U-Boats off Sea Isle’s Coast - The Tale of Rudy Plappert
Rudolph Plappert was a German U-Boat operator turned Sea Isle City, New Jersey resident. Like many of the barrier islands of the southern New Jersey coast, Sea Isle City was an island founded by blue blood American natives in the late 19th century as a seaside retreat. Eventually, like all of the cities on America’s eastern seaboard, it came to be a place inhabited by the immigrants of Western Europe, those who fled homes plagued by greed and lack of opportunity, venturing to America to find liberty (the power or scope to act as one pleases) and the opportunity to pursue their quest to better themselves and the living conditions of those they loved. An example - a man and wife arrive in Philadelphia from their home off the coast of Naples. He is a fisherman by trade, so he knows he needs to get to the sea. At the train station they ask the man how much money he has in his pocket, he tells them the small amount, every penny he owns, and they point him to where his purse will take him. Sea Isle City. That is how he gets there. This is where he will pursue his dreams, this is where he will raise his children, this will be his home.
Rudy Plappert’s story is different. Although both their landing places were a thing of pure coincidence, Rudy’s desire to make it his home was the result of a different motive. The fisherman from Naples landed on its shores out of desperation. Rudy landed there for peace of mind.
When you think of the German U-Boat, think of a wolf. Grey, sleek, scary, with the ability to attack with swift, quiet ferocity. Many Americans have no idea that during World War Two, a pack of these German war subs patrolled the coasts of the American Atlantic, sinking cargo and carrier ships, causing havoc on the American front to disrupt our ability to wage war on the other side.
Rudy Plappert was a man on board of one of these silent killers. During the war, his sub frequently patrolled the coast between New York and D.C. One day, as they often did, his boat came up to the surface off of the coast of Southern New Jersey. The crew of the boat headed to the deck for some much needed air. Rudy was one of those crew members, and the sight he saw on the shore was something that would stay with him forever. White beaches, small cottages along the beachfront, a colorful array of flowers and trees lining the dunes - peaceful serenity. For a man encased underwater in a steel tube for months at a time, a man whose duty was to hunt men and cause destruction, scenery like this must have been like something out of a dream - a literal breath of fresh air. He wrote down the coordinates and vowed that one day, when this was all over, when his world was peaceful, he would come back, and he would make this place his home.
He was the enemy, something we can’t forget, but in peacetime, he was just another immigrant. He did come back once the war was over, and like those other Europeans who landed on Sea Isle before him, he made a life for himself, and became a great neighbor. They were all looking for solace in America, by the ocean. I hope they found it in Sea Isle.
- J.H
