For 86 years two wrecks have sat on the sea bed off the Scarborough coast, attracting a wealth of sea life and causing endless misery to the fishermen who lose their nets on them.

Teams of divers have spent the past ten years searching the waters for the eight early submarines, known as "iron coffins" or "sisters of sorrow", which were sunk off the Yorkshire coast between 1917 and 1918.

Until recently, all but two had been traced and the fate of UB41 and UB75 remained a mystery and open to speculation.

Last year however, divers Andrew Jackson and Carl Racey, discovered the wrecks 200ft down on the seabed off Scarborough and their story was televised for the first time last night.

And the BBC's Inside Out programme revealed that the German government is taking steps to have the sites declared official war graves of the 58 submariners who went down with each vessel.

If they succeed in persuading the British Government to declare the wrecks war graves, they will become the first German ships so designated in British waters.

The precise locations of the wrecks, found in waters off Robin Hood's Bay, are not being disclosed.

The first to be discovered was UB41, last sighted by the SS Melbourne on October 5, 1917, but Mr Jackson said it is hard to tell whether it had struck a mine or suffered an internal explosion.

"Much of her bow had been blown off and she suffered considerable damage," he said.

The two Scarborough Sub Aqua Club members uncovered the secret of the UB75 only 24-hours later, on September 2, 2002.

Before its discovery, it was believed to have been hit by huge anti-submarine nets off Flamborough Head, near Bridlington.

"Actually she was found virtually intact 30 miles away in Robin Hood's Bay, with no evidence of an explosion. We can't see any reason why it sank," said Mr Jackson.

"The crew will have been trapped inside, aware of their plight and unable to escape. The submarine will just stay where it is and is likely to be declared as a grave."

The divers used knowledge from local fishermen as well as special electronic equipment to locate the wrecks on the seabed.

With the diving season being short in that area - from June to September - the divers spend a lot of time out-of-season pursuing their fascination of war wrecks by researching their history