discusses the potential pollution against their cultural values. Many of these wrecks sunk after being destroyed, meaning that pollution has already washed away. Others sunk with both fuel and cargo intact, meaning that they still have the potential to leak and pollute the ocean. The best thing is of course to salvage the most dangerous wrecks. The process is sadly complicated by the high costs of salvaging, as one wreck could cost several millions of dollars alone (Spalding 2013). U-864 did, as previously mentioned, spill part of its cargo of mercury upon sinking in 1945. On top of that, experts are not entirely sure of how many of the mercury cans whom are still intact, which gives the wreck the potential to cause even more pollution (Øxnevad & Beylich 2013: 7).

The Norwegian government have actually had plans to salvage the wreck, but these plans were cancelled, or at least postponed, because of the cost in 2009. The Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) have continued the surveys of the wreck as well as carried out a few safety measures, including removing 1,000 litres of oil from the wreck as well as searching for mercury containers in two of the keel sections (none were found). There are also plans of establishing a counter fill to stabilise the surrounding seabed (NCA 2016).

Video by the NCA showing parts of the wreck (Retrieved 2017-01-15).

Marco Armiero makes some interesting associations between shipwrecks and the Anthropocene in his essay Of the Titanic, the Bounty, and Other Shipwrecks (2015). Armiero describes the Titanic as an ideal Anthropocene tale, with a blind faith in technology as well as an inability to predict disaster and not taking preventable action in time. The Titanic acts as a metaphor for Earth, showcasing that disaster will affect all passengers (Armiero 2015: 52). Of course U-864 cannot be viewed as a metaphor for the Anthropocene in the same way as the Titanic. It does, however, represent perhaps the most advanced form of sea-faring technology.

The process that led to the sinking of U-864 began thousands of years ago with basic ship technology. This technology was refined during the ages, with the industrial revolution enabling rapid technological development (Steffen et al. 2011: 847f). This development later led to the submarines, which were utilised during the world wars of the 20th century (Submarine-history.com 2015). The industrial revolution also gave rise to an explosive population growth which put a strain on the available resources (Jonsson 2012: 692). The fact that the world population increased from one billion in 1800 to six billion in 2000 shows the effect of the industrial revolution and the following great acceleration (Steffen et al. 2011: 848f). The fast development of technology in combination with growing populations made the world wars devastatingly bloody. The wars combined with the Great Depression might have delayed the arrival of the great acceleration which soon followed (Steffen et al. 2011: 850).

Even though U-864 predates it, some of the great acceleration’s trademarks can be applied to the wreck. Among these are the spread of pollutants across the globe and the upsurge in marine traffic. Why the first of these are applicable to U-864 is quite obvious to me, the wreck has polluted its surroundings with the mercury from its cargo and oil spill. While it was not the first wreck to spill hazardous materials into the ocean, U-864 predates the vast majority of these spills which have taken place during the great acceleration. The connection to marine oil-tanker traffic may not be as obvious, but U-864 can be considered as a predecessor of this. While it was used for warfare the submarine’s purpose was to deliver mercury to the Japanese to aid them against the United States in the war over the Pacific (Zalasiewicz et al. 2015: 200, DNV 2008: 4).

As previously mentioned, the world war II wrecks can have the potential for polluting at the same time as being part of the cultural heritage. Considering this, I believe that these wrecks of submarines, warships and airplanes capture the very essence of the Anthropocene. Not only do they represent mankind conquering the seas (and skies) through technological achievement but the wrecks can also deal considerable damage to the environment, thus leaving traces on the planet in more than one way. This is of course not only true for the wrecks of world war II, but for a large amount of the preceding and subsequent wrecks. Marco Armiero’s comparisons between the Titanic and the Earth are difficult to apply to U-864 (Armiero 2015: 52).

U-864 did not sink because of a blind faith in technology, but because of technology. As mentioned before, the submarine is a product of the industrial revolution, a technological wonder used as a unit for warfare. The industrial revolution enabled the rapid development of weaponry used during the 20th century, and submarines are undeniably a part of that process. In that sense, the connection to the Anthropocene is rather strong. U-864 tells the story of technical achievement, a war-torn world and risk of pollution, all in the same wreck. In this sense, it is now serves as a reflection of an Anthropocene artifact, a testimony to human technological de-evolution.

References:

Armiero, Marco. 2015. Of the Titanic, the Bounty, and other Shipwrecks. Royal institute of Technology, Stockholm.

Det Norske Veritas (DNV). 2008. Salvage of U864 – Supplementary Studies – Study No. 7: Cargo. Report No. 23916-7. Norwegian coastal administration.

Harris, Brayton. 2016. World Submarine History Timeline. Submarine History. http://www.submarine-history.com/NOVAtwo.htm (Retrieved 2017-01-13).

Jonsson, F. A. 2012. The Industrial Revolution in the Anthropocene. The Journal of Modern History, 84(3), 679–696.

Olsvik, Pål A., Brattås, Marianne, Lie Kai K. & Goksøyr, Anders. 2011. Transcriptional responses in juvenile Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) after exposure to mercury-contaminated sediments obtained near the wreck of the German WW2 submarine U-864, and from Bergen Harbor, Western Norway. National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Bergen and Department of Biology, University of Bergen, Bergen.

Spalding, Mark J. 2013. Underwater WWII Wrecks – Pollution or Cultural Heritage? Smithsonian Institution, Ocean Portal. http://ocean.si.edu/blog/underwater-wwii-wrecks-%E2%80%93-pollution-or-cultural-heritage (Retrieved 2017-01-15).

Steffen, W., Grinevald, J., Crutzen, P., & McNeill, J. 2011. The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 369(1938), 842–867.

The Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA). 2015/2016. Wreck of U-864. The Norwegian Coastal Administration. http://www.kystverket.no/en/EN_Preparedness-against-acute-pollution/U-864/ (Retrieved 2017-01-14).

Yuki, M. 2012. Why Eat Toxic Food? Mercury Poisoning, Minamata, and Literary Resistance to Risks of Food. Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 19(4), 732–750.

Zalasiewicz, J., Waters, C. N., Williams, M., Barnosky, A. D., Cearreta, A., Crutzen, P., … Oreskes, N. 2015. When did the Anthropocene begin? A mid-twentieth century boundary level is stratigraphically optimal. Quaternary International.

Øxnevad, Sigurd, Schaaning, Morten & Næs, Kristoffer. 2013. Investigations of mercury during a survey near submarine U-864 outside Fedje in 2013. NIVA 6499-2013. Oslo: Norwegian Institute for Water Research.