Rusting German warships on Orkney seabed since WW1 are for sale on eBay for £810k

FOUR ­rusting German warships lying on the seabed for a century are on eBay for £810,000 — as a money-spinning tourist attraction.

Divers can already swim around the scuttled dreadnoughts but are not allowed to touch them.

The selling agent has described the unusual offering as "a once in a lifetime opportunity" for a new owner able to tap into the tourist market.

The new owner would get the right to enter the “scheduled monuments” off Scapa Flow in the Orkneys and, with official permission, take contents.

The ad also boasts that if somebody brought all four wrecks they would "have a sizeable naval fleet amongst the largest in the world".

Seller Thomas Clark, 70, a Tayside diving contractor who bought them in 1981, said: "It has been an absolute pleasure to own and dive on these iconic vessels and I regret I have not managed to do more with them during the period of my ownership.

"I look forward to passing them on to the new owner and hope they get the opportunity to realise their aspirations for the vessels."

The rusting relics have been lying on the Orkney seabed since the First World War, having been part of the German High Seas Fleet, which was famously scuttled at Scapa Flow, Stromness, in 1919.

Dreadnoughts SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm, SMS Konig and SMS Markgraf, are on the market for £250,000 each and the cruiser SMS Karlsruhe, selling for £60,000.

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