Dear Paul

I think Ultarmar Sur has some notes about this adventure and will look it up tonight for you.

I met Mr Terry Neilson in Uruguay in early 2002, and I went over his yacht in Buenos Aires harbour and stayed overnight at his rented flat in the Recoleta where we discussed the project. He knew nothing about U-boats, his only interest was the gold. I was shown some very clear seabed imaging which looked very much like a Type IX40C. Later that day I met a liaison officer from the ArgNavy. The conversation mentioned the depth charge attack by the "Mendoza" on an unidentified submarine in the Bay of San Matías on 18 July 1945. The boat had been damaged and began to sink before the shore could be reached. There is some extremely deep water in the Bay and no indication of whether the boat had survived or sunk. It was agreed that I would write the book should the boat be located. If invited I would have gone along with the armada in the search for this boat, but space was tight and there was no room for me. There was enormous investment in this project, millions.

The Technical University of Trondheim had purchased some naval signals which a cleaner had found. The signals suggested the presence of this U-boat. I was not shown this signal. I am not sure where the idea came from that the boat's number was in the range you mention. The suggestion was that the German boatbuilding records had been falsified and a batch of non-existent numbers given to the boats which came down. Just because a certain number was never allocated to a commissioned U-boat does not mean that it was not used for clandestine purposes.

The next I heard was that the search had found nothing and that the whole thing was scrubbed. I was surprised at this because of the scale of the investment and the certainty of all concerned that the boat was there. I could not find anybody prepared to speak about the failed adventure, not even Terry Neilson, since at the least I considered he owed me an explanation how he got his marvellous seabed images and then suddenly there was nothing there when he went back.

From what I could make out, everybody was sick to the teeth, rather as if they had received a low blow. I do recall that there was a longish period, more than a year, for all the negotiating with the Argentines and waiting for perfect weather and I have often wondered whether the Argentine Navy...er...well, if they sort of went there first, so to speak and dragged the thing off underwater to some quieter spot so that it couldn't be found. It was said to be lying in 300 metres over sandy ground about ten miles offshore, but whether this was accurate I do not know.

The entire Argentine Navy endeavour Operation Calipso has been in existence ever since. I suspect that they may be proposing to raise and exhibit a boat. If so the third boat mentioned in the official documents would be the obvious choice since they have already officially admitted its arrival in Argentine waters. They are the copyright holder of the 1950 Schäffer book and by publishing it for the first time have taken the first step to preparing the admission that U-boats did come down to Argentine postwar.