The sequence of events can reconstructed through available photos and the accident reports (Commander Lott, Watch Officer Zahn, and Chief Engineer Vollmer). U-35 was at a depth of 17 meters, and Spee drafted 6.8 meters. The starboard side of the conning tower shows two clear slices by the screw, and the port side clearly shows a collision with a solid object. The Graf Spee port screw was severely damaged, and the port rudder showed evidence of an impact. Both vessels were headed in the same direction, but Spee was steaming faster than U 35. Suddenly Lott noticed that U 35 was stern-heavy, then strong crashing noises at the conning tower. Apparently the suction of Spee's propellers had lifted the bow of U 35, and the conning tower headed straight for the screw, jerking the U-Boat starboard. The port side of the conning tower then struck Spee's port rudder, and then Spee's screw tore repeatedly into U-35's bow superstructure. Lott commanded the U-Boat to dive, but it did not respond. Later he saw that the screws had torn off significant parts of the bow superstructure, so the boat was lighter than normal.