The book's cover.
U-Boat in New Zealand Waters by Gerald Stone, Pahiatua Publications $40
It was one of the colourful talking points of 1994 and theories abounded.
Did they come ashore to milk some cows or not?
'They' being a group of crew members from the far-from-their-homeland German U-Boat 862 in early 1945.
It was a great story which was sparked by comments made by the U-boat's commander Kapitan Heinrich Timm - comments made in jest but comments which sparked debate, not to mention a string of newspaper articles which of course sparked even more debate.
Debate about a small number of crewmen aboard the submarine, allegedly off the Awatoto coastline just north of Napier, climbing into a dinghy and rowing ashore to get some fresh milk from a farm only a few hundred metres inland.
However, as well detailed by the author who has carried out extensive research and interviews, they never stepped ashore.
The story was "entirely fabricated" and Timm had simply added some colour to his tales of travelling the eastern seaboard seeking merchant shipping to torpedo and sink...which they nearly did off Napier Port although the departing Pukeko eluded the torpedo they fired.
But it was a fact was that the crew aboard, using their binoculars on the three nights they were off Napier, was their witnessing the peaceful pursuits of the locals ashore.
They saw people dancing and they saw people skating, with First Watch Officer Gunther Reiffenstuhl saying in an interview during a reunion of the crew back in 1997 that he could here also hear music as they were barely 200 metres offshore.
When asked what sort of music he replied "dance music".
But of going ashore for fresh milk he simply said "it's nonsense - I don't know who found this idea - it never happened - it was too dangerous".
But oh yes, it made for a great story and is part of an even greater story about the travels of U862 off our coast.
The author's interest in the merchant ship-hunting submarine was sparked in 1992 when the first reports emerged that a submarine had closed in on our coastline, and Australia's.
It transpired that U862 was one of three submarines dispatched out of on of Germany's far eastern bases in late 1944 as part of 'Operation Australia" to sink allied merchant ships.
But two were sent to the bottom before getting anywhere near Australia although U862 got through, and began its remarkable voyage, which included a close call in Gisborne (which is where the author was born and grew up).
Kapitan Timm edged it into Gisborne harbour at midnight, unaware there was but one metre of water beneath the keel.
Finding nothing worth sinking they cautiously edged out and headed for Napier Port, and the Pukeko's close call.
Gerald Stone's remarkable and incisive research into Germany's submarine campaigns and the movements of U862 includes colourful and enlightening interviews he carried out with several crew members during his research.
One intriguing (and typically Kiwi) aspect was how the sub's crew were able to find their way around the coast so easily...as despite the country being at war there were no black-outs and all navigational beacons and lighthouses were clear as day.
There are many excellent photos to accompany this intriguing naval stories and some staggering facts...like that class of diesel/battery submarine (tagged IXD2) being able to travel 23,700 nautical miles on the surface before needed to gas-up.