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66 Days Under the Sea. The final voyage of U-977 was by far its most memorable. Snorkel-equipped, but with its periscope accidentally shattered, U-977 stayed submerged—and moved blind—for a record 66 days. Each of the two engines broke down in turn and had to be repaired. Diesel fumes and smoke choked the crew. The bulkheads dripped with green mold. Short of soap and wearing wet clothes washed in salt water, the men broke out in rashes and boils. With half of its fuel gone and only one-third of the trip completed, U-977 finally surfaced. Thereafter, except for a few anxious moments, the South Atlantic crossing was pretty much a pleasure jaunt, with the men spearing fish or taking surfboard exercise behind the sub.
When Commander Schaeffer brought U-977 into Mar del Plata Harbor on Aug. 17, 1945, he was ready for almost anything but the suspicion that most interested the Allied commissioners who questioned him: that U-977 had carried Hitler to some South American hideaway. Schaeffer eventually convinced them it had not. The legend that Hitler is still alive annoys Schaeffer. Its danger, he feels, is that Germans may believe it and sit back "waiting for ghosts to return from the grave to do their work for them."