Asleep in the Deep

Long Henry was a 375-ft.-talI marine crane, the towering pride of Kiel Harbor, when the victorious British appropriated him in 1945. For five years, Long Henry played his robust, uncomplaining part in cleaning up bomb-battered Kiel. This year, the British sold him to the French for 1,500,000 marks ($357,500).

When French engineers turned up at Kiel to collect the 5,000-ton crane, they decided to save the cost of dismantling Long Henry for transport by towing him by sea to France. German skippers who know the treacherous sea route around the Danish peninsula pronounced the scheme "suicidal," but the Frenchmen thought they knew better. They hawsered four tugs to Long Henry, chugged away with him into the Kattegat Straits between Denmark and Norway. Off the northern tip of Denmark, a fierce storm blew up; Long Henry began to wallow like a waterlogged dinosaur. For an instant his long steel neck shot high above the waves, as if to get a last look at the shore; then, in a whirlpool of foam, he capsized and plunged to the bottom, taking with him one French sailor.

The French, who had spent another half million marks on the towing operation, sent salvage ships to the spot. But not a gurgle was heard from Long Henry. The French abandoned their search, sailed home. Last week France was out 2,000,000 marks, the British were wealthier by 1,500,000 marks, the Germans of Kiel were out one valuable crane, and Long Henry was rusting at the bottom of the sea.

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