Abeja of Exeter
Abeja is a typical small local trading vessel seen in this postcard by Frank Spry, owned by a consortium of small investors, and sharing a common WW1 fate with many other vessels.
On 9th March 1917 while sailing from Granville to Fowey, about twenty miles SW of Start Point in Deven, she was stopped by the German submarine U-48 and sunk with gunfire. Fortunately the crew were saved from their dinghy by a passing patrol craft.
Curiously the skipper of U-48 died the same day that Abeja was lost when the submarine's conning tower was crushed by her next victim, torpedoed a few hours later. U-48 survived to reach port and was repaired. The submarine was eventually lost on Goodwin sands, the wreck occasionally re-appearing to this day as the sands shift in the strong tides.